Raphael Saadiq brings his one-man show to Atlanta, reflects on brother’s legacy

R&B singer Raphael Saadiq will turn 60 next year, but he’s showing no signs of slowing down. The legendary musician is always finding ways to showcase his creativity.

So far this year, the Tony! Toni! Toné! member won a Grammy for album of the year as a songwriter on Beyoncé’s album “Cowboy Carter,” performed at the NBA All-Star Game and contributed to the success of “Sinners” by writing the film’s big number, “I Lied to You.”

But despite a year filled with career highs, he also experienced tremendous loss. In March, his brother and bandmate D’Wayne Wiggins died from bladder cancer.

Now, Saadiq is embarking on his one-man show tour, No Bandwidth, which celebrates his hits throughout his 30-year career. Saadiq will stop at Atlanta’s Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre on Wednesday.

“Every show is not the same, but walking out without a band for the first time, I think that’s my favorite thing,” Saadiq told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Walking out and people getting a chance to see me without hearing music first.”

A: I really liked the Mike Tyson one-man show (2013’s “Undisputed Truth”) on HBO years ago, and I said to myself, “I want to do that one day.” It just took me through his life. I knew him as a fighter. I met him a number of times. It just took you through a life journey. Having that piece of art and taking that on, putting it in front of people and giving fans that experience, it just felt like it was something that I wanted to do.

A: It’s a huge challenge just to be on the stage for two hours by yourself. It’s totally hard to pull everything that you know about staging. I had to pull from (artists) like Bobby McFerrin. He’s an amazing person who just gets on the stage and just freestyles. I wrote mine out. He just goes up every night and just does it off the head. Knowing him and looking at people like some of the early comedians that I saw, like Eddie Murphy, Dave Chappelle, George Carlin, helped a lot.

A: I brought everything that I was going to rehearse with onstage. I just had to look at a brick wall and act like it was people in front of me and try to figure out my voice. You know, it’s different from a person with a full band, but it was long hours of going through the script, taking things like I said, doing a lot of editing, and you really can’t do any edits until you actually do a show.

A: To prepare for it, I worked with a director, producer and actress named Eisa Davis, who’s on Broadway. She’s in film. She does everything, and she’s from the Bay Area (where Saadiq is from), so I got to spend a lot of time with her talking about staging and voice. That was the key thing for me, to have somebody that lives in New York, who’s onstage all the time.

Q: You’ve done a lot this year — from performing at the NBA All-Star Game, winning the album of the year Grammy for Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter,” penning a song for “Sinners.” Do any of those moments stick out to you?

A: I’m not really big on Grammys, to be honest. But winning a Grammy with Beyoncé is different. For myself, I’m not really that concerned about it, but to work with somebody who puts in so much work like Beyoncé does, it’s worth it.

For me, I’m just in that creative space all the time. I feel like those types of award shows (can) stop your growth sometimes. I don’t really want to ever stop my growth, so I don’t really pay much attention to them. The film industry is different. And I like working in different industries for the variety.

A: To eat cheese grits somewhere. Breakfast in Atlanta is a cardinal sin. I couldn’t live there because it’s just, it’s too good. I love it. I’m a breakfast person, and the breakfast in Atlanta is another level.

Q: I’m so sorry to hear about the loss of your brother. Is there something that you learned from him that you’re taking into these shows?

A: He was one of my earliest teachers. He was one of my biggest influences in life, pretty much. Everything people have been seeing from me from day one, he’s been a part of.