‘Sinners’ Songwriter Raphael Saadiq

This is Fresh Air. I'm David Beancooley. Raphael Sadiq is a Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer. Something I've been wanting to tell you for a long time. It might hurt you.

Hope you don't lose your mind. Well I was just About eight years old. He threw me a bye-bow on that Mississippi road. See, I love you, Papa, you did all you could do.

And they say the truth hurts, so I lied to you. The song I Lied to You, which he co-wrote with Ludwig Gorenson for the film Sinners, is nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song. It's a gospel blues ballad, inspired by his own church roots and gospel upbringing, and recurs throughout the film. At the start of his career, Sadiq toured with Prince, playing bass in Sheila E's backup band. Then, with his brother and cousin, he formed the RB band Tony Tony Tony, and followed that with his RB supergroup, Lucy Pearl.

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