Raphael Saadiq Signs With Forward Artist Management

Raphael Saadiq has signed with Ahead Artist Administration, Billboard has discovered completely. The brand new settlement with the Los Angeles-based agency follows within the wake of the Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter-producer’s newest success: co-writing and co-producing Beyoncé’s first Sizzling 100 No. 1 nation single, “Texas Maintain ‘Em.”

Ahead Artist Administration head Tyler Childs tells Billboard, “Raphael is one-of-one. He’s been making historical past, creating among the greatest musical moments of the final 30 years. He continues to write down and rewrite the playbook on what an elite artist, producer, songwriter and inventive is. All the FAM group is thrilled to assist him and excited to get to work.”

Along with “Texas Maintain ‘Em,” Saadiq co-wrote and co-produced Beyoncé’s concurrently launched nation single “16 Carriages.” He additionally received one of the best R&B track Grammy final 12 months for Beyoncé’s “Cuff It,” which he co-wrote and produced for her most up-to-date album Renaissance. A founding member of seminal R&B trio Tony! Toni! Toné! — which reunited in 2023 for a sold-out nationwide theater tour, its first in 25 years — Saadiq has labored with a various slate of celebrity artists throughout his prolonged profession. That roster consists of Stevie Surprise, Whitney Houston, Usher, Erykah Badu, Mary J. Blige and Solange.

His newest mission as a solo artist was 2019’s Jimmy Lee. He additionally co-wrote the Academy Award-nominated track “Mighty River,” from the movie Mudbound, with Blige and Tara Stinson. Saadiq is represented by Tim Mandelbaum of Fox Rothschild.

Ahead Artists’ Childs additionally manages RZA and The Wu-Tang Clan, who launched the first-ever hip-hop residency at The Theater at Virgin Motels Las Vegas final month with two extra dates scheduled for March 22-23. Extra Ahead Artist shoppers embody Benjamin Booker (managed by Jacob Greene), Tyler Cole and Sarah Cothran.

Previous to Ahead Artist Administration, Childs served as vp of A&R/artistic at Sony ATV Music Publishing. Whereas there, he labored with artists and songwriters similar to Ilsey Juber (Panic on the Disco’s “Excessive Hopes,” Shawn Mendes’ “Mercy” and Mark Ronson and Miley Cyrus’ “Nothing Breaks Like a Coronary heart”), Stroll the Moon (“Shut Up and Dance”), Think about Dragons (“No matter it Takes”) and Pitbull that includes Ne-Yo (“Time of Our Lives”). Different artists that Childs collaborated with embody Clairo, James Blake and Tegan and Sara.