Robbed hit of the week 2/15/16 - Tony! Toni! Tone'!'s "Little Walter"...

"Little Walter" - Tony! Toni! Tone'!
from the album Who? (1988)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #47

This week's "robbed hit" comes from the R&B trio Tony! Toni! Tone'!, who weren't named Tony anything but rather singers Raphael Saadiq, Dwayne Wiggins, and keyboardist/drummer Tim Riley. With production and songwriting from former Timex Social Club/Club Nouveau members Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy, the group released their debut album Who? in 1988. It would eventually produce four top ten R&B hits, with the first of those reaching the pop list as well.

"Little Walter" was an interpolation of the "negro spiritual" classic "Wade In The Water". Here's the song as performed by Ella Jenkins...

Foster and McElroy transformed the song into a tale of a party-hearty roommate that doesn't keep his end of the commitments for a lascivious lifestyle, and pays for it at the end...

While "Little Walter" climbed all the way to #1 on Billboard's R&B chart, their debut single stopped at #47 on the pop Hot 100 in July of 1988.