Illinois Soul’s Juneteenth 2026 concert will be a homecoming for husband-and-wife singers Raphael and Whitney

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[00:00:00]
Kimberly Schofield: From Illinois Soul, this is Dialogue. I'm Kimberly Schofield. Dialogue is an exchange about culture straight from the soul.

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the day when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas to announce that the Civil War had ended and that all enslaved Black Americans were free. For the 3rd year in a row, Illinois Soul FM 101.1 is throwing a free Juneteenth party at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts Stage 5, and this year it features hometown duo Raphael and Whitney. A few days ago, I spoke with them. Years after becoming friends through an inspirational gospel group, the two began dating right after Raphael graduated college, and then Raphael headed to New York.

[00:01:25]
Raphael: I drove across country. I fit everything I could into my car at the time and I made it by the grace of God because my car shouldn't have made it that long, and I began this journey of sleeping on the floor, attending open mics, auditioning for off-Broadway plays while working, while trying to find other jobs like it was just literally me trusting God and doing everything I could to see what could happen. And so I began to get kind of connected with the music scene out there as it relates to open mics and off-Broadway situations and I met producers and artists and so there was an artist, a producer that was working on a project and he had me come in as a part of like the vocal production team and he was looking for a female singer and I'm like well my girlfriend, she sings very well but she's in Illinois. And so he was like, well, let's fly her out.

[00:02:19]
Whitney: Yay. Yeah, I did like an audition over the phone, like I sang over the phone and what was beautiful for me was I was actually trying to finish college at Columbia, and pursuing fashion design, but there were some really weird situations that were happening where I couldn't get in contact with my counselors to solidify my schedule. And I was like this is very weird. I'm like this is, this is a, I mean. Why is this happening? So I just prayed. I'm like, God, are you preventing me from finishing my last two years? Like, am I supposed to be doing something else because I don't know why this is, why, why there's so much like hindrance and restrictions. So I prayed, I was like, well, if I'm supposed to be in New York pursuing music or being out there because I only want to be where you want me to be. Like I know my family wants me to finish and get my, you know, my bachelor's, but I wanna be in your will like. That's really important to me. And so I'm like, I don't have a car like my boyfriend had a car to drive across. I don't even have a job. I don't have a car. So if I'm supposed to be there, then you have to find a way for me to get there. And so when I sang over the phone, after I prayed that and the man was like, OK, yeah, we'll fly you out, I was like, whoa. Now that was really fast. I was like, that was really fast. So I took that as an answer [to] prayer and I packed up the apartment I was staying in. And I went to New York. Actually it was Jersey first. They were recording in Jersey. I took everything and all of the the friends that my boyfriend at the time had met were like, oh, your girlfriend is coming to visit. I'm like, no, I'm, I'm staying like because no one knew this private conversation I have with God. So I was like, no, this is, this is pretty clear to me on what's happening. So I'll, I'll be here for, for however long. And it was like, oh, she's funny. I'm like, yeah, I think y'all think I'm playing. This was actually new to him too.

[00:04:24]
Raphael: A whole new, you know, 2 weeks turned to 4 weeks. I'm like, OK, cool, but I like her being here. 4 weeks turned to 2 months. I'm like, OK, so we gotta get you a job because you're here.

[00:04:47]
Whitney: So we both were sleeping on the floor, honestly, in a one bed — someone else's one bedroom apartment, it was in someone's living room. That was the size of a bedroom, which is really small, and so I, we, we both eventually got a job working for the same social service agency where I was working with 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. I was like tutoring and doing a summer program and he was like an executive assistant, and that began our journey in New York because one of our coworkers actually told us about auditions for Alicia Keys. It was supposed to be a private invite-only audition, but someone leaked it on MySpace back then. And so everybody found out about it and our boss was really nice and was like, you know what, I'll let you guys leave work to go to the auditions. Like they let us leave and we didn't realize it was gonna be like hundreds of people in line. And so we were waiting for a long time, meeting people from all over the world in the line and by the time we got to the front of the door, they told everybody they had to leave because they didn't have a permit to have this many people on a sidewalk. They didn't expect it to be this many people and we're like, yo, we've been waiting here for hours and now that we're at the front of the door, you're saying we have to go home.

[00:05:57]
Raphael: They're literally talking to us and everyone behind us.

[00:05:59]
Whitney: They're like, including

[00:06:01]
Raphael: this gentleman was about to touch the handle to go inside. Do you understand what I'm saying?

[00:06:05]
Whitney: And this guy was like, yeah, we gotta shut it down. We didn't expect this many people. We gotta, you know, abide by the laws in New York. We're like, what?

[00:06:13]
Raphael: And they're like, if you can come back tomorrow, we'll be able to hear the first 75 people. So we're like, alright Lord, if you allow us to get off work again, then we will come back and if not, then it wasn't meant to be and that's OK as

[00:06:26]
Whitney: well. So we actually were able to get off work again. Some people weren't able to come back because they couldn't get off work, so everybody that made it there was able to be heard, and then there was this process of callbacks and not hearing things for things for weeks and then like come back and do this callback and so then they were narrowing it down

[00:06:45]
Raphael: to 4 guys and 10 girls

[00:06:47]
Whitney: and we were a part of that out of hundreds of people and so. Then they decided not to choose any guys and they kept the guy that they had and chose like 3 new girls to go to a rehearsal and I was a part of the 3. So this was me beginning working with Alicia Keys in 2007, like seven months into sleeping on the floor in New York, I got my first gig at 21 years old with [a] major artist[s] and I had never done — I'd never toured before or even thought about — I didn't even know that was a job like it didn't even, yeah, like I just knew I was gonna get signed as an artist and you know, you know, be a part of a record label and just sing like no one tells you about background singing like as a career and I've seen it on TV and award shows and stuff, but I just never paid attention to it. So I started working with Alicia and he actually

[00:07:44]
Raphael: — simultaneously we auditioned for Queen Esther and the Harlem Gospel Singers, which is a touring group that tours Europe every winter. So I ended up getting chosen for that opportunity and we began to tour separately around the same time. Wow.

[00:07:59]
Kimberly Schofield: What a journey that is.

[00:08:02]
Whitney: Yeah. And you — the very first time we actually started singing background together and kind of became like this package deal was two weeks before we got married, which was in 2010. We started working with Estelle and that was two weeks, yeah, two weeks before we got married, we performed in Egypt with her right off the Mediterranean Sea. So from doing long-distance relationships, touring separately to joining forces two weeks before we got married in Egypt. And then from then on, like for the years, we were doing a lot of background work together and not even contractually. Like it was just like what people prefer. They were like, oh yeah, the husband and wife team, the husband and wife team. We were like, oh, OK, this is a thing now. So we just started gigging together.

[00:09:08]
Kimberly Schofield: What was it like as far as musical, or I know faith is very important to you. What were those influences like being in this central Illinois Champaign-Urbana area.

[00:09:19]
Whitney: Well, my grandfather was a huge influence in the community. Reverend W.B. Keaton, he was a pastor here at Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church. He came from Arkansas with my grandmother and he pastored that church, but he also had a radio show. He also did a lot in the community for incarcerated people. He, he, you know, handed out turkeys, you know, he was that kind of [person who] helped out in the community in a huge way, but I grew up singing in his church and my mother was my choir director and so I was — my mom would say I started singing before I could talk really. Music was one of the things that would keep me calm. She said she could clean up around the house if she played music. She could get so much done 'cause I would just be listening. I would never go to sleep. Like she could never lullaby me to sleep with music. She was like, your eyes were always wide open. You were internalizing and listening and taking it [all] in. She was like, you, I could never sing you to sleep. It was like you wanted to sing with me. Like you would never go to sleep with music. Yeah, my grandfather was my pastor, my mom was my choir director and similar to my —

[00:10:40]
Raphael: For me, I grew up on the south side of Chicago. My grandmother was the pastor of the church that I attended. My mom was my choir director and I began — she said I could sing before I could talk as well. So that's crazy. We literally have footage we found footage of us singing a similar ad lib at a similar age. And so when I went to [U of I] I joined the University of Illinois Black Chorus under the direction of [Ollie] Watts Davis and that was a continuation of you know music and faith being combined and being able to sing in a community of other vocalists who believe in a similar thing. And that's also where I cultivated more leadership capabilities as well as my solo capacity. And

[00:11:32]
Whitney: — that even — even in that my mom was a member of Black [C]horus, so even — my mom was a teen mom, so I would go to the rehearsals with her. So I knew [Ollie] when I was like a kid, just like 7, 8, 9, 10 years old, just sitting in rehearsals, going to the [Mom's] Day concerts and being in the rehearsals for that. And so we went to church with [Ollie] and her husband and her children, and I went to high school with her children, and you know, so we built a relationship with them and the Black Chorus even though I never was an official member — like I pretty much knew everyone [who] was in the Black Chorus [and] they knew me since I was a kid, so being a part of that was special too and having that connection with my husband of him being a part of it and me being an honorary member. Yeah, the history is pretty

[00:12:23]
Raphael: deep. And that's why it's really cool that we are able to come back and perform at Stage 5 in Krannert because I used to go there for rehearsals and I used to perform in the great hall, you know what I mean? So it's really, really a full circle moment for us.

[00:12:48]
Kimberly Schofield: Are there any artists who have influenced your sound today?

[00:12:52]
Raphael: I would say yes. I think that I have embraced artists like Luther Vandross and Donny Hathaway and Marvin Gaye. I love the richness and texture of their voices and their capacity and capability to express a song very genuinely and authentically and it reached people in a very simple way. [Reach for the]

[00:13:22]
Whitney: Yeah, I would say Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston and Brandy to just name a few. There's an ease that Aretha Franklin sings with that I've been learning to embrace and then there's a power and strength and confidence from Whitney Houston that I've been cultivating over the years and then there's an airiness, a new R&B feel that Brandy has that I've used in performing. So a combination of those three singers, I feel — actually like it's like I'm, I'm just not realizing this. I think those three. It's who I sound like in different moments. I

[00:14:04]
Raphael: mean there's — you got other things too, but yes, I agree.

[00:14:09]
Whitney: I feel like those are like three strong pillars of where I kind of pull from when I'm singing, whether it's a ballad, whether it's an R&B song, whether it's a gospel inspirational, those three sounds and feels and emotions are [is] what inspires me.

[00:14:33]
Kimberly Schofield: What does it mean to come back to your hometown for a Juneteenth performance, hometown relative, hometown for Whitney, but where you kind of collaborated your relationship together.

[00:14:45]
Whitney: I feel like it's gonna be like a big reunion, family reunion.

[00:14:48]
Raphael: Yeah, it means a lot. It's actually — we got engaged at Champaign-Urbana Day. So, you know, our romantic journey, our life journey,

[00:14:58]
Whitney: friendship journey, friendship

[00:14:59]
Raphael: journey is very connected to Champaign-Urbana.

[00:15:02]
Whitney: It's the foundation of where we started.

[00:15:05]
Raphael: It is and it means a lot because we are in the season of introducing ourselves as Raphael and Whitney. For many years we've been known as Rye and Whitney. And we've decided to change our name to Raphael and Whitney because RAII represented an era for me. It represented an era where music was the forefront and it actually was an acronym — and it stands for rhythm, alternative, instrumental and inspirational. And I used it because every time I would introduce myself as Raphael prior to becoming Rye, people will automatically say, hey, Raphael Sadiq, like Raphael Sadiq, and I'm like, OK, he's amazing but that's not who I am. And then my last name, it starts with an S. And so I'm like there's another thing for people to compare me to this other artist that's already established and that was a little, you know, it just kind of made me feel like I needed to do something else. But now, as I've grown artistically and as a man, I realized the beauty of the name that my mother gave me, which is Raphael and it means God has healed. And I believe that that's what I do through music. I believe that that's what I aim to do as a person with whoever I come into contact with and it fully represents who I am, not just musically but as a person. So. I feel really excited to be able to introduce ourselves as Raphael and Whitney on this stage for the first time for our family and friends who have known us, who have celebrated us and supported us along the way. It means a lot.

[00:16:41]
Kimberly Schofield: What can the crowd expect with this Juneteenth performance?

[00:16:46]
Whitney: They can expect an emotional journey. It's going to make them think and feel. Think and feel about where they are, where they want to go.

[00:16:58]
Raphael: I think also what they should expect is what I'm going to expect. I'm expecting people to be engaged. We do a lot of audience inclusion in our show. So I want as much as I know people may be coming to be entertained, I want them to be involved. I want them to feel comfortable to stand up if they're feeling something, to dance, to communicate back and forth with us, not just to stoically watch and applaud when the song is over. And so we've created a show that allows us to tell our story, to engage with them and to really just celebrate love and life.

[00:17:39]
Kimberly Schofield: Thanks to Illinois Soul station manager Jill Clements for helping put me in touch with Raphael and Whitney. They will perform R&B, gospel, and more on Thursday, June 18th at 5:30 p.m. It's all free at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts Stage 5.