American musician and dancer
 Anthony Charles Williams II (born May 16, 1975), better known by his stage name B.Slade and formerly known under the gospel moniker Tonéx ( ), is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, rapper, dancer, producer, and activist from San Diego, California. He has gone by various names and aliases, but his primary stage name of choice had for years been "Tonéx". In 2010, he began using the stage name B.Slade to rebrand himself.
Williams has released several hundred songs on dozens of albums throughout his career while producing several others for both gospel and secular artists. He has won six Stellar Awards, a GMA Award, and received 2 Grammy nominations: one for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album for his 2004 gold album, "Out the Box" and another in 2009 for Best Urban/Soul Alternative Performance for his single, "Blend", from his 2009 mainstream (albeit theoretically Gospel) album, "Unspoken".
Known more for his gospel recordings, his musical efforts have been known to blend a smorgasbord of styles, including pop, R&amp;B, jazz, soul, funk, hip hop, rock, Latin, electro, punk and trance. His primary influences include Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Prince, Michael Jackson, Walter Hawkins, David Bowie, and Janet Jackson. His distinct sound and eclectic style of music led him to create his music its genre per se, calling it "Nureau".
Life and music career.
Early life.
Born in 1975, Williams grew up in the San Diego, California area. His father, Anthony Williams, was Senior Pastor of the Truth Apostolic Community Church in suburban Spring Valley and served as a district elder in the California District Council of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (PAW). His mother, E. B. Williams, was a licensed minister in the PAW and served the church as Assistant Pastor. Anthony was the youngest of the Williams' six boys. Gospel music was the preferred choice at home, but other sounds made their way into Williams' environment. His father played saxophone for James Brown and Jackie Wilson, his mother sang in various girl groups, and his older brothers sneaked funk and R&amp;B recordings into the house. Deciding early on a musical career, he took the name "Tonex" by the time he was 13, sometimes spelling it "Tonéx"; at the age of 16, he and his parents hired his first personal manager, Benjamin Jimerson (aka Benjamin Jimerson-Phillips) in 1991. Jimerson, who has since become a relatively successful movie producer, stated: "From the first moment I saw Tonex and he sang his first note, I realized I was dealing with a young man destined to become a major celebrity."
1996–2000: Early career.
Rescue was still a small label, and "Pronounced Toe-Nay" was issued in a limited production run and distributed mostly from the back of Williams' car. Young gospel fans, however, quickly caught on to the innovative variety of music on Pronounced Toe-Nay. The album's producer, T. Boy, was an alter ego of Tonex himself. The album was divided by style into seven sections: hip-hop/rap, retro/funk, the future, jazz, mellow grooves, soul/gospel, and bonus tracks. In the recordings of Kirk Franklin and others, hip-hop had previously made inroads into gospel music, but this kind of wild eclectic mix was completely new. At the time, the digital reproduction of music was in its infancy, and rare copies of the album became prized possessions. "Pronounced Toe-Nay" garnered the attention of the producers at the 14th Annual Stellar Awards and placed him on the billing, and that performance by Tonéx made such a bold statement and had such an impact, it has been compared to the impact Michael Jackson made on the Motown 25th Anniversary Special back in 1983 when he introduced himself doing the moonwalk to the world.
2000–2004: As a rising gospel artist.
By this time, national labels had come calling. Tonéx was signed to an unusual three-way deal that affiliated him with the successful and growing gospel label Verity, the pop imprint Zomba, and the durable hip-hop label Tommy Boy. Tonéx made his national debut with a re-release of his most successful independent album "Pronounced Toe-Nay" in 2000. His first high-profile television appearance was performing a medley of "Trinity" and "One Good Reason" on the Stellar Awards, which was a coup as Tonéx was a relatively unknown at the time. He has dubbed his particular genre-spanning musical style "Nureau".
Upon its release, "Pronounced Toe-Nay" bore 5 different record label logos: Rescue Records, the independent label that originally released the album; Mo' Soule Steppyn Records, Tonéx's then-active vanity imprint label; Tommy Boy Gospel, the label to which Tonéx was signed as an artist; Verity Records, the label to which his independent label Rescue Records sold his album's masters; and Jive Records, the mainstream umbrella over Verity Records. All of the material was produced, arranged, composed and performed by Tonéx, with guest appearances from his mother E.B. Williams, and the rapper Big J.
Some executives wanted to develop Tonéx's career in a secular direction, but he turned them down and kept to religious themes. "There are a lot of people who do similar things to what I do in R&amp;B, but I wanted to use gospel lyrics," he explained in an interview quoted on the Sphinx Management Web site.
After going through numerous revisions, his second album "O2" was released in 2002. According to Tonéx, the title of his second album referred to the year of release, the Element Oxygen, and the album's status as his second major recording. "O2" matched the stylistic eclecticism of Pronounced Toe-Nay, with each track diverging completely from the one before. The album spawned a major Christian radio hit in "God Has Not 4Got", a Stellar Award-winning song that displayed Tonéx's ability to create traditional choral gospel music as well as innovative pop fusions. USA TODAY gave it 3 stars (3 out of 4). The music video for the single "Bout A Thang" received heavy rotation on BET and MTV Australia and featured energetic hip-hop dance and an urban image not usually associated with Gospel artists. "O2" also featured a love song, "You", directed toward the artist's then-wife Yvette Williams (née Graham), a vocalist who at times went by the name Ms. Tonéx.
Becoming known to the wider contemporary Christian music community as a result of several music industry awards and award nominations, Tonéx went on tour with contemporary gospel artists and Men of Standard after the release of "O2". Tonéx was moved up from opening act to headliner as audiences reacted enthusiastically to his music and his high falsetto voice. He performed once more at the Stellar Awards early in 2004 and won several awards.
Even though "O2" brought him more mainstream success, Tonéx said that this album was not what he had in mind for release. He continued to release independent projects via the internet that showcased even more of his versatile creativity. Probably his most acclaimed of these works, Tonéx released "Oak Park 92105" 2003 on his now-defunct Nureau Underground website in 2003, stating it was this album that he intended to release after "Pronounced Toe-Nay", and not "O2". "Oak Park 92105" was a double album that mainly dealt with Tonéx's life growing up in the Oak Park community nestled in the eastern tip of southeast San Diego, California. It was eventually re-released on iTunes in 2005 with some new songs; however, the album did not come without controversy, as Tonéx opted to include a "parental advisory: explicit lyrics" notice on the front cover of the album, making it the first album by a Christian-based artist to carry the notice. Tonéx said the "explicit lyrics" notice is not a result of "cussing" on a record but rather content that "might be a little too deep for children."
2004–2006: Out The Box and accolade.
His 2004 live double CD "Out The Box" earned him the most widespread acclaim so far. Divided into segments ranging from traditional gospel and praise anthems to splashes of urban dance, rock, and hip-hop, the ambitious "Out The Box" was a sprawling double-disc set with 36 tracks, which included innovative intros, interludes, and some studio tracks. The supporting cast included a 10-piece band, 4 dancers, a 16-voice ensemble, and a 40-voice choir. Notable guest appearances on the album included Kirk Franklin, who plays piano in the live version of "God Has Not 4Got" and appears as an artist on "Since Jesus Came", and frequent Prince percussionist Sheila E, who appears on the Latin-flavored "Todos Juntos".
"Out The Box" debuted at No. 1 on the "Billboard" magazine Top Gospel Album Chart in September 2004, appeared on "Billboard"'s Top 200 and Top R&amp;B Chart, was No. 5 on the Contemporary Christian Chart, and to date has sold over 500,000 copies. He also netted a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album the following year and had another bona fide Christian radio hit with the ballad "Make Me Over". In 2005, Tonéx won a total of six Stellar Awards including "Artist of the Year" for "Out The Box."
2006–2010: Controversy, turbulence, and retirement from gospel.
In July 2004, his father died, forcing him to take on the responsibility of becoming the senior pastor of their family's church in his stead. He also divorced his wife of five years, Yvette. In 2006, Verity Records sued Williams for one million dollars citing breach of contract. Subsequently, Tonéx announced that he would retire from the Gospel music industry, frustrated by politics and mistreatment. Following the announcement, Kirk Franklin posted a personal blog on his own website sympathizing with the artist feeling "the weight of an industry that is only built to make money, not heal broken souls". He continued releasing music independently, using MySpace as his primary vehicle for promotion.
In March 2007, a reconciliation with Zomba Label Group was announced, which would be a joint venture for his Nureau Ink label. The deal was struck under the auspices of new Zomba president James "Jazzy" Jordan (who previously had guided the careers of R. Kelly and Salt-N-Pepa). With a new record deal under his belt, he was preparing to release a double disc set titled "Stereotype: Steel &amp; Velvet", which was slated to be released on September 11, 2007, and was purportedly supposed to do for his career what "Thriller" did for Michael Jackson, and what "Purple Rain" did for Prince. However, in June 2007, another split with Zomba was announced, fueled by a leak of the vitriolic and profanity-laden song "The Naked Truth", along with several similarly themed blogs and videos. Tonéx cited label frustration as one of the reasons he leaked the song, and he soon faced much scrutiny within the Gospel arena for the explicit language and the angry tone of the song and its subsequent blogs. He later would close down his social networking sites for several months before resurfacing on the web in January 2008.
Recreating a softer gospel-friendly image, Williams changed his stage name to Ton3x (or TON3X) in 2008. He left the Verity Records family and signed under the umbrella of Battery Records, a label imprint of Sony/BMG. His only Battery Records release was the album "Unspoken", released on March 17, 2009. The first single from that album, entitled "Blend", was unexpectedly nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance, despite very little promotional/financial support from Sony/Battery, and garnered the artist his first non-gospel Grammy nomination. That year, he would also present awards at the Grammy pre-telecast, including the first two awards given to Lady Gaga, who was already backstage preparing for her show-opening performance.
In September 2009, The Word Network aired an appearance of Tonéx on "The Lexi Show". Starting as another promotional tool for his music, the interview unexpectedly changed directions, leading to Williams candidly expressing his views on sexuality and revealing his own same sex attraction. Though his sexual orientation had already been highly speculated within the African American and gospel communities, the unapologetic tone of these revelations was condemned by conservative Christians, and bookings and appearances were universally cancelled, eventually leading to Williams being excommunicated. The artist would later say that he was "caught off guard" by the show's line of questioning but that he answered every question truthfully.
On December 29, 2009, Tonéx's website, as well as his Twitter and Facebook accounts, reported that the artist's mother, Evangelist and vocalist E.B. Williams, had died the day before. Williams would soon end his pastoral duties at his family's church.
On June 9, 2010, Tonéx announced