Tone Loc - WikiHQ

Anthony Terrell Smith (born March 3, 1966), better known by his stage name Tone Loc (), is an American rapper, voice artist, and actor. He is known for his raspy voice, his hit songs "Wild Thing" and "Funky Cold Medina", for which he was nominated for a Grammy Award, and for being featured in "We're All in the Same Gang", a collaborative single by the West Coast Rap All-Stars.

Early life

Anthony Terrell Smith was born March 3, 1966, in Los Angeles, California, the son of Margaret, who managed a retirement home, and James Smith who died in 1972. As a result of his father's premature death, Tone Loc and his three older brothers were raised by his mother. As a teenager, he performed with the rap group Triple A.

Lōc-ed After Dark reached No.1 in the US. Since its release, it has been certified 2× platinum there.

Tone Loc's second album Cool Hand Lōc was released in November 1991. The album's first single was "All Through the Night", which found moderate success, reaching No.80 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No.16 on the Hot Rap Songs chart. It received frequent airplay on MTV and BET. He also contributed "If I'm Gonna Eat Somebody" for 20th Century Fox's FernGully.

1994–2004: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective franchise, and other endeavors

Tone Loc played the part of police Sergeant Emilio in the film Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994). Tone Loc's song "Ace Is in the House", which samples the Beastie Boys song "No Sleep till Brooklyn", is featured in the films Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Ace Ventura Jr.: Pet Detective (2009).

He provided vocals for Fefe Dobson for the track "Rock It Till You Drop It" on her self-titled debut album.

Tone Loc also voiced Fūd Wrapper, the host of the animatronic show Food Rocks. This was played at Epcot from 1994 to 2004. In this latter role, he sang the song "Always Read the Wrapper", a parody of his second hit single "Funky Cold Medina".

He appeared as Albert in episode 8 of season 2 of Touched by an Angel, which aired November 11, 1995.

1992–2016: television, film and voice acting

Tone Loc has performed in several feature films, including Poetic Justice, Blank Check, Heat and Posse. He voiced the character Lou the Goanna in the 1992 film FernGully: The Last Rainforest. He has also provided his signature voice for episodes of 'Chowder' and Uncle Grandpa, both airing on Cartoon Network. In 2022, Tone Loc was featured as the singing voice of Penny Proud in The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder on Disney+.

2016–present: I Love the 90s Tour

Tone Loc was among the list of performers on the I Love the 90s Tour, which has performed worldwide since April 2016, as well as having featured appearances on the I Love the 90s: The Party Continues Tour from July to September 2017.

In 2026, Tone Loc competed in season fourteen of The Masked Singer as "Handyman" who resembled a robotic handyman with wrenches for hands. As he was eliminated on "Clueless Night" alongside Taraji P. Henson as "Scarab", he was assisted in the unmasking by the Men in Black due to the costume's wrench hands and did an encore of "Wild Thing".

Personal life

Legal issues

In December 2010, Tone Loc was arrested for an alleged DUI. He was released on bail claiming a medical condition had caused a seizure.

On June 18, 2011, Tone Loc was arrested for felony domestic violence and felony possession of a Colt AR-15 Sporter rifle, which is heavily restricted by California law. The weapon was not involved in the domestic incident, Tone Loc was released less than three hours later after posting $50,000 bail. On October 3, 2011, he entered a plea of no contest to both charges, and was sentenced to one day in county jail, three years of probation, 52 weeks of anger management counseling and 30 days of community service. It was later revealed that the reason for the detention was a heated argument caused when Lōc confronted someone who was wearing a Confederate battle flag baseball cap. After the two arguing parties agreed to separate, Lōc was released and no charges were filed.

Health issues

Tone Loc has collapsed onstage multiple times since 1995; some if not all of these collapses have been due to seizures, according to at least one report. On May 29, 2009, he was rushed to a hospital

On October 15, 2011, Lōc was hospitalized for exhaustion after collapsing onstage during a concert in Atlanta, Georgia. He was taken to a local hospital and intravenously rehydrated. Another similar incident occurred in 2012. but refused hospital care.

Discography

Studio albums

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"

! rowspan="2"| Title

! rowspan="2"| Album details

! colspan="9"| Peak chart positions

! rowspan="2"| Certifications (sales threshold)

|- style="font-size:smaller;"

! style="width:35px;"| US

! style="width:35px;"| US R&B

! style="width:35px;"| AUS

! style="width:35px;"| CAN

! style="width:35px;"| AUT

! style="width:35px;"| NZ

! style="width:35px;"| SWE

! style="width:35px;"| SWI

! style="width:35px;"| UK

! scope="row"| Lōc-ed After Dark

Release date: January 23, 1989
Label: Delicious Vinyl

| 1

| 3

| 11

| 4

| 10

| 11

| 31

| 30

| 22

RIAA: 2× Platinum

! scope="row"| Cool Hand Lōc

Release date: November 19, 1991
Label: Delicious Vinyl

| —

| 46

| 129

| —

| 39

| —

| colspan="15" style="font-size:8pt"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart

Singles

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"

! rowspan="2"| Title

! rowspan="2"| Year

! colspan="10"| Peak chart positions

! rowspan="2"| Certifications (sales threshold)

! rowspan="2"| Album

|- style="font-size:smaller;"

! style="width:25px;"| US

! style="width:25px;"| US Rap

! style="width:25px;"| US R&B

! style="width:25px;"| US Dan

! style="width:25px;"| AUS

! style="width:25px;"| CAN

! style="width:25px;"| NZ

! style="width:25px;"| SWI

! style="width:25px;"| UK

| 1987

| —

| style="text-align:left;"| Non-album single

! scope="row"| "Wild Thing"

| 1988

| 2

| 3

| 1

| 15

| —

| 7

| 1

| 23

| 21

RIAA: 2× Platinum
ARIA: Gold

| style="text-align:left;" rowspan="3"| Lōc-ed After Dark

! scope="row"| "Funky Cold Medina"

| rowspan="2"| 1989

| 3

| 7

| 8

| 13

| 10

| 3

| 13

RIAA: Platinum
ARIA: Gold

| 1992

| —

! scope="row"| "Posse Love"

| 1993

| —

| style="text-align:left;"| Posse soundtrack

! scope="row"| "Ace Is in the House" (featuring Jim Carrey)

| 1994

| —

| style="text-align:left;"| Ace Ventura soundtrack

| colspan="15" style="font-size:8pt"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart

Notes

Featured singles

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"

! rowspan="2"| Title

! rowspan="2"| Year

! rowspan="2"| Artist

! colspan="2"| Peak chart positions

! rowspan="2"| Album

|- style="font-size:smaller;"

! style="width:40px;"| US

! style="width:40px;"| US R&B

! scope="row"| "We're All in the Same Gang"

| 1990

| West Coast Rap All-Stars

| 35

| 10

| style="text-align:left;"| Non-album single

Awards and nominations

{| class="wikitable"

! Year

! Association

! Category

! Nominated work

! Result

| 1989

| MTV Video Music Awards

| Best Rap Video

| "Wild Thing"

| rowspan="6"| 1990

| rowspan="2"| Grammy Awards

| Best New Artist

| Himself

| Best Rap Solo Performance

| "Funky Cold Medina"

| rowspan="4"| American Music Awards

| Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist

| Himself

| Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Album

| Lōc-ed After Dark

| Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop New Artist

| rowspan="2"| Himself

| Favorite Dance New Artist

| 1991

| Grammy Awards

| Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group

| "We're All in the Same Gang"

Filmography

Film

{| class="wikitable"

! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year

! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Title

! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role

! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes

| rowspan="2" | 1990

| The Adventures of Ford Fairlane

| Slam

| The Return of Superfly

| Unknown

| Uncredited

| rowspan="2" | 1992

| FernGully: The Last Rainforest

| Goanna

| Voice

| Bebe's Kids

| Pee-Wee