The Detroit-based R&B trio Willie Max comprised sisters Rose, Sky and Lyric Smith. Beginning their careers during the late 1980s as teens performing under the name the Smith Reflections, the group opened for acts including Tony! Toni! Tone!, whose Raphael Saddiq became the sisters' mentor; rechristening themselves Willie Max after the respective first names of their father and mother, issuing their debut LP Bona Fide (the first release on Saddiq's Pookie Records label) in 1998.