Angie Stone

Angela Laverne Stone (née Brown; December 18, 1961 – March 1, 2025) was an American singer-songwriter, rapper, actress, and record producer. With a career spanning over four decades, she has been credited with revolutionizing the sound of hip-hop and neo soul.

Originally known as Angie B., she rose to fame in 1979 as a member of The Sequence, the first female music act in hip hop music. In the early 1990s, she became a member of the R&B group Vertical Hold. In late 1990s, she pursued a solo career as Angie Stone and signed with Arista Records to release her debut solo album Black Diamond (1999), which received a gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and spawned the single "No More Rain (In This Cloud)". After transitioning to J Records, she released her second album, Mahogany Soul (2001), which spawned the hit single "Wish I Didn't Miss You". It was followed by Stone Love (2004) and The Art of Love & War (2007), the latter which became her first and only number-one album on the US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

Stone ventured into acting in the 2000s, making her film debut in the 2002 comedy film The Hot Chick, and her stage debut in 2003, in the role of Big Mama Morton in the Broadway musical Chicago. She then went on to appear in supporting roles in films and television series as well as several musical productions, including VH1's Celebrity Fit Club and TV One's R&B Divas, and movies such as The Fighting Temptations (2003), Pastor Brown (2009), and School Gyrls (2010).

Her accolades included two Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards and an Edison Award, alongside nominations for three Grammy Awards and three Soul Train Music Awards. In 2021, she was honored with the Soul Music Icon Award at the Black Music Honors, followed by her induction into the Women Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2024. Over the course of her career, she earned two Gold-certified studio albums with total solo sales exceeding five million records worldwide.

Early life

Angela Laverne Brown was born in Columbia, South Carolina, to Iona Williams (née Brown), a hospital technician, and Bobby Williams, a lawyer's assistant and gospel singer. She attended W.A. Perry Middle School and later C.A. Johnson High School. Brown was also a member of the choir at First Nazareth Baptist Church in Columbia where she sang her first solo.

Career

1979–1985: Career beginnings and The Sequence

In 1979, Brown formed a female hip-hop group known as The Sequence. Brown, along with her childhood friends and group mates Gwendolyn Chisolm and Cheryl Cook, attended a concert by hip-hop group The Sugarhill Gang. The group made their way backstage and met Sylvia Robinson who was the CEO of hip hop label Sugar Hill Records. They auditioned for Robinson who signed them to the label as their first female act. While in the group, Brown adopted the stage name Angie B. They released their debut single "Funk You Up" in December 1979. The song became one of the first original hip hop songs to be released without sampling. "Funk You Up" peaked at number fifteen on the Hot Soul Singles. In 1980, The Sequence released their debut album Sugarhill presents The Sequence, which received positive reviews from music critics.

In 1981, the group began doing session work for other music acts on Sugar Hill Records. They wrote and provided background vocals for "Sing a Simple Song" and "Let's Dance (Make Your Body Move)" by West Street Mob, the latter of which peaked at number eighty-eight on Billboard's Hot 100 chart and number eighteen on the Hot Soul Singles. In 1982, The Sequence released their self-titled second album, which peaked at number fifty-one on the Black LPs chart. The album's first single "I Don't Need Your Love (Part One)" peaked at number forty on Billboard's Hot Soul Singles chart. In 1983, they released their third album The Sequence Party. The Sequence followed up with the release of their single "I Just Want to Know". In 1985, they released their final singles: "Funk You Up '85" and "Control".

In 1985, the group refused to renew their recording contract after a dispute with Sugar Hill Records CEO Sylvia Robinson. The group's dispute with the label stemmed from not being paid their royalties from the songs they wrote and recorded. The group also felt like the money from their royalties were being used to support other musical acts on Sugar Hill Records. Stone briefly pursued a solo music career and also began working at Kiss-FM radio station in New York. Angie B. began performing as Angie B. Stone and later simply Angie Stone, carrying the last name of her first husband Rodney "Lil' Rodney C" Stone.

1986–1996: Vertical Hold and DeVox

Following her departure from Sugar Hill Records, Stone made attempts to start a solo career. She began writing solo material and booked studio time at her own expense. Through the studio's engineer Gordon Mack III, Stone was introduced to musicians David Bright and Willie Bruno Jr., who were impressed by her songwriting abilities and asked her to write on their songs. While she initially saw the collaboration as just an opportunity to work in the studio for free and have access to a team of musicians, it eventually led to the formation of the R&B/hip hop quartet It's Us. Renamed Vertical Hold, they released their first single "Summertime" in 1988 on Criminal Records. The group secured a recording deal with A&M Records. In 1990, Stone performed as the saxophonist for Lenny Kravitz's Let Love Rule Tour.

In June 1993, the group released their debut album A Matter of Time. The album peaked at number thirty-three on the US Top R&B Albums chart, selling over 62,000 copies in the first week of its release. The album's lead single "Seems You're Much Too Busy" peaked at number seventeen on the US Hot R&B Singles chart. Their follow-up single "A.S.A.P." peaked at number eighty-three on the US Hot R&B Singles chart. Through their parent label Universal Records, Stone was offered a songwriting deal with Midnight Songs LLC. She was eventually brought in to help newly signed singer D'Angelo complete his first album Brown Sugar.

In early 1995, Stone vocally arranged the single "Freedom (Theme from Panther)", which became the theme song for drama film Panther. In May 1995, Vertical Hold released their second and final album Head First. Due to a lack of promotional support from their record label, Vertical Hold parted way at the end of 1995. Also in the same year, Stone toured as a background vocalist for D'Angelo's Brown Sugar Tour. One of their concerts was recorded at Jazz Café in London, England, on September 14, 1995, and released as D'Angelo's live album Live at the Jazz Cafe (1998). In 1996, Stone became a featured vocalist for Gerry DeVeaux and Charlie Mole who had formed a group called DeVox. The group released an album titled Devox featuring Angie B. Stone, exclusively in Japan. The project caught the attention of Arista Records A&R manager Peter Edge, which lead to Stone being offered a solo recording contract with Arista Records.

1997–2004: Black Diamond, Mahogany Soul, and career breakthrough

In September 1999, Stone released her debut solo album Black Diamond on Arista Records. Black Diamond peaked at number forty-six on the Billboard 200 chart and number nine on the US Top R&B Albums chart. The album's lead single, "No More Rain (In This Cloud)", peaked at number fifty-six on Billboard Hot 100 and also became Stone's first number-one song on the US Adult R&B Songs chart, spending ten weeks atop of the chart. The singles "Life Story and "Everyday" peaked in the top twenty on the UK Hip Hop and R&B Singles chart. Black Diamond was eventually certified gold by both the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Stone also won Best Solo R&B/Soul New Artist and Best Solo R&B/Soul Single for "No More Rain (In This Cloud)" at the 2000 Soul Train Music Awards. She also co-wrote four songs on D'Angelo's album Voodoo (2000).