Angie Stone
Encyclopedia
Angie Stone is an American R&B
Contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...

 and soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

 singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

, record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

, and occasional actress. She has been nominated for three Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

. She is more successful on the charts R&B charts, with four Top 10 albums, forms including a number one album and 10 singles on the R&B chart, including a Top 10. She sold over 1.4 millions albums in U.S. and sold over 5 millions albums worldwide.

Biography

Stone was born in Columbia
Columbia, South Carolina
Columbia is the state capital and largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 129,272 according to the 2010 census. Columbia is the county seat of Richland County, but a portion of the city extends into neighboring Lexington County. The city is the center of a metropolitan...

, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

, where she began singing gospel music
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....

 at First Nazareth Baptist Church, under the leadership of Reverend Blakely N. Scott.

She has a daughter and son. Her daughter Diamond (born 1984) is from her marriage to Rodney Stone (also known as Lil' Rodney C!, from the hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

 group Funky Four Plus One
Funky Four Plus One
Funky Four Plus One was the first Hip-Hop/Rap group from The Bronx, New York, United States to receive a recording deal. They were notable for having a female MC, and were the first rap group to perform live on a national television broadcast...

). Diamond contributed background vocals to her 2007 song "Baby", and gave birth to Stone's grandson in 2008. During the 1990s Stone dated neo soul
Neo soul
The term neo soul was originally coined by Kedar Massenburg of Motown Records in the late 1990s as a marketing category following the commercial breakthroughs of artists such as D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, and Maxwell...

 singer D'Angelo
D'Angelo
Michael Eugene Archer , better known by his stage name D'Angelo, is an American R&B and neo soul singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He is known for his production and songwriting talents as much as for his vocal abilities, and often draws comparisons to his influences,...

. Their son Michael was born in 1998. Stone lives in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

 with her son and fiancé Ashanti, an airline auditor who has two children of his own.

Musical career

In the early 1980s, Stone (then known as Angie B.) was a member of The Sequence
The Sequence
The Sequence is a former female old school hip hop trio signed to the Sugar Hill label in the early-1980s. The group consisted of Cheryl Cook , Gwendolyn Chisolm , and lead singer/rapper Angie Brown Stone...

, a
female hip hop/funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

 trio consisting of Cheryl The Pearl and Blondie. They were the second rap group signed to the Sugar Hill Record Label after auditioning for Sylvia Robinson backstage at a Sugar Hill Gang concert in South Carolina. They had a hit in 1980 with "Funk You Up
Funk You Up
"Funk You Up" is a 1979 rap song by The Sequence. Dr. Dre used interpolations for his 1995 hit "Keep Their Heads Ringin'". In 2003, a semi-remake entitled "Love of My Life Worldwide" appeared on Erykah Badu's album, Worldwide Underground...

", which reached number fifteen on the U.S. Top Black Singles
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...

 chart, and a minor hit with "Monster Jam" featuring rapper Spoonie Gee
Spoonie Gee
Spoonie Gee is one of the earliest rap artists, and one of few rap artists to release records in the 1970s. He has been credited with originating the term 'hip hop' and some the themes in his music were precursors of Gangsta rap....

. The Sequence
The Sequence
The Sequence is a former female old school hip hop trio signed to the Sugar Hill label in the early-1980s. The group consisted of Cheryl Cook , Gwendolyn Chisolm , and lead singer/rapper Angie Brown Stone...

 enjoyed a series of rap hits as the first female rap group during the early years of Hip Hop. Such hits as "Funky Sound (Tear The Roof Off)" kept The Sequence touring with many of the Soul Bands of the day. She then worked with Mantronix
Mantronix
Mantronix was an influential 1980s hip hop and electro funk music group founded by DJ Kurtis Mantronik , and rapper MC Tee...

, before singing background on Lenny Kravitz
Lenny Kravitz
Leonard Albert "Lenny" Kravitz is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and arranger, whose "retro" style incorporates elements of rock, soul, R&B, funk, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, folk and ballads...

's fifth studio album, 5
5 (Lenny Kravitz album)
5 is the fifth studio album by American rock musician Lenny Kravitz, released on May 12, 1998 by Virgin Records America.The album contained hits such as "Fly Away," and "I Belong to You", which helped Kravitz to expand his success in Europe...

. The Sequence faded into obscurity as Hip Hop changed from its original party sound to a more gritty street art form.

Stone emerged during the 1990s as part of the R&B trio Vertical Hold which released the popular single "Seems You're Much Too Busy" as well as two albums: A Matter of Time (1993) and Head First (1995).

In 1996, she teamed up with Gerry DeVeaux (Lenny Kravitz's cousin) and together with Charlie Mole they formed Devox. They recorded one album, Devox Featuring Angie B. Stone. Released in Japan by Toshiba EMI and selected cuts featured on Gerry DeVeaux's Front Of The line via the UK Expansion Records
Expansion Records
Expansion Records is a British record label founded by Northern soul DJ Richard Searling and Soul Bowl owner John Anderson. In 1989 DJ, Author & Journalist Ralph Tee joined the label, which both he and Searling run to this day.-Label history:...

, which also included Stone-penned material.

Stone shared songwriting credits on D'Angelo's first two studio albums, Brown Sugar (1995) and Voodoo (2000), as well as providing backing vocals on tour with him.

Her solo debut album, Black Diamond, was released on September 28, 1999 on Arista Records
Arista Records
Arista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records...

; the album would eventually be certified gold by the RIAA
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...

. She has since also released, on Clive Davis
Clive Davis
Clive Davis is an American record producer and music industry executive. He has won five Grammy Awards and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer. From 1967 to 1973 he was the President of Columbia Records. He was the founder and president of Arista Records from 1975...

' J Records
J Records
J Records was an American record label, owned and operated by Sony Music Entertainment, and was distributed through the RCA Music Group.-Company history:...

, Mahogany Soul
Mahogany Soul
Mahogany Soul is the second studio album by American R&B-soul singer–songwriter Angie Stone, released in the United States on October 16, 2001 by J Records...

on October 16, 2001 (which also went gold), and Stone Love
Stone Love
Stone Love is the third studio album by American R&B-soul singer–songwriter Angie Stone, released in the United States on July 6, 2004 by J Records. It debuted at number fourteen on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart with 53,000 copies sold in its opening week.-Track listing:-Charts:-Release history:...

on July 6, 2004.

Much of Stone's solo material has significant soul influences and features notable samples
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...

. For example, her first solo single, "No More Rain (In This Cloud)" samples Gladys Knight & the Pips
Gladys Knight & the Pips
Gladys Knight & The Pips were an R&B/soul family musical act from Atlanta, Georgia, active from 1953 to 1989. The group was best known for their string of hit singles on Motown's "Soul" record label and Buddah Records from 1967 to 1975, including "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "Midnight...

' 1972 song "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)
Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)
"Neither One of Us " is a song recorded by Gladys Knight & the Pips. Released in 1973 from the album, Neither One of Us, the song spent four weeks at number one on the Soul Singles chart during the spring of that year. The song was also one of their biggest crossover hits, peaking at number 2 on...

", while "Wish I Didn't Miss You" samples The O'Jays
The O'Jays
The O'Jays are an American R&B group from Canton, Ohio, formed in 1963 and originally consisting of Eddie Levert , Walter Williams , William Powell , Bobby Massey and Bill Isles. The O'Jays were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004, and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005...

' 1972 song "Back Stabbers
Back Stabbers (song)
"Back Stabbers" is the second single from the 1979 album Love Explosion by Tina Turner.The song, along with the other two singles released from Love Explosion, was largely disco-oriented and was overlooked by audiences both in Europe and the United States due to the so called "anti-disco backlash"...

".

Stone sings the theme song for the UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...

/The CW
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...

's sitcom Girlfriends
Girlfriends
Girlfriends is an American comedy-drama sitcom that premiered on September 11, 2000, on UPN and aired on UPN's successor network, The CW, before being cancelled in 2008...

.

During an interview to BBC 1Xtra on August 27, 2006, Stone announced that she had signed to the reworked Stax Records
Stax Records
Stax Records is an American record label, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee.Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the name Stax Records was adopted in 1961. The label was a major factor in the creation of the Southern soul and Memphis soul music styles, also releasing gospel, funk, jazz, and...

. Her fourth studio album |-
The Art of Love & War was released on October 15, 2007. The lead single is "Baby" and features Betty Wright
Betty Wright
Bessie Regina Norris, better known by her stage name, Betty Wright , is a Grammy winning Miami-based soul and R&B singer-songwriter, who won fame in the 1970s with hits such as "Clean Up Woman" and "Tonight Is the Night"...

. Its music video features cameo appearances by comedian Mike Epps
Mike Epps
Michael Elliot "Mike" Epps is an American stand-up comedian, actor, film producer, writer, singer, and rapper. He is best known for playing Day-Day Jones in Next Friday and the sequel-to-the-sequel, Friday After Next, and also starring alongside Ice Cube in All About the Benjamins...

 and America's Next Top Model, Cycle 3
America's Next Top Model, Cycle 3
America's Next Top Model, Cycle 3 debuted on September 22, 2004. It was the first cycle to gain partnership with cosmetics magnate CoverGirl and ran weekly commercials during the show named Beauty Tip of the Week with Jay Manuel and Elsa Benitez as well as the CoverGirl of the Week contest. Also...

winner Eva Pigford. The song was nominated for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
The Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal was awarded between 1970 and 2011. From 1967 to 1969 and in 1971 the award included instrumental performances...

 at the 2008 Grammy Awards
50th Grammy Awards
The 50th Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, on February 10, 2008. Kanye West received the most nominations, with eight. Amy Winehouse was the big winner, winning a total of five awards. Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters won Album of the Year,...

.

Angie released her fifth studio album titled "Unexpected
Unexpected (Angie Stone album)
Unexpected is the fifth studio album by American R&B-soul singer–songwriter Angie Stone. The lead single, "I Ain't Hearin' U," premiered on Stone's website on October 5, 2009....

" in the UK on February 8, 2010 on Stax Records
Stax Records
Stax Records is an American record label, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee.Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the name Stax Records was adopted in 1961. The label was a major factor in the creation of the Southern soul and Memphis soul music styles, also releasing gospel, funk, jazz, and...

. Speaking to noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning Blues & Soul
Blues & Soul
Blues & Soul is a British music magazine covering black music. Genres covered include soul, R&B, jazz, hip hop, reggae and world music. It was first published in 1966 and is known for first using the term Northern Soul....

 in January 2010, she explained her ideas behind 'Unexpected': "Being as I've delivered four decent albums already, I felt it was safe to switch up and do something different this time. And musically overall I just wanted to have FUN! I wanted to do something that embodied a jam kinda feel, so that we could have some fun in concert and show people everything doesn't always have to be so serious."

Tours

Stone recently finished a stand-up theatre play tour entitled Issues: We've Got Them All in which she had a leading role. She appeared on the VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...

's reality television series Celebrity Fit Club for the fourth season, which began on August 6, 2006. While on the show, Stone lost eighteen pounds, the second lowest loss in the history of the show.

Stone has had various Summer Festival dates lined up across America and also three headlining American shows in June and another two in the Netherlands in August.

Stone toured with Sisters in the Spirit in 2007; toured in Europe in May/June 2008; toured on various Summer Festivals in the U.S. in summer 2008 (including three headlining June shows); and two in the Netherlands in August 2008.

Discography

Studio Albums
  • 1999: Black Diamond
  • 2001: Mahogany Soul
    Mahogany Soul
    Mahogany Soul is the second studio album by American R&B-soul singer–songwriter Angie Stone, released in the United States on October 16, 2001 by J Records...

  • 2004: Stone Love
    Stone Love
    Stone Love is the third studio album by American R&B-soul singer–songwriter Angie Stone, released in the United States on July 6, 2004 by J Records. It debuted at number fourteen on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart with 53,000 copies sold in its opening week.-Track listing:-Charts:-Release history:...

  • 2007: The Art of Love & War
  • 2009: Unexpected
    Unexpected (Angie Stone album)
    Unexpected is the fifth studio album by American R&B-soul singer–songwriter Angie Stone. The lead single, "I Ain't Hearin' U," premiered on Stone's website on October 5, 2009....


Films

Year Title Role
2002 The Hot Chick
The Hot Chick
The Hot Chick is a 2002 American comedy film about a teenage girl whose body is magically swapped with that of a 30-year-old criminal. It was directed by Tom Brady and produced by Guy Riedel for Happy Madison and Touchstone Pictures, from a screenplay by Tom Brady and Rob Schneider...

Madame Mambuza
2003 The Fighting Temptations
The Fighting Temptations
The Fighting Temptations is a 2003 American musical dramedy film produced by Paramount Pictures and MTV Films. It stars Cuba Gooding, Jr. as the film's protagonist as he attempts to revive a church choir in order to enter a gospel competition with the help of a beautiful lounge singer with whom he...

Alma
2008 Caught on Tape Diane
2009 Pastor Brown Rick Fredericks
2010 School Gyrls Headmaster Jones
2011 Dreams

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2000 Moesha
Moesha
Moesha is an American sitcom series that aired on the UPN network from January 23, 1996 to May 14, 2001. The series stars R&B singer Brandy Norwood as Moesha Mitchell, a high school student living with her family in the Leimert Park neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles.-Overview:The show...

Herself "D-Money Loses His Patience" (season 5, episode 22)
2002 Girlfriends
Girlfriends
Girlfriends is an American comedy-drama sitcom that premiered on September 11, 2000, on UPN and aired on UPN's successor network, The CW, before being cancelled in 2008...

Darla Mason "Blinded by the Lights" (season 3, episode 51)
2004 One on One
One on One (TV series)
One on One is an American sitcom that aired on the now-defunct UPN from its September 3, 2001 premiere until May 15, 2006. The series stars Flex Alexander as a single sportscaster, who becomes a full-time dad when his ex-wife decides to accept a job out of the country and his teenage daughter...

Herself "It's a Mad, Mad Hip Hop World" (season 3, episode 92)
2008 Lincoln Heights
Lincoln Heights (TV series)
Lincoln Heights is an American drama television series about Eddie Sutton, a Mission Vista police officer who moves his family back to his old neighborhood, Lincoln Heights, to start a new life and to help out his old neighborhood...

Octavia "Prom Night" (season 3, episode 9)
"The Ground Beneath Our Feet" (season 3, episode 10)

Theatre

Year Title Role
2003 Chicago
Chicago (musical)
Chicago is a musical set in Prohibition-era Chicago. The music is by John Kander with lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal"...

Big Mama Morton

Wins

  • 2000 Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards
    Soul Train Music Awards
    The Soul Train Music Awards is an annual award show which previously aired in national television syndication, and honors the best in Black music and entertainment...

    : Best R&B/Soul Single, Solo for "No More Rain (In This Cloud)"
  • 2000 Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards: Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist, Solo
  • 2004 Edison Award for Stone Love

Nominations

  • 2003 Grammy Awards: Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
    Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
    The Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal was awarded between 1970 and 2011. From 1967 to 1969 and in 1971 the award included instrumental performances...

     for "More Than a Woman" (with Joe
    Joe (singer)
    Joseph Lewis Thomas , usually credited simply as Joe, is an American R&B singer and record producer.-Early life:Joe is a native of Cuthbert, Georgia and later moved to Opelika, Alabama. The son of two preachers, Joe spent much time in church singing, playing guitar, and even directing the choir...

    )
  • 2004 Grammy Awards: Best Female R&B Vocal Performance
    Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance
    The Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to female recording artists for quality R&B songs...

     for "U-Haul"
  • 2008 Grammy Awards
    50th Grammy Awards
    The 50th Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, on February 10, 2008. Kanye West received the most nominations, with eight. Amy Winehouse was the big winner, winning a total of five awards. Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters won Album of the Year,...

    : Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for "Baby" (with Betty Wright)
  • 2008 BET Awards
    BET Awards
    The BET Awards were established in 2001 by the Black Entertainment Television network to celebrate African Americans and other minorities in music, acting, sports, and other fields of entertainment over the past year. The awards are presented annually and broadcast live on BET...

    : BET J Award
  • 2008 BET J Virtual Awards: Album of the Year for The Art of Love & War

External links


t
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK