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Angie Stone
Background information
Birth name	Angela Laverne Brown
Born	January 30, 1961 (1961-01-30) (age 47)citation needed Columbia, South Carolina, United States
Genre(s)	R&B, soul, neo soul, alternative hip hop
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, keyboardist, record producer, actress
Instrument(s)	Singing, keyboards
Years active	1979–present
Label(s)	Arista/BMG Records J/SBMG Records Stax/Concord Records
Associated acts	The Sequence Vertical Hold Kurtis Mantronik Devox Joss Stone Anthony Hamilton
Website	www.angiestoneonline.net

Angie Stone (born Angela Laverne Brown on January 30, 1961^{citation needed}) is an American R&B, soul, and neo soul singer-songwriter, keyboardist, record producer, and occasional actress. She was nominated for the 2008 Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for her duet with Betty Wright from the hit single "Baby".

Biography

Stone was born in Columbia, South Carolina, where she began singing gospel music at First Nazareth Baptist Church, under the leadership of Reverend Blakely N. Scott.

She has two children, a daughter (b. 1989) and son Michael (b. 1998). Michael is her son with soul music singer D'Angelo, whom Stone dated during the 1990s. Her daughter contributes background vocals to her 2007 song "Baby".

Stone sings the theme song for the UPN/CW's sitcom Girlfriends.

She is engaged to Ashanti, an airline auditor with two kids of his own ¹.

Musical Career

In the early 1980s, Stone (then known as Angie B.) was a member of The Sequence, a major female hip hop/funk trio. They had a hit in 1980 with "Funk You Up", which reached number fifteen on the U.S. Top Black Singles chart and a minor hit with "Monster Jam" featuring rapper Spoonie Gee. She then worked with Mantronix, before singing background for Lenny Kravitz's fifth studio album 5.

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 DeVaux (Lenny Kravitz's cousin) and together with Charlie Mole they formed Devox. They recorded one album, Devox Featuring Angie B. Stone, released in Japan only on Toshiba-EMI, including 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; the album would eventually go gold. She has since also released, on Clive Davis' J Records, Mahogany Soul on October 16, 2001 (which also went gold), and Stone Love on July 6, 2004.

Much of Stone's solo material has significant hip hop and soul influences and features notable samples. For example, her first solo single, "No More Rain (In This Cloud)" samples Gladys Knight & the Pips' 1972 "Neither One of Us (Want to Be the First to Say Goodbye)", and "Wish I Didn't Miss You" samples The O'Jays' 1972 "Back Stabbers".

2006–current

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'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.

During an interview to BBC 1Xtra on August 27, 2006, Stone announced that she had signed to the reworked Stax Records². Her fourth studio album The Art of Love & War was released on October 15, 2007. The lead single is "Baby" and features Betty Wright. The music video has comedian Mike Epps and ANTM winner Eva Pigford.

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 US in summer 2008( including 3 headlining June shows); and two in the Netherlands in August 2008.

Discography

Albums

• 1999: Black Diamond
• 2001: Mahogany Soul
• 2004: Stone Love
• 2005: Stone Hits: The Very Best of Angie Stone
• 2007: The Art of Love & War

Singles

Album appearances

Other collaborations

Soundtracks

Filmography

Films

Television

Theatre

Awards and nominations

Wins

• 2000 Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards: "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 Dutch Edison Award for Stone Love

Nominations

• 2003 Grammy Awards: "Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals" for "More Than a Woman" (with Joe)
• 2004 Grammy Awards: "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance" for "U-Haul"
• 2008 Grammy Awards: "Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals" for "Baby" (with Betty Wright)
• 2008 BET Awards: Betj Award
• 2008 BET J VIRTUAL AWARDS: Album of the Year: The Art of Love and War

References

External links

• Official website
• Angie Stone at Allmusic
• Angie Stone at the Internet Movie Database