Soul singer Angie Stone dead at 63
The soul singer Angie Stone has died at the age of 63. The ‘Wish I Didn’t Miss You’ performer was killed in a car crash.
Stone had been on her way home from a concert when a vehicular collision occurred in Montgomery, Alabama. It appears that she was the only person to die in the crash.
A representative of the singer informed Variety of the crash and Stone’s subsequent passing. This was followed by confirmation from her daughter, Diamond Stone, who released a public statement simply saying, “My mommy is gone”.
Stone is viewed as a pivotal figure across a range of genres. While the bulk of her work has occurred in the soul arena, she first emerged on the scene as a founding member of the all-female hip hop trio Sequence. Stone was only 16 when the ground-breaking group first came to public attention.
In an age where hip hop was still in its infancy and largely a male-dominated genre, the trio scored an unlikely hit with ‘Funk You Up’. The track went on to be sampled by Dr Dre and proved resurgent when Bruno Mars’ record-breaking track, ‘Uptown Funk’, also sampled it.
Reflecting on her success in 2023, she told RnBJunkie, “I think that being the first female rap group to actually come out and have an authentic original rap record is an accomplishment that no one else has been able to top.”
While the group disbanded in the mid-1980s after helping to propel the emerging genre towards the mainstream, Stone continued to work in music in various ways. Alongside collaborations with Devox and Vertical Hold, she also has an array of songwriting credits, including tracks for D’Angelo and contributions to Lenny Kravitz records.
In 1999, she released her first solo album, Black Diamond. It pushed Stone back towards the spotlight with ‘Life Story’ and ‘No More Rain (In This Cloud)’ scoring hits. She then wrote the theme for the sitcom Girlfriends and continually performed live.
The Grammy-nominated star is remembered as a creative force who simply loved performing, even featuring in movies like Chicago and The Hot Chick.
It is believed that nobody else was seriously injured in the crash.
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