Angie Stone died at 63 – American singer
Biography and cause of death of Angie Stone
Angie Stone American singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer Angela Laverne Stone was born Brown on December 18, 1961, and passed away on March 1, 2025. She became famous in the late ’70s when she was a member of the Sequence, a hip-hop trio. Vertical Hold, an R&B trio, recruited her in the early ’90s. After that, Stone joined Arista Records and released her first solo album, Black Diamond (1999). The album was certified gold by the RIAA and produced the hit “No More Rain (In This Cloud)”.
Angie Stone moved to J Records and put out Mahogany Soul (2001), her second album, which included the song “Wish I Didn’t Miss You” and many more hits. The Art of Love & War(2007) became her first album to reach number one on the US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums list, after Stone Love (2004).
In the 2000s, Stone dabbled in acting, taking the lead in the comedic picture The Hot Chick (2002) and made her theatrical debut in 2003 as Big Mama Morton in the Broadway musical Chicago. After that, she had guest appearances in a number of films and TV shows, including School Gyrls (2010), Pastor Brown (2009), and The Fighting Temptations (2003), and she was in a number of musicals, including R&B Divas on TV One and Celebrity Fit Club on VH1.
With two Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards under her belt, Stone also received three Grammy nominations. The Black Music Honors presented her with the Soul Music Icon Award in 2021. Damon Little’s “No Stressing” reached number one on Billboard’s Gospel Airplay chart in 2024 with her featured vocals.
Tragically, Stone passed away on March 1, 2025, in a vehicle accident.
Background Angie Stone started singing gospel music at the First Nazareth Baptist Church in Columbia, South Carolina, when she was a little girl, under the guidance of Reverend Blakely N. Scott. Stone was taken to concerts by gospel groups including the Gospel Keynotes and the Singing Angels by her father, who was a member of a neighborhood quartet.
The Years 1979–1985: The Order of Events
Angie Stone , together with Cheryl “The Pearl” Cook and Gwendolyn “Blondie” Chisolm, created the female hip-hop trio The Sequence in the late 1970s, when Angie Stone was sixteen years old. After impressing manager Sylvia Robinson during an impromptu South Carolina Sugar Hill Gang performance, the trio became the second rap group to be signed to Sugar Hill Records.
“Funk You Up” by The Sequence was a Top Black Singles chart-topper in the United States in 1980, peaking at number fifteen. In the early days of hip hop, the trio had a string of successful rap singles as the first female rap group. Their mentor, Robinson, kept the band on the road with hits like “Monster Jam” (with rapper Spoonie Gee) and “Funky Sound (Tear The Roof Off). As hip-hop evolved from its dance floor roots to a more edgy street art style, the trio fell into oblivion and broke up in 1985.
Vertical Hold, Black Diamond, and a breakthrough in the industry from 1986 to 2005
Vertical Hold, in which Stone played lead vocals, issued the hit single “Seems You’re Much Too Busy” and the albums A Matter of Time (1993) and Head First (1995), after Stone’s stint with the hip-hop and electro-funk band Mantronix (1995). The band Devox was formed in 1996 by Stone, Gerry DeVeaux (the cousin of singer Lenny Kravitz), and Charlie Mole. Toshiba EMI published their sole album in Japan, Devox, which featured Angie B. Stone.
Included on Gerry DeVeaux’s Front of the Line via Expansion Records were selected tracks, some of which were written by Stone. Angie Stone , who is signed to Jocelyn Cooper’s Midnight Songs, contributed to the composition for Brown Sugar (1995) and Voodoo (2000), the first two studio albums by D’Angelo, and sang backup vocals on tour with him. Additionally, she contributed background vocals on 5 (1998), Lenny Kravitz’s fifth studio album.
Angie Stone in the year 1997
Angie Stone was introduced to Arista Records chief Clive Davis by then-A&R manager Peter Edge in the late ’90s. His invitation to record solo for the company led to the September 1999 release of Black Diamond, her first album as a solo artist. It debuted at number ten on Billboard’s US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums list after receiving mostly good reviews upon its release; the album was named after her daughter Diamond Ti’ara, who was only a teenager at the time. The album Black Diamond, which included the smash single “No More Rain (In This Cloud)” on the Adult R&B Songs chart, was later certified gold by the RIAA and the BPI. Two nominations for Stone’s 2000 Soul Train Music Awards came from the track.
Angie Stone moved on from Arista to J Records, the business of music manager Clive Davis, in the year 2000. She also recorded a cameo appearance in the third season episode “Blinded by the Lights” and the theme song for the UPN/The CW series Girlfriends, which starred Tracee Ellis Ross, the same year. After that, on October 16, 2001, she released Mahogany Soul, her second album, on the label.
Angie Stone worked with a larger variety of modern R&B artists on the album, including Raphael Saadiq, Eve, Swizz Beatz, Carvin & Ivan, and Alicia Keys. It reached number four on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums after its release to positive reviews, and it also reached the top twenty on the album charts in the Netherlands, Finland, and Flanders.
For Mahogany Soul, Angie Stone received gold from both the BPI and the RIAA. As the first single from the album, “Wish I Didn’t Miss You” became her most successful worldwide song to date, topping Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart and entering the top 10 in Belgium and Australia. While performing a duet with Joe, “More Than Woman” was nominated for Stone’s first Grammy at the 45th annual event for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.
Among Stone’s 2002 credits are her roles as shop owner Madame Mambuza in Rob Schneider’s American adolescent comedy The Hot Chick and her appearance on Girlfriends. The film was a minor success at the US box office despite receiving mostly poor reviews from reviewers due to its crude and elitist comedy. Beyoncé, Cuba Gooding, Jr., and the singer herself played the part of Alma in the musical comedy-drama The Fighting Temptations, written and directed by Jonathan Lynn, the next year. It was less financially successful than The Hot Chick after its release, which was met with mixed reviews. Stone and Eddie Levert collaborated on the soundtrack’s “Rain Down” duet.
In June 2004, her third studio album, Stone Love, came out. While collaborating with Stone, Davis sought advice from Warryn Campbell, Jazze Pha, and Missy Elliott. Stone herself wrote and produced half of the final track listing. With 53,000 copies sold in its first week of release, the album debuted at number fourteen on the US Billboard 200. It also reached the top twenty in Belgium, Finland, Sweden, and the Netherlands. The track “I Wanna Thank Ya” featuring Snoop Dogg was released before it, and it was a top five smash in Belgium and Stone’s second US Dance Club Songs chart #1.
In 2005, Angie Stone started recording what was supposed to be her fifth studio album. However, in order to save money, J Records requested that she send her new material—including the unreleased single “I Wasn’t Kidding”—to her first compilation album, Stone Hits: The Very Best of Angie Stone, which included songs from her first three albums. At the end of 2005, after Stone had been with the firm for five years, he requested and was granted an unconditional discharge.
released between 2006 and 2014: Love and War and Other Works
From July 11, 2008, Stone performed live in Rotterdam, Netherlands, during the North Sea Jazz Festival.
Angie Stone made an appearance in the August 6, 2006, premiere of the fourth season of the VH1 reality show Celebrity Fit Club. She achieved the second-lowest weight reduction in the show’s history—18 pounds—during her time on the program. That was also the year that Stone joined with Stax Records after its revamp.
Angie Stone was anticipated to help foster fresh talent during her last days at J Records, and her fourth studio album, The Art of Love & War, was released on October 15, 2007. With 45,000 first-week sales, the album at #11 on the US Billboard 200 and became Stone’s highest-charting album to date.
It was also her first and only album to ever top the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. As the album’s first single, “Baby”—a duet with Betty Wright—became Stone’s second number one on the US Adult R&B Songs and garnered her third Grammy Award nomination.
Unexpected, Stone’s fifth studio album, was released in November 2009 and was her second attempt with Stax Records. The album heralded a departure from Stone’s distinctive sound, with its peppy R&B and funk overtones, and was partially inspired by her father’s untimely death, which occurred during the album’s recording sessions. The album was a commercial flop; it didn’t even make it into the US Billboard 200 album list when it came out.
Among Billboard’s Adult R&B Songs, the first song “I Ain’t Hearin’ U” peaked at number fourteen. Angie Stone had a small part as the proprietor of a strip club in Pastor Brown, a comedic drama directed by Rockmond Dunbar and released in 2009.
For the 2009 civil rights documentary Soundtrack for a Revolution, she also sang the song “Wade in the Water” the same year (2009). School Gyrls (2010), directed by Nick Cannon and featuring several Def Jam musicians, was released in 2010. Stone subsequently portrayed the role of head matron of an all-girls school in the film.
The play Loving Him is Killing Me, which Stone co-starred in with NeNe Leakes in May 2011, was staged in Philadelphia, Miami, and Washington, DC. Tyson Beckford and Christopher Williams were among the actors in the play written by Theo London. Rich Girl was released on September 25, 2012, by Stone, who had signed to Saguaro Road Records, an in-house music label of Time-Life, in 2012. actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner added a spoken-word interlude in the manner of poetry slams to the album.
The nationwide tour of Hinton Battle’s Love Lies began with an engagement at the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C. in April 2013, and featured Stone and Brian McKnight, who had previously performed together in Broadway’s Chicago. Among the other cast members were Elise Neal and Crystal Aikin. Season two of R&B Divas, which aired on TVOne in 2013, also included Stone. Mentoring and life coaching were two of Stone’s responsibilities.
Angie Stone The Years 2015–2025: A Vision and a Reunion
Shanachie Entertainment, TopNotch Music, and Conjunction Entertainment collaborated to release Stone’s seventh studio album, Dream, in November 2015. In addition to Stone, the record was co-written by Hallway Productionz, former members of The Clutch Candice Nelson, and producer Walter Millsap III. Critics praised the album, calling it “another solid and empowering effort,” and it debuted at #3 on the Top Hip-Hop/R&B Albums list with about 9,000 copies sold in its first week.
On the Adult R&B Angie Stone chart, the album’s first track “2 Bad Habits” had a modest level of success. Covered in Soul, Stone’s cover album including covers of songs by Neil Diamond, Phil Collins, and Hot Chocolate, was released via Goldenlane Records after Stone changed labels again. Before it, the uncharted single “These Eyes”—a cover of the Guess Who’s song of the same name—was released.
Full Circle, Stone’s eighth studio album, was released in July 2019 on Cleopatra Records and Conjunction Entertainment. Standout track “Dinosaur” from the album is produced by Walter Millsap III & Hallway Productionz.
Stone became a member of the Women Songwriters Hall of Fame in June 1924.
Pristine family life included two children for Stone. The daughter of Stone and her husband, Rodney Stone (as Lil’ Rodney C! of the Funky Four Plus One), Diamond was born in 1984. The 2007 single “Baby” by Rolling Stone included Diamond on background vocals. Diamond had Stone’s first grandchild in 2008 and welcomed his second in July 2012.
The neo soul musician D’Angelo was Stone’s boyfriend in the ’90s. Their son, Michael D’Angelo Archer II, was born in 1998.
Michael and Diamond, Stone’s children, resided in Atlanta, Georgia.
Angie Stone was reportedly arrested for hitting her 30-year-old daughter in March 2015.
Angie Stone was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 1999[49] and, along with actor and comedian Anthony Anderson, was a part of the Eli Lilly and Company-sponsored F.A.C.E. Diabetes (Fearless African-Americans Connected and Empowered) program, which teaches African Americans about diabetes risk and management. According to Stone, her mother and her mother’s sister were both diagnosed with diabetes.
Zeta Phi Beta was the sorority that Stone was an honorary member of. She became a member of the sorority in July 2024 at the Boulé in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Angie Stone Death
Angie Stone passed away on March 1, 2025, in Montgomery, Alabama, as a result of a car accident. After a performance in Mobile, Alabama, Stone and her band were driving to Atlanta in a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van when they were involved in a car crash.