Angie Stone

In a career spanning more than four decades, singer and songwriter Angie Stone made her mark on hip-hop, R&B, and especially the subgenre of neo-soul. Stone passed away in 2025, age 63. • Growing up in South Carolina, Stone sang gospel music at the First Nazareth Baptist Church. • In the late ’70s, she formed the rap trio The Sequence, which signed to Sugar Hill Records. Their 1979 single “Funk You Up” became the first rap hit by a female group. The song was interpolated in Dr. Dre’s 1995 hit “Keep Their Heads Ringin’.” • After working with the rap group Mantronix, she became the lead singer of the R&B group Vertical Hold in the early ’90s. They released two albums before splitting up. • In 1996, Stone formed the group Devox with Gerry DeVaus (Lenny Kravitz’s cousin) and Charlie Mole. They released one album together, 1996’s Devox featuring Angie B. Stone. • After serving as a backing vocalist for Lenny Kravitz’s 1998 album 5, Stone signed with Arista and released her solo debut album, Black Diamond, in 1999. • In 2006, Stone signed with the legendary soul label Stax and released two albums: 2007’s The Art of Love (No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B chart) and 2009’s Unexpected. • Her 2016 album Covered in Soul featured renditions of popular songs by Neil Diamond, Phil Collins, Bob Marley, and others. • Stone also dabbled in acting, appearing in films like The Hot Chick (2002) and The Fighting Temptations (2003) and TV series like Girlfriends, for which she recorded the theme song.