Angie Stone, R&B singer from the Sequence, dies in car crash
Angie Stone, the Grammy-nominated R&B singer-songwriter who rose to fame in the late 1970s as 'Angie B' in the hip-hop trio the Sequence, died in a car crash Saturday morning. She was 63.
Stone was leaving a performance in Montgomery, Alabama, with a band member driving when the accident occurred, her publicist, Deborah R. Champagne, told The Washington Post. She was the only person in the car who died.
The veteran entertainer was scheduled to perform a show later in the day at the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) Basketball Tournament in Baltimore, Champagne added. The game instead included a moment of silence in her honor.
Stone formed the Sequence with her fellow Columbia, South Carolina, natives: Cheryl Cook (known as 'Cheryl The Pearl') and Gwendolyn 'Blondy' Chisolm. They became the first female hip-hop trio to be signed to Sugar Hill Records, a label founded by Sylvia and Joe Robinson and named after a Harlem neighborhood.
The group's most popular tune, 'Funk You Up' from 1979, has been sampled in numerous hit songs, including in Dr. Dre's 1995 track 'Keep Their Heads Ringin.'' Stone was also featured in Erykah Badu's 'Love of My Life Worldwide,' a semi remake of the song.
In the 1990s, Stone became the lead singer of the R&B group Vertical Hold, alongside Willie Bruno II and David Bright. The members released two albums with hits including 'Seems You're Much Too Busy' and 'Matter of Time.'
In the 2000s and 2010s, she established a critically acclaimed solo career and, as a Post album review put it, a 'silky, sample-heavy brand of neo-soul.' From 1999 to 2023, she released 10 albums, peaking in the top 15 with songs including 'Wish I Didn't Miss You,' 'I Ain't Hearin' You' and 'Do What U Gotta Do.'
Stone was nominated for three Grammys: for 'More Than A Woman' from her second album, 'Mahogany Soul'; for 'U-Haul' off her third album, 'Stone Love'; and for 'Baby,' from her fourth album, 'The Art of Love & War.'
She also found success as a songwriter, penning music for artists such as her former partner, D'Angelo, and the Sugarhill Gang. She was inducted into the Women Songwriters Hall of Fame last year.
Champagne said Stone was a friend and like a sister to her, and she called Stone a 'prodigy' and a 'brilliant storyteller.'
'She would just tell me stories that I would be like, my mouth would drop. I'd be like, 'Oh my God, really?'' Champagne said. 'She transported you there. That's the kind of talent she was.'
Stone had two children, Michael and Diamond, and two grandchildren.
Her daughter, Diamond, shared the news of her mother's death on Facebook, saying 'My mommy is gone' with a string of crying emojis Saturday afternoon.
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