Angie Stone - Musical Career

Musical Career

In the early 1980s, Stone (then known as Angie B.) was a member of The Sequence, a female hip hop/funk trio consisting of Cheryl The Pearl and Blondie. They were the second rap group signed to the Sugar Hill Record Label after auditioning for Sylvia Robinson backstage at a Sugar Hill Gang concert in South Carolina. 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. The Sequence enjoyed a series of rap hits as the first female rap group during the early years of Hip Hop. Such hits as "Funky Sound (Tear The Roof Off)" kept The Sequence touring with many of the Soul Bands of the day. She then worked with Mantronix, before singing background on Lenny Kravitz's fifth studio album, 5. The Sequence faded into obscurity as Hip Hop changed from its original party sound to a more gritty street art form.

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 DeVeaux (Lenny Kravitz's cousin) and together with Charlie Mole they formed Devox. They recorded one album, Devox Featuring Angie B. Stone. Released in Japan by Toshiba EMI and selected cuts featured on Gerry DeVeaux's Front Of The line via the UK Expansion Records, which also included 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 be certified gold by the RIAA. 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 soul influences and features notable samples. For example, her first solo single, "No More Rain (In This Cloud)" samples Gladys Knight & the Pips' 1972 song "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)", while "Wish I Didn't Miss You" samples The O'Jays' 1972 song "Back Stabbers".

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

During an interview to BBC 1Xtra on August 27, 2006, Stone announced that she had signed to the reworked Stax Records. Her fourth studio album |- The Art of Love & War was released on October 15, 2007. The lead single is "Baby" and features Betty Wright. Its music video features cameo appearances by comedian Mike Epps and America's Next Top Model, Cycle 3 winner Eva Pigford. The song was nominated for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the 2008 Grammy Awards.

Angie released her fifth studio album titled "Unexpected" in the UK on February 8, 2010 on Stax Records. Speaking to noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning Blues & Soul in January 2010, she explained her ideas behind 'Unexpected': "Being as I've delivered four decent albums already, I felt it was safe to switch up and do something different this time. And musically overall I just wanted to have FUN! I wanted to do something that embodied a jam kinda feel, so that we could have some fun in concert and show people everything doesn't always have to be so serious."