Legendary R&B singer Angie Stone dies in auto accident

 

(March 1, 2025) In a year that has seen too many of our musical greats taken, we are sad to report another heartbreaking loss. Soul music great Angie Stone has died following an early morning automobile crash. She and members of her band were heading back to Atlanta from a gig that took place the night before in Mobile, AL. when an 18-wheeler truck struck Stone’s sprinter and causing it to flip three times. She was 63.

Her children Diamond Stone and Michael Archer issued the following statement: “Never in a million years did we ever expect to get this horrible news. Our mom is and will always be our everything. We are still trying to process and are completely heartbroken.”

Like many soul singers, Angie Stone began her life listening exclusively to Gospel music. Her father was a member of a noted Gospel group in their native Columbia, South Carolina and the music played at the family household was of a similar nature. However, as she hit high school her musical world expanded, as did her burgeoning talent as a singer and songwriter.

Following school she began working as a vocalist with a number of acts, including the rap group Sequence and guitarist Lenny Kravitz, before becoming lead singer for the soul/smooth jazz group Vertical Hold. That group scored a minor hit in 1993 with “Seems You’re Much Too Busy,” and Stone’s husky, powerful vocal performance was a revelation. Vertical Hold dissolved a few years later and Stone was signed by Arista, for which she released her solo debut, Black Diamond,in 1999. It hit the Soul Top 10 on the strength of the single “No More Rain (In This Cloud),” the first of many of her songs that sampled classic soul numbers – in this case, Gladys Knight’s “Neither One of Us.”

 

In 2001, Stone signed with Clive Davis’s fledgling J Records label, and scored with “I Wish I Didn’t Miss You” — a gorgeous midtempo based on the O’Jays’ “Backstabbers” — and the fine singles “Bottles and Cans” and “Brotha.” The album went platinum and created significant buzz around Stone as the “queen of Neo Soul” and a leader in the bridging of classic soul and modern R&B sounds.

Much anticipation awaited her third release, 2004’s Stone Love, and it opened strongly, becoming her first disc to land in the Pop top 20. Including guest appearances by Floetry, Snoop Dogg and the aforementioned Wright, Stone Love was another solid addition to Stone’s discography, and featured the catchy single “I Wanna Thank Ya,” based largely on DeBarge’s “All This Love.” She followed its release by joining the touring cast of the stage musical, “Why Good Girls Like Bad Boyz” with Charlie Wilson.

In 2005, Stone released the CD Stone Hits: The Very Best of Angie Stone as well as a Live DVD. She followed on a revamped Stax Records label in 2007 with The Art of Love And War.  Over the next 18 years, Stone continued to record on various labels, most recently issuing  Love Language in 2023, her 10^th  solo studio album and a fine addition to her enviable catalog. She followed it this past Christmas with the beautiful single “All I’m Missing” (featuring Juanita Wynn and J. Brown).

Angie Stone hit her prime as an artist later in life than most, but she made up for it with a keen musical vision and a voice that went on for days. She will be greatly missed, as her fans will be mourning this tragic loss.