Angie Stone Biography Quotes 10 Report mistakes

Early Life and Roots
Angela Laverne Brown, known professionally as Angie Stone, was born on December 18, 1961, in Columbia, South Carolina. Growing up in the American South shaped her musical sensibilities, as gospel, soul, and rhythm and blues were part of everyday life. That foundation primed her for a career that would eventually bridge the earliest years of recorded hip-hop with the flowering of neo-soul, placing her among the rare artists who helped shape more than one era of Black popular music.

First Breakthrough: The Sequence
As a teenager and young adult, she stepped into music history with The Sequence, a pioneering all-female hip-hop trio signed to Sugar Hill Records. Performing as Angie B alongside Cheryl "The Pearl" Cook and Gwendolyn "Blondie" Chisolm, she recorded "Funk You Up" in 1979, one of the first commercially successful rap singles by a female group. The Sequence's presence at Sugar Hill put her in the orbit of Sylvia Robinson, who was instrumental in bringing early rap to record buyers. Their music fused party-starter chants with harmonies rooted in soul, hinting at the blend that would later define Stone's solo voice.

Songwriting, Vertical Hold, and a New R&B Vision
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Stone expanded beyond emceeing, developing as a songwriter, arranger, and vocalist. She co-founded the R&B trio Vertical Hold, which found radio success with "Seems You're Much Too Busy". That chapter honed her studio instincts, deepened her command of mid-tempo grooves, and clarified the warm, conversational alto tone that became her signature. These experiences readied her for a transition into writing and collaborating for other artists and for the fuller expression of her own musical identity.

Solo Breakthrough and Neo-Soul Leadership
Stone's solo breakthrough arrived with Black Diamond in 1999, aligning her with the flowering neo-soul movement. Released through Arista under the stewardship of Clive Davis, the album introduced a mature sensibility that addressed heartbreak, self-knowledge, and resilience. "No More Rain (In This Cloud)" became a calling card, weaving classic soul textures into contemporary R&B. She followed with Mahogany Soul in 2001, a record that blended personal testimony with community uplift. "Brotha", and its celebrated remix featuring Alicia Keys and Eve, paid tribute to Black men while "Wish I Didn't Miss You" turned a classic O'Jays sample into a modern torch song, becoming a club standard and a radio staple.

Albums, Collaborations, and Chart Presence
Stone Love (2004) sustained her momentum, yielding "I Wanna Thank Ya" featuring Snoop Dogg, a bright, danceable single that reaffirmed her facility with feel-good grooves. She then joined the revived Stax Records to release The Art of Love & War (2007), asserting a deep-soul palette with new polish; the single "Baby", featuring the legendary Betty Wright, rose to the top of adult R&B formats. Further releases, including Unexpected (2009), Rich Girl (2012), Dream (2015), and Full Circle (2019), showcased her consistency, emphasizing storytelling, layered harmonies, and an ear for the intersection of vintage soul and contemporary rhythm tracks. Across this period she remained a sought-after collaborator, contributing writing and vocals within the community often associated with the neo-soul renaissance. Her creative exchanges with D'Angelo were especially significant: she contributed lyrics and vocals during the era of his Brown Sugar and Voodoo sessions, work that helped define the sound and intimacy of late-1990s and early-2000s R&B.

Acting, Television, and Public Voice
Alongside recording and touring, Stone expanded into film and television, appearing in projects such as The Fighting Temptations and participating in television ensembles that highlighted the lives and artistry of R&B singers. Her presence on TV helped introduce her story to new audiences, while live performances continued to underscore her command of stagecraft and her ease with both small-band intimacy and festival-scale energy.

Personal Life and Advocacy
Stone has balanced a public career with family life. She is the mother of two children, including a son with D'Angelo, and has been candid about the challenges and growth that come with parenting while maintaining a demanding creative life. Diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, she became a visible advocate for health awareness, using interviews, appearances, and performances to encourage prevention, testing, and management within communities disproportionately affected by the disease. That advocacy naturally extended the nurturing ethos that runs through songs like "Brotha", connecting her artistry to service.

Artistry and Influence
Stone's voice is a supple, velvety alto, conversational in its phrasing and rooted in gospel dynamics. She is equally at ease over a simmering backbeat or a classic soul arrangement, often using stacks of background vocals she arranges herself to build warmth and depth. Her songwriting spotlights everyday language elevated by careful imagery, and she has a distinct ability to make sampled motifs feel like lived-in memories rather than mere references. This sensibility traces to her earliest years with The Sequence, where she learned to balance call-and-response, groove, and melodic hooks, and it matured in the neo-soul era into a distinctive authorial voice.

Legacy
Angie Stone stands as a rare connective figure in popular music: a teenage participant in the birth of recorded hip-hop who later helped define the sound of adult-centered R&B at the turn of the millennium. Her collaborators and peers, from Sylvia Robinson in the Sugar Hill years to D'Angelo, Alicia Keys, Eve, Snoop Dogg, and Betty Wright, reflect both history and continuity, the throughline being Stone's steady craftsmanship and generosity. Across decades, she has modeled an artist's life that leaves room for growth, care, and reinvention. The result is a body of work that has given voice to love, struggle, and gratitude, anchoring her place as one of neo-soul's essential voices and one of hip-hop's earliest women pioneers.

Our collection contains 10 quotes who is written by Angie, under the main topics: Music - Moving On - Movie - Respect - Relationship.