Angie Stone

"More Than Woman", a duet with singer Joe, earned Stone her first Grammy Award nomination in the Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals category at the 45th ceremony.

Angela Laverne Brown (born December 18, 1961) known professionally as Angie Stone, is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer.

She rose to fame in the late 1970s as member of the hip hop trio The Sequence.

In the late 1970s, when Stone was 16, she formed the rap trio The Sequence, a female hip-hop act, also consisting of Cheryl "The Pearl" Cook and Gwendolyn "Blondie" Chisolm.

They were the second rap group signed to the Sugar Hill Records after auditioning for manager Sylvia Robinson backstage at a Sugar Hill Gang concert in South Carolina.

In 1980, The Sequence scored a hit with their single "Funk You Up", which reached number 15 on the US Top Black Singles chart.

The trio enjoyed a series of rap hits as the first female rap group during the early years of hip hop.

Singles such as "Monster Jam" featuring rapper Spoonie Gee and "Funky Sound (Tear The Roof Off)" kept the band touring, with Robinson acting as their mentor.

The group faded into obscurity as hip hop changed from its original party sound to a more gritty street art form and the trio eventually disbanded in 1985.

In the early 1990s, she became a member of the R&B trio Vertical Hold.

In the late 1990s, Arista Records then A&R manager Peter Edge brought Stone to label head Clive Davis's attention.

Stone then worked with hip hop and electro funk music group Mantronix, before becoming the lead vocalist of the 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).

Signed to Jocelyn Cooper's Midnight Songs, Stone also shared songwriting credits on D'Angelo's first two studio albums, Brown Sugar (1995) and Voodoo (2000), as well as provided backing vocals when on tour with him.

In 1996, Stone teamed up with Gerry DeVeaux, singer Lenny Kravitz's cousin, and Charlie Mole to form the group Devox.

They recorded one album, Devox featuring Angie B. Stone, released in Japan by Toshiba EMI.

Selected cuts were featured on Gerry DeVeaux's Front of the Line via the Expansion Records, which also included Stone-penned material.

She also served as a backing vocalist on Lenny Kravitz's fifth studio album, 5 (1998).

Stone would later release her solo debut Black Diamond (1999) on Arista Records, which was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America and spawned the single "No More Rain (In This Cloud)".

He offered her a solo recording contract with the label and in September 1999, her debut solo album, Black Diamond, was released.

Named after her then-teenage daughter Diamond Ti'ara, it was released to positive reviews from music critics, and reached the top ten on Billboard's US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

Black Diamond was eventually certified gold by both the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and spawned the Adult R&B Songs number-one hit "No More Rain (In This Cloud)".

Stone ventured into acting in the 2000s, making her film debut in the 2002 comedy film The Hot Chick, and her stage debut in 2003, in the role of Big Mama Morton in the Broadway musical Chicago.

The single earned Stone two nominations at the 2000 Soul Train Music Awards.

In 2000, Stone transitioned from Arista to music manager Clive Davis's venture J Records.

Also that year, she recorded the theme song for the UPN/The CW sitcom Girlfriends, starring Tracee Ellis Ross (as well as a cameo appearance from the third season episode "Blinded by the Lights").

After transitioning to J Records, she released her second album, Mahogany Soul (2001), which included the hit single "Wish I Didn't Miss You"; followed by the albums Stone Love (2004) and The Art of Love & War (2007), her first number-one album on the US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

She then released her second album Mahogany Soul on October 16, 2001, with the label.

Involving a wider range of contemporary R&B musicians, Stone collaborated with Carvin & Ivan, Raphael Saadiq, Swizz Beatz, Alicia Keys and Eve on much of the album.

Released to favorable reviews,

it peaked at number four on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, while reaching the top twenty of the Dutch, Finnish and Flemish Album Charts.

Again, Stone was awarded gold by BPI and RIAA for Mahogany Soul.

"Wish I Didn't Miss You", the album's second single, became her biggest international hit yet, reaching the top ten in Australia and Belgium as well as the top of Billboard's Dance Club Songs.

In 2002, Stone had a guest role on Girlfriends and played store owner Madame Mambuza in the American teen comedy The Hot Chick, starring Rob Schneider.

The film scored generally negative reviews from film critics for its vulgar and lowbrow humor, but became a moderate box office success in the US.

The following year, the singer appeared in the role of Alma in the Jonathan Lynn's musical comedy-drama The Fighting Temptations alongside Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Beyoncé.

She has since appeared in supporting roles in films and television series as well as several musical productions, including VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club and TV One's R&B Divas, and movies such as The Fighting Temptations (2003), Pastor Brown (2009) and School Gyrls (2010).

Stone has been nominated for three Grammy Awards, and has won two Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards.

In 2021, she received the Soul Music Icon Award at the Black Music Honors.

Stone was born in Columbia, South Carolina, where she began singing gospel music at First Nazareth Baptist Church, under the leadership of Reverend Blakely N. Scott.

Her father, a member of a local gospel quartet, took Stone to see performances by gospel artists such as the Singing Angels and the Gospel Keynotes.