Angie Stone, the R&B singer behind hits such as ‘Wish I Didn’t Miss You’ and ‘Brotha’, has died in a car accident at the age of 63.
A representative of the singer confirmed to Variety that the crash happened in Montgomery, Alabama on Saturday morning (March 1) as Stone was coming from a show. She was the only person to die in the accident.
“Angie Stone’s voice and spirit will live on forever in the hearts of those she touched,” her spokesperson told CNN.
Stone was nominated for three Grammys across a long and successful career that saw her collaborate with artists such as D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, Snoop Dogg and Alicia Keys.
Born in Columbia, South Carolina on December 18, 1961, Stone started her music career in the hip-hop trio The Sequence, the first female rap group signed to Sugar Hill Records. They had hits with ‘Monster Jam’ and ‘Funk You Up’, the latter of which went on to be sampled in Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ ‘Uptown Funk’.
After The Sequence split up, she went on to join the group Vertical Hold and became a songwriter and backing vocalist for other artists, memorably contributing to D’Angelo’s neo-soul classics ‘Brown Sugar’ and ‘Voodoo’.
Her solo career started in earnest in the late ‘90s, with her debut album ‘Black Diamond’ coming out in 1999. Songs like ‘Wish I Didn’t Miss You, ‘Brotha’ and ‘No More Rain (In This Cloud)’ were Billboard Hot 100 hits in the US, as was ‘U Make My Sun Shine’, a 2001 duet with Prince.
Her subsequent albums ‘Stone Love’ (2004) and ‘The Art Of Love & War’ (2007) saw her continue her success, with her most recent record being 2023’s ‘Love Language’.
She also had an acting career, appearing in films such as The Hot Chick and The Fighting Temptations, and was also featured in Celebrity Fit Club and R&B Divas: Atlanta.
Stone is survived by her daughter Diamond and her son Michael.