Angie Stone (born Angela Laverne Brown on 18 December 1961 in Columbia, SC, United States; died 2 March 2025 near Montgomery, AL, United States) was a Grammy Award-nominated American R&B, hip-hop and neo-soul singer and actress. Stone's music possessed a clear old school soul music influence, and her singing vocals recall those of Aretha Franklin. She tragically died in a car crash on the Interstate 65 in Alabama, aged 63. In the early 1980s, Stone (as Angie B), was a member of The Sequence, the first major female hip-hop group. They had a hit in 1980 with 'Funk You Up'. She then worked with Mantronix, before teaming up and performing vocals and saxophone for Lenny Kravitz. Angie Stone emerged during the 1990's as part of hip-hop/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 (June 1993) and Head First (1995). In 1996, she teamed up with Gerry Deveaux (Lenny Kravitz's cousin from The Bahamas) and together with Charlie Mole they formed Devox. One album received a Japanese-only release including Stone-penned or co-written material. Angie Stone shared song-writing credits on D'Angelo's first two studio album's (1995's Brown Sugar and 2000's Voodoo) as well as providing backing vocals on tour with him. She released her first solo album, Black Diamond, released on 28 September 1999 via Arista Records. She has since also released, via Clive Davis' J Records, Mahogany Soul on October 16, 2001 and Stone Love on July 6, 2004. By the time of her tragic death in 2025 she had released ten solo albums under her own name, with Love Language (2023) being her final album. Her post-2004 albums were not as successful as the first three, but Stone never stopped writing, recording and touring. She had two children, Diamond (1984) and Michael (1998).