Angie Stone, neo-soul singer and member of the pioneering all-female hip-hop group the Sequence, has died at the age of 63.
A rep for the singer told TMZ that Stone died in a car accident early Saturday morning following a concert the previous night in Montgomery, Alabama; Stone was scheduled to perform in Baltimore Saturday night, and died en route in the crash on Interstate 65 in Montgomery County, Alabama. Stone’s daughter Diamond also confirmed her mother’s death on social media.
“Angie Stone’s voice and spirit will live on forever in the hearts of those she touched,” Stone’s rep said in a statement (via CNN). “Details regarding memorial services will be announced by the family in due course.”
The Columbia, South Carolina-born Stone (then known as Angie B) co-founded the Sequence in 1979 along with Cheryl “the Pearl” Cook and Gwendolyn “Blondy” Chisolm. After becoming the first female hip-hop act to sign with Sugar Hill Records, the trio released their first single “Funk You Up,” a track that was later interpolated by Dr. Dre (on “Keep Their Heads Ringin’”) and influenced (to the point of lawsuit) Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk.”
“Bruno Mars took the lyrics, the cadence and the melodies,” Stone told Rolling Stone in 2017, “and then they went and reached over to ‘Apache’ and got ‘Jump on it/Jump on it.’ I’m like, OK, now y’all done did too much. We’re broke over here, OK? We need some money. We need some of that, because we created that!”
The Sequence released three albums before disbanding in 1985. Stone would then spend the next decade performing in groups like Mantronix, Vertical Hold, and Devox before linking up with neo soul singer D’Angelo, with whom she co-wrote the song “Jonz on My Bonz” on his acclaimed 1995 debut album Brown Sugar; Stone and D’Angelo also dated in the Nineties, and welcomed a son together in 1998.
Stone, who also co-wrote four songs for D’Angelo’s 2000 LP Voodoo in addition to tracks for Mary J. Blige and Prince protege Jill Jones, launched her own solo career in 1999 with her debut album Black Diamond, which spawned her Number One R&B hit “No More Rain (In This Cloud).”
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“I just think there’s nothing else out there really like Angie Stone,” the singer told Rolling Stone in 2000. “My album bridges the gap — it sits right on the cusp of young and old generations. For the first time in a long time, adults have a record they want to invest fifteen dollars in.”
A three-time Grammy nominee, Stone would go on to release 10 studio albums, most recently 2023’s Love Language. The singer collaborated with artists like Prince (2001’s “U Make My Sun Shine“), Alicia Keys, Snoop Dogg, Betty Wright, James Ingram, and Stevie Wonder. Stone also branched out into acting, appearing in films like The Hot Chick, The Fighting Temptations, and Ride Along.
In a video posted on social media a week before her death, Stone said “there’s a big grin on my face” because of her upcoming plans. “Film, television, tours, artists, songwriting,” Stone said. “There’s a lot of projects. We’re getting back in the mix.”
