Angie Stone (born Angela Laverne Brown in January 30, 1961, in Columbia, South Carolina) is a Grammy Award-nominated American R&B, hip-hop, and neo-soul singer and actress. Stone's music possesses a clear old school soul music influence, and her singing vocals recall those of Aretha Franklin. 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 - Brown Sugar and 2000 - 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. Much of Angie Stone's solo material has a significant hip-hop influence and features notable samples. For example, her first solo single, 1999's "No More Rain (In This Cloud)" samples Gladys Knight & the Pips' 1972 "Neither One Of Us (Want To Be The First To Say Goodbye)", and 2002 "Wish I Didn't Miss You" samples The O'Jays' 1972 "Back Stabbers". Angie Stone sings the theme song for the UPN sitcom Girlfriends. She has two children, a daughter and a son. The son is the child of neo-soul singer D'Angelo, whom she dated during the 1990's. Official Website: http://www.angiestoneonline.net
