Joss Stone

Joss Stone

Joss Stone is an English soul singer from Dover, England. Born Joscelyn Eve Stoker in 1987, she develops a throaty vocal style influenced by early Motown singers. Her work spans blue-eyed soul, blues, jazz, neo soul, R&B and soul, and she is associated with Relentless Records.

Career

Stone’s debut album, The Soul Sessions, is built around classic soul material associated with artists including Betty Wright, Aretha Franklin, Laura Lee and Bettye Swann. It reaches the top five in the UK albums chart and enters the top forty of the US Billboard 200. At the Brit Awards, she is nominated for British Breakthrough Act and wins British Female Solo Artist and British Urban Act, becoming the youngest solo BRIT Award winner.

Her second album, Mind, Body & Soul, is an album of original songs and debuts at number one in the UK, making her the youngest female artist to top the UK albums chart at that point.

Further albums and collaborations

Stone records Introducing Joss Stone at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas. The album involves production by Raphael Saadiq and collaborations with Lauryn Hill, Common and Joi. It debuts at number twelve in the UK and number two on the Billboard 200. The singles include “Tell Me ’Bout It,” “Tell Me What We’re Gonna Do Now,” a collaboration with Common, and “Baby Baby Baby.”

Her fifth album, LP1, is released through her own Stone’d Records after a legal dispute with EMI over her contract. It is recorded in a week at Blackbird Studios in Nashville.

Other projects

Stone is a member of SuperHeavy and Project Mama Earth.

Awards and recognition

Stone enters the Guinness World Records multiple times, including for being the youngest BRIT Award solo winner and for being the first artist to release a Product Red music video. Her early success and chart performance establish her as one of the most visible British soul singers of the 2000s.