The soulful R&B singer, Angie Stone, who brought us hits like “Brother” and “No More Rain” has passed away in a car crash in Alabama her longtime publicist, Yvonne Forbes, stated. Angie was 63.
Where the Accident Took Place
After performing in Mobile, Alabama on Friday, Stone was with nine people traveling to Atlanta, Georgia in a Sprinter van when the accident occurred, according to Forbes.
At around 4 a.m., the vehicle she was riding in back to Atlanta “flipped over and was subsequently hit by a big rig,” music producer and Stone’s longtime manager Walter Millsap III told The Associated Press in an email. It was later found that the van was was struck by an 18-wheeler truck
Everyone else in the cargo van survived except Stone, he said.
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The Alabama Highway Patrol said in a news release that the 2021 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van turned over on Interstate 65 about 4:25 a.m. Saturday before being hit by a 2021 Freightliner Cascadia truck driven by a 33-year-old man from Texas.
Angie Stone was pronounced dead at the scene, the highway patrol said. The crash was about 5 miles (8 kilometers) south of the Montgomery city limits.
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How She Got Her Start Singing
Born Angela Laverne Brown on Dec. 18, 1961, in Columbia, S.C., Stone’s illustrious career began in the late 1970s as a member of The Sequence, one of the first female rap groups.
The Sequence never received proper credit for their contributions. In an interview with Vlad TV, Stone revealed that the group played a major role in crafting two of the Sugar Hill Gang’s biggest records, “Apache (Jump On It)” and “8th Wonder.”
“We wrote those songs,” she said, adding that they initially provided background vocals before being replaced.
Their eight-minute single “Monster Jam” featured Stone — then known as Angie B — leading the track. Between 1979 and 1985, The Sequence released three albums, including their hit “Funk You Up,” which has been sampled in chart-toppers like Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk” and Dr. Dre’s “Keep Their Heads Ringin’.”
In the early 1990s, she became a member of the R&B trio Vertical Hold. Stone then signed with Arista Records to release her debut solo album Black Diamond (1999), which received gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and spawned the single “No More Rain (In This Cloud)”.
After transitioning to J Records, she released her second album, Mahogany Soul (2001), which spawned the hit single “Wish I Didn’t Miss You”. It was followed by Stone Love (2004) and The Art of Love & War (2007), her first number-one album on the US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
Stone ventured into acting in the 2000s, making her film debut in the 2002 comedy film The Hot Chick, and her stage debut in 2003, in the role of Big Mama Morton in the Broadway musical Chicago. She then went on to appear in supporting roles in films and television series as well as several musical productions, including VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club and TV One’s R&B Divas, and movies such as The Fighting Temptations (2003), Pastor Brown (2009), and School Gyrls (2010).
Stone was nominated for three Grammy Awards and won two Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards.[1] In 2021, she received the Soul Music Icon Award at the Black Music Honors. In 2024, she was a featured vocalist on Damon Little’s “No Stressing”, which peaked at #1 on Billboard’s Gospel Airplay chart.
What About Her Kids and Her Relationship with D’Angelo?
Stone was married Rodney Stone. Also known as Lil’ Rodney C!, Rodney was a member of the hip-hop group Funky Four Plus One. They got married in early 1980s and welcomed their daughter, Diamond, in 1984. They filed for divorce a few years later. In the 1990s, Stone got into a relationship with neo-soul artist D’Angelo. They welcomed their son, Michael D’Angelo Archer II, in 1998.
Around the time of the accident, her daughter, Diamond posted the devastating news on her Facebook page stating simply, “On the road mind racing keep me and my family in your prayers.”
Three hours later in a separate message, Diamond wrote, “My mommy is gone.”
The Signifcance of her Song, “Brotha”
One of her many hits, “Brotha” is a song that many play on Father’s Day as a salute to Black men. But there’s an interesting story about how it came about.
“I wanted to uplift brothers because the bible teaches us that the man is head of the household,” Stone began to explain. “We went down the wrong road by disrespecting our men because they are them to lead our men, our boys, our sons. So we gotta start imparting some greatness in the men that we have chosen to be apart of our lives. That’s why I wrote ‘Brotha.'”
Stone’s sudden passing has left a profound void in the music industry. Her rich vocals and heartfelt lyrics influenced a generation of artists and garnered a devoted global fan base. On social media, fans worldwide are expressing their sorrow and shared memories of how her music touched their lives. Her legacy as a pioneer of neo-soul and a trailblazer for female artists in hip-hop and R&B will be remembered and cherished.
