Angela Laverne Brown (December 18, 1961 – March 1, 2025), known professionally as Angie Stone, was an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. She rose to fame in the late 1970s as member of the hip hop trio the Sequence. 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 has since appeared 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).[1]
Stone has been nominated for three Grammy Awards, and has won two Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards. 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.
Stone had two children. Stone’s daughter, Diamond, was born in 1984 and is from her marriage to Rodney Stone, also known as Lil’ Rodney C!, from the hip-hop group Funky Four Plus One. Diamond contributed background vocals to Stone’s 2007 song “Baby”. Diamond gave birth to Stone’s grandson in 2008 and another grandchild in July 2012.
During the 1990s, Stone was in a relationship with neo soul singer D’Angelo. They have a son named Michael D’Angelo Archer II. He was born in 1998.
Stone lived in Atlanta, Georgia, with her son, Michael, and her daughter, Diamond.
In 1999, Stone was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and, along with comedian-actor Anthony Anderson, was part of the F.A.C.E Diabetes (Fearless African-Americans Connected and Empowered) program sponsored by Eli Lilly and Company, which helps African Americans understand their risk for diabetes and how to control it.[51] Stone said that both her mother and her mother’s sister were diabetic.
Stone is an honorary member of Zeta Phi Beta sorority. She was inducted in July 2024 at the sorority’s Boulé in Indianapolis, Indiana.
