R&B Singer Angie Stone Dies in Car Crash, Aged 63
Grammy-nominated R&B singer Angie Stone was killed in a car crash over the weekend, while on her way back to Atlanta from Alabama. She was 63.
Angie Stone, the Grammy-nominated R&B singer who was a member of the hip-hop trip The Sequence, was killed Saturday morning in a car crash. She was 63 years old.
On Saturday, March 1, at about 4 AM, the vehicle she was riding in from Alabama back to Atlanta “flipped over and was subsequently hit by a big rig,” explained Stone’s longtime manager, producer Walter Millsap III, in a statement to The Associated Press. Everyone else in the vehicle survived aside from Stone, he said.
In a news release from the Alabama Highway Patrol, the 2021 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van flipped over on I-65, about five miles south of the Montgomery city limits, at around 4:25 AM. It was then hit by a 2021 Freightliner Cascadia truck driven by a 33-year-old Texas man. The driver of the Sprinter van and seven other people riding in the vehicle were taken to Baptist Medical Center for treatment. Angie Stone was pronounced dead at the scene.
Millsap learned the news of the crash and Stone’s passing from her daughter, Diamond, and longtime The Sequence member Blondy. “We are truly devastated by this unexpected and unfortunate tragedy and there are simply no words to express how we feel,” Millsap added
“Never in a million years did we ever expect to get this horrible news,” said Stone’s children, Diamond and Michael Archer, in a statement via SRG Group. “We are still trying to process and are completely heartbroken.”
Angie Stone was scheduled to perform at the halftime show of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) Men’s Championship basketball game on Saturday. At the game, CIAA Chaplain Pastor Jerome Barber called for a moment of silence.
“She used her incredible talent, passion, and presence to inspire and touch us with strength and hope,” said CIAA Commissioner Jacqie McWilliams-Parker, who noted those at the organization were heartbroken by the loss.
Born on December 18, 1961 in Columbia, South Carolina, Stone was a singer in church from a young age. At age 16, she helped form The Sequence, the first all-female rap group on Sugar Hill Records. The group recorded “Funk You Up,” which has been famously sampled by Dr. Dre and many other artists.
Stone later joined the trio Vertical Hold, before launching her solo career. She created hits like “No More Rain (In This Cloud),” which became a No. 1 hit on Billboard’s Adult R&B chart for 10 weeks. She also recorded “Baby” with soul singer Betty Wright, “Brotha,” and “Wish I Didn’t Miss You.”
In 2000, Stone transitioned from Arista Records to Clive Davis’ newly created J Records, which also paved the way for artists like Alicia Keys and O-Town. The label would sign other established artists like D’Angelo, Luther Vandross, Jamie Foxx, and Monica, before it was dissolved into RCA Records in 2011.
