Born & Raised:

Born Angela Laverne Brown in 1961. Raised in Columbia, South Carolina.

Early Life:

During her time growing up Columbia, SC, Angie began singing gospel music at a young age. Her father, a member of a local gospel quartet, would take his only child to see performances by gospel artists like the Singing Angels and the Gospel Keynotes. During her youth, she wrote poetry, played sports and after high-school graduation, was offered scholarships to play college basketball.

While working dead-end jobs, Stone began saving money to record her own demos at a local studio.

Early Career:

A singer, self-taught keyboardist and prolific songwriter, Angie (under the name Angie B) joined Gwendolyn Chisolm and Cheryl Cook in the rap trio the Sequence, who recorded for the Sugarhill label; she later helped form the Neo-Soul trio Vertical Hold. Her first real commercial success was as lead vocalist on Vertical Hold's urban dance track "Seems You're Much Too Busy," which was an R&B Top 40 hit during the summer of 1993. That success eventually led to Angie becoming a solo artist.

Solo Career:

Her debut solo album, Black Diamond, was released in 1999 by Arista. She moved to J Records in 2001 for her second record, Mahogany Soul, and the record cracked the Top 40 thanks to the pop/R&B hit "Brotha." In 2004, her third record, Stone Love, became her biggest hit, reaching number 14 on the charts. A greatest hits package, Stone Hits: The Best of Angie Stone, was released in 2005.

Stone sang the theme song for the UPN sitcom Girlfriends, and also appeared on a 2002 episode of the show.

On Stage and Screen:

Angie has also acted in movies as well as a production of the play "Chicago." She has two children, one of whom was fathered by Neo-Soul artist D'Angelo, who Stone dated in the 1990s. In the summer of 2006, Angie appeared on the fourth season of the popular VH1 reality series "Celebrity Fit Club," which follows the struggles of obese celebrities trying to lose weight.

The Last Word:

"After what I've done in music, I'm looking to transform and focus as much on theatre and film work. I have such a passion for performing and I get a real excitement from working in that arena, it's quite different to singing and is such a different form of expression." - Angie Stone.