Angie Stone, the R&B and soul veteran who began her career as part of a pioneering all-female rap group, has died in a car crash at age 63.
TMZ broke the news that Stone was killed in an accident in the early morning hours of Saturday (March 1), following a gig in Montgomery, Alabama.
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Stone was a part of The Sequence, the first all-female group to sign to Sugar Hill Records. Between 1980 and 1983, they released three albums on the label. Their most influential song by far was the 1979 single “Funk You Up.”
The song has been sampled or interpolated over the years by Dr. Dre (for “Keep Their Heads Ringin'”), En Vogue, Katy Perry and more.
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The group members also thought that Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’s massive hit “Uptown Funk” was close enough to their signature track that they sued over it.
After her Sugar Hill days and time as a member of the group Vertical Hold, Stone had an incredibly successful second act as a solo singer beginning in the late 1990s, with hits like “Wish I Didn’t Miss You.”
As of this writing, there was no additional information available about the accident that killed Stone.
The singer is survived by two children — her daughter Diamond and her son Michael, and two grandchildren.
Michael is the son of Stone and the singer D’Angelo.
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HipHopDX sends condolences to all of Angie Stone’s friends and family.
