American singer Angie Stone, who was nominated for three Grammy Awards, has died in a car crash aged 63.
Stone died in an accident in Montgomery, Alabama, following a performance, said her representative, Deborah Champagne.
The native of South Carolina was a member of female hip-hop trio The Sequence.
The group’s most popular song, Funk You Up, peaked at 15 on Billboard’s Hot Soul Singles. Rolling Stone described it as the first rap hit performed by women.
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The group was signed to the now-defunct Sugar Hill Records, a label under of Warner Music Group, which also represented Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, among other artists.
Van flipped and ‘hit by a big rig’
At about 4am, the vehicle she was travelling in to Atlanta “flipped over and was subsequently hit by a big rig”, music producer Walter Millsap III told The Associated Press in an email.
Stone was scheduled to perform at the half-time show of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association men’s championship basketball game on Saturday.
Guy Todd Williams, better known as Rahiem from the Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, said nine other passengers were in a van with Stone during the accident.
“She left her indelible mark on the music industry initially as a member of the legendary rap group Sequence,” said Williams, who was signed to the same record label as Stone early in her career.
Trailblazing rapper to neo-soul star
The church-grown singer, born in Columbia, South Carolina, created hits like No More Rain (In This Cloud), Baby, Wish I Didn’t Miss You and Brotha.
She helped form The Sequence, the first all-female group on the hip-hop trailblazing imprint Sugar Hill Records, becoming one of the first female groups to record a rap song.
The group recorded Funk You Up, which has been sampled by numerous artists, including Dr Dre.
After finding success in the early 1980s, Stone later joined the trio Vertical Hold.
Stone released her debut solo album, Black Diamond, in 1999. It was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America the following year.
She found a sweet spot in the early 2000s as neo-soul began to dominate the R’n’B landscape with the emergence of singers like Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Maxwell and D’Angelo.
Her 2001 album Mahagony Soul reached No.22 on the Billboard 200, while 2007’s The Art Of Love & War peaked at No.11.
Outside of music, she acted in several films, including her debut in The Hot Chick alongside Rob Schneider and Rachel McAdams.
Stone also starred in The Fighting Temptations, with Beyonce and Cuba Gooding Jr.
She also hit the Broadway stage as Big Mama Morton in Chicago, and appeared on the reality TV shows Celebrity Fit Club and R’n’B Divas: Atlanta.
AP
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