Soulfest feature: Angie Stone

Angie Stone, playing live at Soulfest in Auckland, Oct 26

Angie Stone first came on the music scene as a youngster, in the all-girl rap trio The Sequence, most famous for dropping Monster Jam, with Spoonie Gee, on Sugarhill Records.

She went on to form several other groups {Vertical Hold, Devox), and eventually worked on D'Angleo's album Brown Sugar and the followup Voodoo, as a songwriter, and also a backing vocalist on tour.

She describes that experience as "In my case, I came from a hip-hop success story to a songwriter that ended up getting a second chance with another group, ended up falling in love with a superstar sex symbol [D'Angelo whom she had a relationship with]. And within that pivotal moment of my career, it’s almost like I lost myself because the relationship overshadowed Angie Stone, the singer, the songwriter, the producer. It reduced me to just being a woman with a baby from a superstar."

She launched her solo career with the album Black Diamond in 1999, following it up with Mahogany Soul (2001), and has produced four more albums since then, the most recent being Rich Girl (2012). She's also done a few acting stints and also featured on reality tv, most recently in a show called R&B Divas: Atlanta, where she was a vocal coach.

Here's my fave tune from Ms Stone, great sample from the O'Jays running under it....

SOULFEST featuring Maxwell , D'Angelo, Common, Mos Def, Musiq Soulchild, Angie Stone, Anthony Hamilton, Aaradhna, Che Fu, Bella Kalolo and more. Western Springs Stadium, Auckland, Sunday 26th Oct (Labour Weekend). Tickets from www.ticketmaster.co.nz