New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Angie Stone recently released her anticipated 10th studio album under a new record label, a new look and a better point of view. "LOVE LANGUAGE." "Love Language" has far exceeded my expectations. Considering the fact I was particularly excited about releasing a new album, I am so glad I decided to move forward. I feel this album encompasses classic Angie Stone, with songs like "
Good Man" and "Gym"; while also expressing a new age feel with my first single "
Kiss You". Recording this album took me back to the creation of my sophomore album Mahogany Soul mainly because the music simply felt GOOD! I'm so thankful to my new label SRG and my team at Conjunction Entertainment. Special thanks to Walter Milsap, Candice
Nelson and Balewa Muhammad. You guys have truly mastered my sound and we also work so effortlessly together. Special thanks to my incredibly talented brother,
Musiq Soulchild, for gracing the album with true artistry! Last but certainly not least, thanks to my "sonshine" Swayvo Twain, on your first feature with your mom. You continue to solidify yourself as an amazing artist, while creating your own lane and for that I am so proud.," mentions Angie.
The visuals to the fun and season-appropriate song, "LOVE THE FEELING." were directed by Charles West. "This video was inspired by the infectious nature of two-step dancing and how we express love for one another through movement. Two-step dancing has made its way around the globe and is a sign of happiness and love. My hope is that you'll be inspired to move and step during your home cookouts, house parties, and grown folks' outings," mentions Angie.
LOVE LANGUAGE was led by the singles, 'KISS YOU", followed by "THE GYM" featuring Platinum R&B Superstar, MUSIQ SOULCHILD. and the beautiful "GOOD MAN". The album is globally available now via the Conjunction Entertainment and SRG-GROUP label imprint.
LOVE LANGUAGE TRACKLISTING:
1. Love Is Real
2. The Gym (featuring MUSIQ Soulchild)
3. Kiss You
4. Good Man
5. High
6. Love Language
7. All I Need
8. Love The Feeling
9. Old Thang Back (featuring Swayvo Twain)
10. Kiss You (X Mix)
11. Kiss You (Jersey Club Mix)
A singer, MC, self-taught keyboardist, and prolific songwriter, Angie Stone's first claim to fame was her membership in the Sequence, a pioneering hip-hop trio who arrived with "Funk You Up" (1979), the second release on Sugar Hill Records and the first rap single by an all-female group. Following a brief period with the post-new jack swing R&B act Vertical Hold, Stone began a fruitful and lasting solo career as one of neo-soul's leading lights, known for providing sharp insight into romantic relationships with her smoky yet upfront voice. She established her solo career with a pair of gold-certified albums,
Black Diamond (1999) and Mahogany Soul (2001), and added to her accolades with Grammy nominations in the R&B field for "More Than a Woman" (2002), "U-Haul" (2004), and "Baby" (2007). Increasingly occupied with acting roles, she has continued to record every few years, exemplified by deeply soul-rooted LPs such as Rich Girl (2012),
Dream (2015), and Full Circle (2019).
Stone, a native of Columbia, South Carolina, began singing gospel music at a young age at First Nazareth Baptist Church. Her father, a member of a local gospel quartet, would take his only child to see performances by gospel artists such as the Singing Angels and the Gospel Keynotes. During her youth, she wrote poetry, played sports, and, after high-school graduation, was offered college basketball scholarships. While working dead-end jobs, Stone began saving money to record her own demos at a local studio called PAW. She joined Gwendolyn Chisholm and Cheryl Cook in the rap trio the Sequence, who recorded hits for Joe and Sylvia Robinson's Sugar Hill label. These included "Funk You Up," a remake of Parliament's hit "Tear the Roof Off the Sucker" called "Funky Sound (Tear the Roof Off)," and "I Don't Need Your Love." Soon after, Stone worked with futuristic rap group Mantronix and rocker Lenny Kravitz, and formed the sophisticated R&B trio Vertical Hold, who in 1993 hit the R&B Top 40 with "Seems You're Much Too Busy." The group split after its second album.
Stone subsequently signed to Arista as a solo artist and recorded 1999's
Black Diamond, a Top Ten R&B album that was certified gold on the strength of the singles "No More Rain (In This Cloud)" and "
Everyday" (one of several songs she has written either for or with D'Angelo). The album won her a pair of Soul
Train Lady of Soul Awards. She shifted to J for 2001's Mahogany Soul, another gold seller. That album's "More Than a Woman," a duet with Calvin Richardson, earned a Grammy nomination in the category of Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. Stone Love, released in 2004, fared just as well commercially with "U-Haul," another Grammy-nominated performance, among the highlights. Stone smoothly moved to the revitalized Stax label for her fourth studio album, 2007's The Art of Love & War. It topped the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and featured two of her best singles, "
Sometimes" and the Betty Wright collaboration "Baby" -- the latter of which made Stone a three-time Grammy nominee.
Throughout the next several years, the singer's studio output remained consistent in terms of chart performance, despite a series of label changes and frequent acting work. (By the end of the 2000s, Stone had appeared in several movies, including The Fighting Temptations, Pastor Brown, and Scary Movie 5, as well as the television programs Moesha, Girlfriends, and Lincoln Heights.) Unexpected, released on Stax in 2009, hit the Top 20 of the R&B chart. Saguaro Road issued Rich Girl, Stone's most stylistically diverse set, three years later, and it peaked slightly higher. For Dream, released in 2015, she joined the veteran-loaded Shanachie roster. The next year, the Goldenlane label issued Covered in Soul, for which Stone updated classics popularized by the Guess Who, the Five Stairsteps, and Carole King. Stone changed labels again for the 2019 set Full Circle, featuring the
Jaheim duet "Gonna Have to Be You."
