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Soul singer Angie Stone launches comeback
03/31/2007 1:44 AM, Reuters
Gail Mitchell
It's apropos that soulful
songstress Angie Stone is recording her debut for Concord Music
Group's reactivated Stax Records imprint at the stomping
grounds of another soul soldier: Marvin Gaye.
The late artist's studio -- incubator for the classic 1976
album "I Want You" -- sits behind an imposing black gate on
Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard. Imposing, however, melts away to
mellow once you step across the threshold.
Gaye's spirit seeps through everywhere. From the walls,
adorned with original portraits and photos of the artist,
including one with his "I Want You" collaborator Leon Ware,
also newly signed to Stax. From a hidden hallway door as you
traipse upstairs to Gaye's personal sanctuary: a bedroom, bath
and a smaller recording studio. From the main studio
downstairs, which, like its upstairs counterpart, houses some
of Gaye's original recording equipment.
Against that backdrop, a relaxed Stone previewed several
songs from her new album, "The Art of Love and War," due this
summer. She sang, danced and supplied her own brand of color
commentary as producer/musician Jon Nettlesbey keyed up each
song.
For instance, when she sat down to write the ballad
"Sometimes," her inspiration was the film soundtrack to the
1974 urban drama "Claudine." She referred to another track, the
uptempo "These Are the Reasons," as her "drama queen comeback."
She duets with Chyno -- the Charlotte, N.C., singer/songwriter
who appeared on UPN's "The Player" -- on the torchy "Half a
Chance." Stone says with a laugh, "Men don't beg no more, but
I've got him begging on here."
She revisits her "Patrice Rushen days" on the funky "Play
With It." But the most eloquent track that drives home Stone's
renewed spirit is the timeless ballad "Happy Being Me."
"When you get close to losing your life, you see it flash
before you," Stone says of her bout last year with congestive
heart failure. "This song is a true testament to who I am and
where I am."
The tracks Stone recalled those on her emotionally charged
breakthrough in 1999, "Black Diamond." That Arista set spawned
the top 10 R&B hit "No More Rain (In This Cloud)." The former
lead vocalist for Vertical Hold segued to J Records for two
subsequent albums, "Mahogany Soul" (2001) and "Stone Love"
(2004). But after the 2005 release of "Stone Hits: The Very
Best of Angie Stone," the singer says she and J executives
mutually agreed to part company.
Raring to move beyond the midlevel point where her career
is anchored, Stone hopes to acquaint listeners with her
versatility. An example -- pairing with Josh Groban and a full
orchestra on "The Prayer" for a PBS special from two years ago
-- is playing on YouTube. For the aforementioned "Happy Being
Me," her wish list of artists to add sweetening to the song
includes a harmonica-playing Stevie Wonder and
guitarman/vocalist John Mayer.
Before the preview ends so that Stone can do some further
vocal tightening, Nettlesbey notes that Mary J. Blige also
recorded some of her Grammy-winning album "The Breakthrough" in
the same studio. While absorbing that, Stone credits another
force on her side.
"This business is hard," she says. "I've been waiting all
these years, and I've survived." Pointing to her heart for
emphasis, she adds, "But I can't be touched right now, because
God has me right here."
Reuters/Billboard
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