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Angie Stone was a wise singer who deeply understood the power of love and lust

The neo-soul artist, who has died aged 63, had years of experience by the time she became a star – and brought it to bear on a carnal, careworn catalogue

By the time 2001’s Mahogany Soul made her a star, she’d logged two decades in the game, starting out in pioneering all-girl rap trio the Sequence, before passing through went-nowhere R&B groups like Devox and Vertical Hold and writing and singing with other artists (including D’Angelo, her former lover and father of their son, Michael). Her debut for Arista, Black Diamond, retooled lush 70s soul for the new century: Green Grass Vapors – a love song to the sweet leaf with Stone “higher than the Thunder Dome” – was from the same funky swamp as D’Angelo’s Chicken Grease, its smouldering guitar like a moaning panther. It opened with Soul Insurance, backing singers bending the hook to Lady Marmalade around Stone like armour as she delivered a fearsome rap like Caught Up-era Millie Jackson, hard and wise but with a heart ready to get broken again.

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