Angie Stone: Ground in music, looking for change

Photo by Nathan Morgan/The Commercial Appeal, Nathan Morgan/The Commercial Appeal

Angie Stone performs on Jan. 18 at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets cost $25 or $35 for the third annual MLK "Peace and Freedom" Tribute weekend event.

When Angie Stone booked a January 2009 concert at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts last year, she couldn't have expected the show would become the centerpiece of a historic week in Memphis.

Stone will be appearing at the venue on Sunday night, ushering in several days of events that will mark the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the inauguration of the country's first African-American president, Barack Obama.

Singer Angie Stone has compiled an impressive and wide-ranging résumé over the course of her 25-year career. "Music will always be at the forefront for me in a way."

"It's all fallen into place based on the elections, how they turned out," says Stone, calling from her home in Atlanta. "Everybody's excited about it. Everybody's trying to do something in conjunction with this historical moment."

Indeed, the concert is just one of a number of celebratory and memorial events tied to the King birthday and the Obama inauguration. (See related story on Page 7.)

Coincidentally, the last time Stone performed in Memphis was also a moment of cultural significance, during the summer of '07 as part of the Stax Records 50th anniversary concert. It's fitting that she should find herself in town this week, as the Bluff City has long been a kind of spiritual home for Stone and her music.

Over the course of her 25-year career, Stone has compiled an impressive and wide-ranging résumé. The South Carolina native was a hip-hop pioneer

with the '80s all-female rap group Sequence and a contemporary R&B star in the early '90s as a member of Vertical Hold, before finding her greatest success as solo neo-soul artist.

In 2007, Stone became the highest-profile act to sign on as part of the California-based Concord Music Group's relaunch of Stax Records. Her debut for the label, The Art of Love and War, was largely written and produced with her longtime collaborator, Memphian Jonathan Richmond.

To the 44-year-old Stone, her return to Memphis on Sunday is a particularly profound event. "I was raised in the South, and I'm old enough that my parents both picked cotton; they were part of that whole era. That's definitely had an effect on my upbringing," says Stone. "Having seen what happened to (Dr. King) as a small child, and now 40 years later, to be able to witness the election of (Obama) is awesome in itself. It's just an incredible distance."

As Stone sees it, the 2008 election wasn't just a triumph for African-Americans but a bellwether of the country's progress. "This past year marked a different attitude and energy, because everybody -- black and white -- has been reaching and searching for change," she says. "I think it was going to take a unified front for it to come to pass. Being that we're all of one accord it makes it a joyful moment. So it's not so much as a political thing, but being part of a groundbreaking transition."

For Stone, this year will mark a significant transition personally. She's in preproduction on a new album, which she will again cut in Los Angeles at Marvin's Room studio, the former recording home to soul great Marvin Gaye. It's a record she says will be her last under her contract with Stax, and perhaps, her last for a while.

"Yeah, I'm taking a break," says Stone. "I've grown up in the music world and been a part of the industry for so long. Now I want devote more of my time and energy to something different."

Stone, who has maintained a sideline as an actress, recently completed a role in the film "Pastor Brown" starring Keith David and Ernie Hudson, and has signed on to work with actress Tasha Smith on the upcoming feature, "Family." She's also working on a book, and helping to launch her own line of jeans.

"Music will always be at the forefront for me in a way," says Stone, "but in the spirit of what's going on in our country, it's time for me to change what I'm doing, too."

-- Bob Mehr: 529-2517

Angie Stone with Will Graves and Soul

Sunday, 7:30 p.m. at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are $36.50 and $26.50. They're available at all Ticketmaster outlets, online at ticketmaster.com or by phone at 525-1515.

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