Defying labels
In Angie Stone's world, record execs would judge performers by talent, not appearances.
It takes two questions to really get Angie Stone going.
The first: What will she be doing in 10 years? "I would love to be like [Motown Records'] Sylvia Rhone, an executive in an office," says the R&B singer, who just released her third CD, "Stone Love," and performs Sunday at B.B. King's Blues Club and next Friday at Westbury Music Fair. "I really love picking talent, so I can see myself as a senior executive at a label, signing deals and grooming new artists. That's what I really am passionate about."
The second: If she were a record-label executive, in charge of her own career, what would she have done differently? The answer takes up almost an entire half-hour phone interview.
But first, some background: Stone, who is in her 30s, grew up singing at First Nazareth Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C. She played saxophone in rocker Lenny Kravitz's band and joined the rap trio Sequence. In 1997, Arista Records signed her to a contract, and she put out "Black Diamond," a smooth, curvy record that helped touch off the "neo-soul" movement along with million-sellers D'Angelo and Erykah Badu.
Still, while her 2001 sophomore album "Mahogany Soul" has sold more than 1 million copies, and the first "Stone Love" single, "I Wanna Thank Ya," is a collaboration with rapper Snoop Dogg, Stone is frustrated with her lack of success. In Stone's view, music-industry prejudice has led to a crucial lack of exposure.
"I think it's a crock. I'm just as good as anyone else out there, and age and weight and color shouldn't have anything to do with it. If it was just about the music, I would be all over the place," she says. "They need to treat music as if they were wearing blindfolds. If they were wearing blindfolds, it wouldn't matter."
Stone's specific criticisms of the industry - including her own record label, J Records - extend to music publicists for not placing features on her in "hair magazines." (She does, however, praise J Records founder Clive Davis.) As Stone observes, the striking big-Afro photo on the cover of her debut "Black Diamond" set off a minor trend; singers such as Kelis and Cherokee have since picked up the idea.
Stone also desperately wants to appear on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."
"If I had my way, what could change this whole picture is if I could sit with Oprah Winfrey for an hour," she says. "I wrote a three-page letter to Oprah Winfrey, eight, nine, 10 years ago, and sent her a CD and asked her: Because her plight was somewhat like mine, if she was somewhat into music, would she manage me? I never even sent the letter."
In the end, even without Oprah on her side, Stone acknowledges life isn't so bad. She watches Mel Gibson's movie "The Passion of the Christ" at least once a week for inspiration, having seen it five times in the theater before buying the DVD for the road. ("I generally watch it as a pick-me- up for when my spirits are low. It reminds me of what my purpose is.") And singing for a living is better than not singing. "I'm happy about it all," she says. "I'm still here. And I'm not complaining."
(Source: http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/music/ny-etmusic3974338sep17,0,2443466.story?coll=ny-music-headlines)
