Joss Stone (born Joscelyn Eve Stoker; 11 April 1987) is an English soul singer-songwriter and actress. Stone emerged to fame in late 2003 with her multi-platinum debut album, The Soul Sessions, which made the 2004 Mercury Prize shortlist. Her second album, the equally multiplatinum Mind Body & Soul, topped the UK Albums Chart for one week and spawned the top ten hit "You Had Me", Stone's most successful single on the UK Singles Chart to date. Both album and single each received one nomination at the 2005 Grammy Awards, while Stone herself was nominated for Best New Artist, and in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2004 was ranked fifth as a predicted breakthrough act of 2004.
Early life
Stone was born at Buckland Hospital in
Dover, Kent and spent her teenage years in
Ashill, a small village near
Cullompton in
Devon. She is the third of four children born to Richard and Wendy Stoker. Her father owns a
fruit and
nut import/export business; her mother worked as Stone's manager until October 2004. Stone made her first public appearance at the Uffculme Comprehensive School—which she attended—in
Uffculme, Devon, with a cover version of
Jackie Wilson's 1957 song "
Reet Petite". Stone blames her
dyslexia for the fact that she left school at age sixteen with only three
GCSE qualifications. "It wasn't that I was stupid. I'm just a little bit
dyslexic and I wasn't very academic. I'm more artistic", she says.
Stone grew up listening to a wide variety of music including 1960s and 1970s American R&B; and soul music performed by such artists as Dusty Springfield and Aretha Franklin. As a result, she developed a soulful style of singing like her idols. "My first CD that I owned was Aretha Franklin: Greatest Hits. And I saw the advert on TV and it was just like little clips of her songs. I had no idea who she was—I was only like 10 so. I said, 'Oh yeah, that looks really good', so I wrote it down and I said to my mum, 'Can I have that for Christmas?' So she told my friend Dennis, who always gets me good music anyway, and he got that for me. So that was one of my first albums that I loved." She would later tell MTV News: "I kind of clicked into soul music more than anything else because of the vocals. You've got to have good vocals to sing soul music and I always liked it ever since I was little."
Music career
2001–2004: Career music development
In 2001, at the age of thirteen, Stone auditioned for the
BBC Television talent show
Star for a Night in London singing Franklin's 1968
Goffin-
King hit "
(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" and
Whitney Houston's 1998 "
It's Not Right but It's Okay". In early 2002, Greenberg flew Stone to
New York City for an audition, in which she sang to backing tracks of classic soul songs:
Otis Redding's 1968 "
(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay",
Gladys Knight & the Pips' 1973 "
Midnight Train to Georgia", and Franklin's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman";
Smokey Robinson,
Gladys Knight,
Solomon Burke,
Robbie Williams,
Melissa Etheridge,
Rob Thomas,
Rod Stewart,
John Mayer and
Blondie. She is well-known for her trademark barefoot performances.
After being signed by S-Curve Records, her U.S. market album came out by the label S-Curve Records and in the international market her album came out by the label EMI Music. Stone flew to Miami and Philadelphia to start work on her debut album, The Soul Sessions, released on 16 September 2003. She collaborated with people with solid credentials in the Miami soul scene such as Betty Wright, Benny Latimore, Timmy Thomas, and Little Beaver as well as contemporary acts Angie Stone and The Roots. The album consists of little-known soul tracks by Wright, Franklin, Laura Lee, Bettye Swann, and others. Released in late 2003, it reached the top five on the UK Albums Chart as well as the top forty of the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. The lead single, "Fell in Love with a Boy", a reworking of The White Stripes' 2001 "Fell in Love with a Girl", reached the top twenty of the UK Singles Chart, as did the second single, a cover version of Sugar Billy's 1974 song "Super Duper Love (Are You Diggin' on Me)". The album eventually went triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry in mid-April 2005 and gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in late March 2004.
2004–2006: Commercial success and debut as a songwriter
After achieving critical acclaim with
The Soul Sessions, Stone recorded her second album—this time with new material—
Mind Body & Soul, released on 28 September 2004. She was quoted to say this was her real debut. "I think my singing is so much better on this album", she says. It proved to be an even bigger success than her previous album, as it debuted at number one in the UK (breaking the record for the youngest female ever to top the UK Albums Chart, a record previously held by
Avril Lavigne) and just missed the top ten of the U.S.
Billboard 200, after peaking at number eleven. The lead single, "
You Had Me", became her biggest hit to date when it rose to number nine in the UK. Follow-up singles "
Right to Be Wrong" and "
Spoiled" both made the top forty, and "
Don't Cha Wanna Ride", the top twenty. "Spoiled" landed just outside the top fifty of U.S.
Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs, peaking at number fifty-four. In early September 2005,
Mind, Body & Soul was certified triple platinum by the BPI and platinum by the RIAA. She performed "
Angels" with
Robbie Williams during the ceremony, as well as three nominations for the
2005 Grammy Awards—
Best New Artist,
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "You Had Me", and
Best Pop Vocal Album for
Mind Body & Soul In 2006, Stone performed on the song Erica with
Dead Celebrity Status from their debut album
Blood Music.
2007–2008: Affirmation on music career
Stone began work on her third studio album, Introducing Joss Stone, at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, in May 2006. Released on 12 March 2007, the album was coordinated by A&R; Chris Anokute, produced by Raphael Saadiq, and included collaborations with Lauryn Hill, Common, and Joi. Virgin Records describes the album as "an electrifying mix of warm vintage soul, '70s-style R&B;, Motown girl-group harmonies, and hip-hop grooves". Stone herself describes it as "truly me. That's why I'm calling it Introducing Joss Stone. These are my words, and this is who I am as an artist."
The album debuted and peaked at number twelve on the UK Albums Chart, not managing to match the success of Stone's two previous albums. It nevertheless debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 selling 118,000 copies in its first week, becoming the highest debut for a British solo female artist on the U.S. chart, surpassing the record previously held by Amy Winehouse with Back to Black (which in turn would later be outdone by Leona Lewis, whose album Spirit debuted at number one the week of 26 April 2008). Stone was nominated for the MOBO Award for Best UK Female in September 2007, but lost out to Winehouse.
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"Tell Me 'Bout It", the album's lead single, debuted and peaked at number twenty-eight on the UK Singles Chart—where it stayed for three weeks only—, and peaked at number eighty-three on the U.S Billboard Hot 100. The second single, "Tell Me What We're Gonna Do Now", a collaboration with rapper Common, failed to chart inside the UK top seventy-five, but made the top sixty-five of the U.S. Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs. "Baby Baby Baby" was released digitally in December 2007 and physically in January 2008 as the third single. With their three albums, she came to the balance of 10 million copies sold worldwide and being, the biggest selling female singers in the decade of 2000s.
Joss elaunched the MTV Unplugged series with a four song acoustic set, but never received commercial release to DVD and CD.
In support of the album, Stone embarked on a North American tour which began on 27 April at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut and ended on 13 June at the Filene Center in Vienna, Virginia, visiting sixteen cities in total including Philadelphia, San Francisco, Vancouver, Chicago, Toronto, New York City, and Boston. Two months later, she went on a North American late-summer tour which kicked off on 27 August at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, California and ended on 29 September at the Crossroads in Kansas City, Missouri, covering twelve cities—this time including Mexico City.
At the 2007 Grammy Awards, Stone shared the award for Best R&B; Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for her collaboration with John Legend and Van Hunt on their 2005 cover of Sly & the Family Stone's 1971 chart-topper "Family Affair".
On 21 April 2008, Starpulse reported that Stone is going to launch a legal battle in a bid to leave her record label, EMI, and free her of her current three-album deal with the record label. She says, "I'm not happy at all with EMI. I've spoken to my lawyers and am seeing what my options are. The industry is in a state and EMI are in a state, so I would rather work on other things."
2008–present: New image, independence and new record company, Super Duper Hits: The Best Of Joss Stone
Stone revealed to
Billboard magazine that her fourth studio album was written and recorded in about a week in Devon in early 2008. "I kind of woke up one morning and wanted to make an album", she says. "It's very, very raw. It's a bunch of musicians, writers and myself, and we're just jamming, basically." In promotion of the album, entitled
Colour Me Free!, Stone played concerts throughout the United Kingdom in February and March. Originally scheduled for release in April 2009,
Colour Me Free! was finally released on 20 October 2009, as EMI delayed the album's release. When she appeared on
Chelsea Lately, Joss revealed that her record company also fought her about the original cover of her new album, calling it "offensive". It was changed to simple text and no picture of the singer on the American edition, the original cover was used on the other editions worldwide. The album was 're-released' in America in April 2010, this time with the original cover, two new tracks and it was also made available to other retailers than iTunes and Target.
In late August 2010, it was reported that Stone has left EMI. Soon after, she added on her Facebook account that her new record company is Stone'd Records. On 31 August 2010, it was confirmed by her official website that Stone'd Records is coming up as a real record company while its website is coming soon. On Stone'd Record's Facebook page it was announced that they'll release their first single this December. On October 10, 2010, Stone performed in Brazil at the SWU Music Festival to an audience of 58,000 people, her biggest audience in Brazil up to now.
Stone announced in late December 2010 that she would be releasing a greatest hits album. The compilation, titled Super Duper Hits: The Best Of Joss Stone is expected for release in February 2011.
Other works
In July 2005, Stone lent her voice to the
Fantastic Four soundtrack, singing the title song "What Ever Happened to the Heroes", written by
Pink,
Billy Mann, and
Christopher Rojas and produced by Beau Dozier shortly before their break-up in November 2005.
Stone performed a medley of "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" and "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" with funk legend James Brown on BBC One's chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on 1 July 2005, She also collaborated with Lemar in 2006 on his third studio album, The Truth About Love, on the track "Anniversary".
On 28 June 2007, Stone asked Queen guitarist Brian May to perform "Under Pressure" with her at the Concert for Diana, held at Wembley Stadium, London, on 1 July 2007. Although May had initially accepted, he eventually declined as he realised how different the arrangement was from the original, stating that "he was not going to be able to do it justice". Stone went on to perform the song solo as well as her hit "You Had Me" and a cover of Homer Banks's 1966 "Ain't That a Lot of Love" with Tom Jones. Both songs were made available on iTunes, the former on 18 September 2007 and the latter on 18 December 2007.
In 2007, Stone collaborated with Beninese singer Angélique Kidjo on a cover of The Rolling Stones' 1969 song "Gimme Shelter" for Kidjo's album Djin Djin, and made a cameo appearance in Mexican singer Aleks Syntek's music video "Historias de Danzón y de Arrabal". The following year, Stone appeared on Randy Jackson's compilation album Randy Jackson's Music Club, Vol. 1 with the song "Just Walk on By", which contains a sample from Dionne Warwick's 1964 song "Walk On By". The song was originally supposed to feature Three 6 Mafia in addition to Stone, but the rap group did not make the cut for unknown reasons.
On 29 November 2007, Stone joined Jeff Beck on a duet of The Impressions's 1965 song "People Get Ready" as part of his series of concerts at London's Ronnie Scott's, documented on the DVD Performing This Week: Live at Ronnie Scott's.
On 7 December 2007, Stone performed live with LeAnn Rimes on the television show CMT Crossroads, which pairs country artists with artists from other music genres. The repertoire included Stone's "Super Duper Love", "Fell in Love with a Boy", and "Tell Me 'bout It", and Rimes's "Nothin' Better to Do", "Good Friend and a Glass of Wine", and "How Do I Live", as well as the jazz standard "Summertime". Their performance of "Tell Me 'bout It" was announced on 5 February 2008 as one of the first-round nominees for Performance of the Year at the 2008 CMT Music Awards.
Stone contributed to the to the 2008 film adaptation of Sex and the City with overdubbed vocals on Al Green's 1972 classic "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart", reinvented as a duet.
Stone recorded a new version of the song "Unchained Melody" (first recorded by Todd Duncan in 1955) with French singer Johnny Hallyday on his 2008 album Ça ne finira jamais, on which Stone sings the original English lyrics while Hallyday sings the lyrics to Les Chaussettes Noires' 1962 French-language version "Les enchaînés".
On 26 October 2008, Stone sang the British national anthem, God Save the Queen, before the NFL match between the San Diego Chargers and the New Orleans Saints, held at Wembley Stadium, London.
On 7 December 2008, Stone performed The Who's 1965 song "My Generation" on CBS's Kennedy Center Honors TV special at the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C., honouring Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey.
On 27 December 2008, Stone released the song "The Anti-Christmas Carol" and its video on her website as the 2008 Christmas gift. In contrast to most Christmas songs, which state that Christmas is the most delightful time of the year, in "The Anti-Christmas Carol" Stone states that she is happy that Christmas only occurs once a year, because of all the stress she experienced during her family dinner.
Stone performed a duet with Yolanda Adams on Adams's 1991 song "Just a Prayer Away" in honour of film director Tyler Perry at the 2009 BET Honors, held at the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C. on 17 January.
Stone appeared on American Idol on 26 March 2009 singing a duet with Motown artist Smokey Robinson entitled "You're the One for Me", from his upcoming album Time Flies When You're Having Fun.
In April, 2009, Stone was in Glenwood Studios, Los Angeles with composer/writer/director Mark Warford working on tracks for the up-coming stage show 'Cry, Desert'. The pair, along with Eurythmics' Dave Stewart worked on demos 'LoverEarth' and 'Never Gonna Be The Same'.
Also in April, Stone was featured in two songs on Tower of Power's most recent album, "Great American Soul Book." Stone sings on "It Takes Two" and "Your Precious Love" with the legendary R&B;, funk, and soul group.
In 2009, Stone, along with Buick Audra, recorded a version of the 1920s gospel children's song "This Little Light of Mine" for the EMI Gospel/Vector Recordings compilation album .
In 2010, Stone appeared on Ringo Starr's album, "Y Not" on the song "Who's Your Daddy" in which she sang and co-wrote with the ex-Beatle.
In 2010, Stone appeared on Jeff Beck's album, "Emotion and Commotion" on the songs "I Put A Spell On You" and "There's No Other Me".
In the mid of 2010 it was revealed that she was chosen to be a James Bond girl in the video game . She also wrote the new theme of the game titled "I'll Take It All".
Screen career
Stone made her film debut in the fantasy adventure film Eragon (based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Christopher Paolini), directed by Stefen Fangmeier and released on 15 December 2006, playing the fortune teller Angela. Of the experience, Stone said, "I was like, 'Why do you want me? I'm a singer, for Christ's sake.' I don't know why [Fangmeier] wanted me, but he did. I'm always getting approached for films—maybe they see me onstage and see the way I get all emotional. But I was like, 'Hey, let's do it.' I never really take anything seriously until I have to, and acting is fun. I never thought I'd do it, but hey, why not, man?"
In March 2008, Stone signed up for the role of a lesbian named Stephanie in the upcoming British romantic comedy Snappers. "I just wanted to challenge myself. There are things in the film that are going to really push the boundaries, and that excites me! I can also confirm there will be a long lingering French kiss, but it won't be with a male!", Stone said. In addition to acting, she will produce the film's soundtrack. The film, which will also star Chloe Howman, Caroline Quentin, and Bruce Jones, will premiere at the English Riviera Comedy Film Festival in September 2008.
Stone made her television debut portraying Henry VIII's fourth wife Anne of Cleves in the third season of Showtime's series The Tudors, appearing in two episodes.
Media attention and endorsements
presenter
Chris Evans.]]
In March 2005, Stone was named the spokesperson for the
Gap clothing company, replacing the actress
Sarah Jessica Parker. Stone has dispelled rumors that Parker was upset by the change. She appeared in a television advertisement for that store chain singing a cover of
Ray Charles's 1958 song "
Night Time Is the Right Time" (retitled "The Right Time"). "All those bum shots? They're not mine",
The Sun quoted her as saying. "They're other girls. That's not my bum, I promise." Stone also appeared in one of Gap's Fall 2005 "Favorites" commercials, singing
The Beach Boys' 1966 song "
God Only Knows". By that time, rumours circulated about her being dropped from the campaign because she was living with then-twenty-five-year-old songwriter and producer Beau Dozier (son of Motown producer and composer
Lamont Dozier) in Los Angeles while she was only seventeen. However, Gap later denied the rumours, stating that they were very happy with Stone and telling
BBC Radio 1 that the claims were "absolute tosh" and "a complete fabrication".
Stone caused major controversy at the 2007 BRIT Awards ceremony on 14 February 2007 while presenting the award for British Male Solo Artist (won by James Morrison). Speaking with what press reports described as an American accent, she gave a speech about Robbie Williams, who had been the target of earlier jokes made by host Russell Brand. Williams had been reported as going into rehabilitation that same week. As her speech continued, she made remarks about Brand, implying that he was heading for rehabilitation himself (while singing a passage of Amy Winehouse's hit "Rehab"). In response to the British media's reaction, Stone said, "At the end of the day, I don't give a fuck if people have a problem with my accent. That's all I can say about it. The words I say do not change. If the way that it sounds is skew-wiff and you don't like it, don't listen. I'm not being a cruel person by sounding a different way. And I can't help it. I've been [in America working] since I was, like, 14."
In March 2007, Stone joined the Campaign for Little Britain, which is petitioning New York City—known for its ethnic enclaves such as Little Italy, Spanish Harlem, and Chinatown—to formally recognise Little Britain as a new neighbourhood in Manhattan. "Britain is a wicked place full of culture and great people", she said, adding: "We can all blend and become one, then the world will be a happier place in the great scheme of things."
In mid-December 2007, Stone was named the new Flake girl to star in a series of television adverts for the Cadbury Schweppes product in the spring of 2008. According to the company, she is the first non-model to take the role.
It was rumoured that Stone was asked personally by Barack Obama to write and record a song for his presidential campaign, reportedly due to the fact that she appeals across racial boundaries. This claim was refuted during her interview with Carson Daily, where Stone explained that she initially wrote the song about the British government. The song, entitled "Governmentalist", was performed at HeadCount's "Get Out the Vote Party" at the Highline Ballroom in New York City on 3 November 2008. The media gleefully reported that she repeatedly referred to him as Bob Gandalf. Despite some criticism, the single became the UK's biggest-selling single of 2004 as well as the 2004 Christmas number-one single.
On 11 April 2005, Stone performed "Spoiled", Rufus' 1974 song "Tell Me Something Good" with John Legend, Otis Redding's 1966 song "Try a Little Tenderness" with Donna Summer, and 1977's "Hot Legs" with Rod Stewart at "Save the Music: A Concert to Benefit the VH1 Save the Music Foundation", in benefit of VH1's Save the Music Foundation. She owns two female dogs: Missy (named for rapper Missy Elliott), a Rottweiler, and Dusty (named for Dusty Springfield, one of her major influences), a Poodle. That same year, she was voted the World's Sexiest Vegetarian by peta2, alongside Chris Martin. Stone, a vegetarian since birth—having been brought up as one by her parents—, was photographed by Justin Borucki posing with a chicken in an advert for PETA in March 2007, whose tagline states, "I am Joss Stone and I am a vegetarian". She was also one of the entertainers appearing in Curt Johnson's 2007 documentary film Your Mommy Kills Animals.
Among other musicians such as Rod Stewart, Amy Winehouse, Lindsay Lohan, Dionne Warwick, and Plácido Domingo, Stone was photographed by Canadian singer-guitarist and photographer Bryan Adams for Phonak's Hear the World initiative, whose main goal is to raise global awareness for the topic of hearing and hearing loss. "Being able to hear means that you can enjoy all the sounds of the world", she said.
Following the release of "Tell Me What We're Gonna Do Now" in mid-2007, Stone and Common turned the single's music video into a Product Red, reverting 100% of the gains from copies of the video purchased from iTunes to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Stone is the first Product Red artist to do so.
On 7 July 2007, Stone performed at the South African leg of the Live Earth concerts at the Coca Cola Dome in Johannesburg, to promote awareness of global warming. She sang the Introducing Joss Stone tracks "Girl They Won't Believe It", "Headturner", "Tell Me What We're Gonna Do Now", "Music", and "Tell Me 'bout It", as well as Mind, Body & Soul's "Right to Be Wrong" and "Gimme Shelter", the latter with Angélique Kidjo.
In order to raise the awareness of AIDS, Annie Lennox joined forces with twenty-three female acts (including Stone) and recorded the song "Sing", which was released on World AIDS Day on 1 December 2007, when Lennox performed at one of Nelson Mandela's 46664 concerts at Johannesburg's Ellis Park Stadium. The song appears on Lennox's fourth studio album, Songs of Mass Destruction.
In support of the gay community, Stone performed at the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California on 26 April 2008. She also performed "Right to Be Wrong" at the LA PRIDE 2008—produced by Christopher Street West, a non-profit organisation—in West Hollywood, California, on 7 June 2008.
Personal life
Stone began dating Beau Dozier—with whom she co-wrote the song "Spoiled"—, son of Motown producer Lamont Dozier (from the
Holland-Dozier-Holland fame), in 2004. She moved from her native England into Dozier's villa in the Los Angeles neighborhood of
Encino the following year. The two split up in November 2005.
Stone was the youngest woman on the 2006 Sunday Times Rich List—an annual list of the UK's wealthiest people—with £6 million, and was also ranked number seventy-eight on Maxim's 2007 Hot 100.
Discography
The Soul Sessions (2003)
Mind Body & Soul (2004)
Introducing Joss Stone (2007)
Colour Me Free! (2009)
(2011)
Filmography
Awards
Grammy Awards
The
Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Stone has received one award from five nominations.
|-
| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="3"| 2005 || Joss Stone || Best New Artist ||
|-
| "You Had Me" || Best Female Pop Vocal Performance ||
|-
| Mind Body & Soul || Best Pop Vocal Album ||
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 2007 ||"Family Affair" (with John Legend and Van Hunt) || Best R&B; Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals ||
|-
| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2"| 2011 ||"I Put a Spell on You" (with Jeff Beck) || Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal ||
|-
Other awards and nominations
References
External links
Official website
Category:1987 births
Category:2000s singers
Category:2010s singers
Category:Blue-eyed soul singers
Category:BRIT Award winners
Category:Animal rights advocates
Category:English blues singers
Category:English child singers
Category:English female singers
Category:English film actors
Category:English rhythm and blues singers
Category:English singer-songwriters
Category:English soul singers
Category:English television actors
Category:English vegetarians
Category:English-language singers
Category:Grammy Award winners
Category:Living people
Category:Neo soul singers
Category:People from Dover
Category:People from Mid Devon (district)
Category:Virgin Records artists
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