Rest In Power: Notable Black Folks Who We’ve Lost In 2025

Source: Joi Stokes / Getty

UPDATED: 2:19 pm EST March 1st, 2025

As we’ve come to understand year after year, day after day even, death is unfortunately an inevitable part of life. Still, as much of a fact as that may be, the blow of experiencing loss never gets any easier, nor does reporting on the subject in Black culture.

We are sad to report that Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Angie Stone was killed in an auto accident Saturday morning (March 1) at the age of 63.  Her daughter, Diamond, confirmed the news on social media, simply saying “My Mommy is gone.”  The singer’s rep, Deborah R. Champagne, confirmed to TMZ that the singer was killed on her way home from a show in Montgomery, Alabama.

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Born Angela Laverne Brown on December 18, 1961, in Columbia, SC, Stone rose to fame as a member of the female hip-hop trio The Sequence. Signed to Sugar Hill Records, the group had a moderate hit with “Funk You Up.”

In the early 1990s, Stone became the lead singer of the R&B trio Vertical Hold, scoring an R&B hit with the track “Seems You’re Much Too Busy.”

After signing a solo deal with Arista, her debut solo album, Black Diamond, was released in 1999. The lead single, “No More Rain (In This Cloud),” went to #1 on the Billboard Adult R&B Chart.

Stone would go on to release 10 studio albums during her career. Notable hits include “I Wish I Didn’t Miss You,” “Brotha,” and “I Wanna Thank Ya.” Stone’s music earned her two Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards and three Grammy nominations.

Stone is survived by daughter Diamond, son Michael, and two grandchildren.

Learn more below about who in our culture has passed away so far this year in 2025 Below