MONTGOMERY, 2 MAR

Grammy-nominated R&B singer Angie Stone, a member of the all-female hip-hop trio The Sequence and known for the hit song “Wish I Didn't Miss You,” was killed on early Saturday in a car crash. She was 63.

About 4 am, the vehicle she was riding in back to Atlanta from Alabama “flipped over and was subsequently hit by a big rig,” music producer and Stone's longtime manager Walter Millsap III told The Associated Press in an email.

Everyone else in the cargo van survived except Stone, he said.

The Alabama Highway Patrol said in a news release that the 2021 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van turned over on Interstate 65 about 4.25 am Saturday before being hit by a 2021 Freightliner Cascadia truck driven by a 33-year-old man from Texas.

Angie Stone was pronounced dead at the scene, the highway patrol said. The crash was about 5 miles (8 kilometres) south of the Montgomery city limits.

The Sprinter driver and seven others in the van were taken to Baptist Medical Center for treatment. Officials continue to investigate the cause.

Millsap said he learned the news from Angie Stone's daughter, Diamond, and longtime The Sequence member Blondy.

“Never in a million years did we ever expect to get this horrible news,” Angie Stone's children, Diamond and Michael Archer, said in a statement shared by the SRG Group. “We are still trying to process and are completely heartbroken.”

Millsap added: “We are truly devastated by this unexpected and unfortunate tragedy and there are simply no words to express how we feel.”

Stone was scheduled to perform at the halftime show of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association men's Championship basketball game on Saturday. CIAA Chaplain Pastor Jerome Barber called for a moment of silence at the game.

CIAA Commissioner Jacqie McWilliams-Parker said they were heartbroken by the loss. “She used her incredible talent, passion, and presence to inspire and touch us with strength and hope,” Parker said.

The singer-songwriter created hits like “No More Rain (In This Cloud)” which reached No. 1 for 10 weeks on Billboard's Adult R&B airplay chart, “Baby” with legendary soul singer Betty Wright, another No 1 hit, and “Wish I Didn't Miss You” and “Brotha.”

Stone found a sweet spot in the early 2000s as neo-soul begin to dominate the R&B landscape with the emergence of singers like Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Maxwell and D'Angelo.

Her 2001 album “Mahagony Soul” reached No 22 on the Billboard 200, while 2007's “The Art Of Love & War” peaked at No 11.

The church-grown singer was born in Columbia, South Carolina. She helped form The Sequence, the first all-female group on the hip-hop trailblazing imprint Sugar Hill Records, becoming one of the first female groups to record a rap song.

The group recorded “Funk You Up,” which has been sampled by numerous artists, including Dr. Dre.

After finding success in the early 1980s, Stone later joined the trio Vertical Hold before launching her solo career.

Stone came from a musical family

Music had been a part of her life since she was a child, with her mother singing around the house and her father singing gospel and blues at spots around town, Stone told the AP in 1999 interview.

"I'm an only child, so my dad and my mom are my life, and when I was I kid I'd look up to my dad," she told the AP. "He was very influential in what I wanted to do."

Years later, after being hospitalised for congestive heart failure, she changed her life, dropped more than 40 pounds and started eating better, she told the AP. At the time, she said she was just happy to be alive and making music.

“I feel complete. I have a new love, a new album, a new outlook and a newfound joy. A few years ago, I was unhappy, depressed, not happy with the label's efforts to market me. I had to still manage to uplift my audience,” she told the AP in 2007. “Now I feel like I'm on my way to a happily ever after. I've been in the business since 1979. I've grudged and drudged. ... Now I can finally say I feel I've arrived and mean it.”

A Soul Train Lady of Soul winner, Stone went on to showcase her acting chops with film roles in “The Hot Chick” starring Rob Schneider, “The Fighting Temptations” which starred Cuba Gooding Jr. and Beyoncé, and “Ride Along” led by Ice Cube and Kevin Hart.

She also hit the Broadway stage as Big Mama Morton in “Chicago,” and she showcased her vulnerability on the reality TV shows “Celebrity Fit Club” and “R&B Divas: Atlanta.”