Joss Stone’s new album a mix of vintage soul, R&B, and hip-hop

By Patrick Luce Jan 18, 2007, 0:41 GMT

Joss Stone Performs on the 2005 Today Show Summer Concert Series - NBC Studios - Rockefeller Plaza © Janet Mayer / Photorazzi

British soul singer and songwriter Joss Stone will release her third album, ‘Introducing Joss Stone,’ on March 20th on Virgin Records. An electrifying mix of warm vintage soul, '70s-style R&B, Motown girl-group harmonies, and hip-hop grooves, the album is the one that Stone describes as "truly me. That's why I'm calling it Introducing Joss Stone," she says. "These are my words, and this is who I am as an artist."

Knowing she wanted to write the album alone, Stone decamped to Barbados in April to come up with lyrics. She stayed for several months before flying to the Bahamas to hook up with her main musical collaborator and producer Raphael Saadiq (known for his work with D'Angelo, The Roots, and Macy Gray). "Raphael [who plays bass on the album] is the most incredible musician I've ever met in my whole life," Stone says. "Musically, I feel like he reads my mind. I'll give him a look and he'll know exactly what I want." Stone and Saadiq spent two months recording in the Bahamas, and then mixed it at the legendary Electric Lady Studios in New York City.

Other musical collaborators include rapper/singer/songwriter and producer Novel, who is the grandson of soul legend Solomon Burke and has written songs for Kelis and India.Arie, as well as Beau Dozier, son of Motown legend Lamont Dozier, whom she wrote with on her last album, 2004's gold-certified Mind, Body & Soul. The album also features guest vocal appearances by the rapper Common on "Tell Me What We're Going to Do," and reclusive Fugees singer Lauryn Hill, who lends a rap to the languid Fugees-inspired track "Music."

Stone first emerged on the music scene as a preternaturally gifted 16-year-old with a "rich, deep, soulful belt," as the New York Post put it, calling her "unlike any singer of her generation." In 2003, she released The Soul Sessions, an album of covers of obscure soul tracks, hit the road for a year, then recorded Mind, Body & Soul, her first album of original material. Stone was nominated for three Grammy Awards in 2005, including Best New Artist, and performed a tribute to Janis Joplin with Melissa Etheridge at the ceremony.

Over the course of her career, Stone has also appeared onstage with James Brown, The Rolling Stones, Gladys Knight, Patti Labelle, Mavis Staples, Donna Summer, Smokey Robinson, Rob Thomas, John Mayer, and John Legend. She has performed for more than 200,000 people at the 2005 Live 8 concert in London and most recently wowed the crowd with her rendition of Dusty Springfield's "Son of a Preacher Man" at the UK Music Hall of Fame Awards in November. Now 19, Stone has sold over 7.5 million albums worldwide.