"There's too much of this churned-out, processed, here-today-gone-tomorrow music around. That's not me," declares the 45-year-old diva.

Tonight at B.B. King's, Stone unleashes the gospel-soul vocal flights that mark her as an heir to Aretha Franklin and Patti LaBelle - and a rare bird in the cookie-cutter recording industry.

Like Aretha, Stone, born Angela Laverne Brown in Columbia, S.C., in 1961, got her musical start in church. Her father, who sang with a local gospel quartet, took her to see touring outfits like the Gospel Keynotes.

The youngster performed fervently every Sunday, and wrote poetry and played ball with equal fervor the rest of the week. She was flash enough to win college scholarships, but turned them down to try her hand at music.

After a series of menial jobs to fund studio time, in 1980 she hit as a member of The Sequence, hip-hop's first major female group, who scored big with "Funk You Up." The hit opened the music-biz door. She sped through it and has not stopped moving since.

Stone worked with Mantronix, and played sax and sang with Lenny Kravitz just as he broke big. Next came Vertical Hold, an early neo-soul/hip-hop trio that landed "Seems You're Much Too Busy" on the charts.

Then D'Angelo, with whom she had a multifaceted liaison in the 1990s: Stone co-wrote songs for his first two studio albums, sang backup on his tours and had his child.

Her first solo effort, "Black Diamond," just missed going platinum and netted her two Lady of Soul awards in 2000. Amidst her followup albums came guest shots on TV's "Moesha" and "Girlfriends" (whose theme she sings) and in movies ("The Hot Chick" and "Fighting Temptations" with Beyoncé Knowles).

"I wanna be an all-around entertainer," she says. "I've paid my dues and keep growing." That's why she took on Broadway in 2003, playing feisty Mama Morton in "Chicago."

About B.B. King's, Stone says, "To have a really good time at a concert, you gotta lose the chairs. That's what we'll be doing."

Originally published on July 7, 2006