It was Angie Stone's vocal talent that shot Vertical Hold's urban dance hit, "Seems You're Much Too Busy," to the upper reaches of the charts in 1993. But it wasn't until 1999 that Stone got around to issuing her first solo album, BLACK DIAMOND, which mixed elements of classic soul and funk to her already rich, smooth sound and followed Macy Gray's debut into the roots-R&B upper echelon.