Joss Stone

Despite her young age, Joss Stone is considered to be one of the most famous and successful female Soul and RnB singers in Britain. By the age of 22, she has already recorded four albums which were sold over 10 million copies worldwide – more than any other female soul British artist during the 2000’s. Joss Stone is also known as the youngest female singer to top the UK Albums Chart. During her career she has performed together with different artists, ranging from Robbie Williams and Rod Stewart to Blondie.

Joss Stone, who’s real name is Jocelyn Eve Stoker, was born on 11 April, 1987 in Dover, England. She grew up listening to the 1960s and 1970s American RnB and soul artists such as Dusty Springfield and Aretha Franklin. She made her first performance in school at the age of 12. Two years later she won BBC Television talent show Star For A Night with Donna Summer's hit On The Radio. Producers from S-Curve Records label heard her performance and signed contract with her. In September 2003, she released her first album under the name Joss Stone. Titled The Soul Sessions, it featured little-known tracks by Betty Wright, Aretha Franklin and others. The album became a huge success. It gained multi-platinum status and was nominated for 2004’s Mercury Prize award.

Joss Stone, who quickly became one of the most popular singers in Britain, was working on her second album at that time. Titled Mind, Body & Soul, it was released in September 2004 and became even more successful. The record topped the UK Albums Chart for one week, while the song You Had Me became Stone's most successful single on the charts to date. Joss Stone was nominated for three Grammy Awards 2005, including Best New Artist. At the BRIT Awards 2005, Stone became the youngest singer to win Female Solo Artist award (she was seventeen at this time). At the same time, she also started her Hollywood career. She acted in the movie Eragon in 2005 (and stared in several other movies later). Starting from this year, she is regularly contributing to the soundtracks of different films (such as Fantastic Four and Sex And The City).

Joss Stone released her next album, Introducing Joss Stone, in March 2007. It was not as commercially successful as her previous records, although it was sold 118,000 copies in its first week in US, becoming the highest debut for a British solo female artist on the U.S. chart. Stone herself said that this record revealed her true identity, also describing it as a «mix of warm vintage soul, '70s-style RNB and hip-hop grooves». Joss Stone last to date album Colour Me Free hit the stores in October 2009. It had more affiliation with pop music than her previous works. According to the singer, the album was recorded during one week. She also claimed that her current label EMI forced her to change self-designed cover, because it was «too offensive». Recently Joss Stone claimed that she has been thinking about living EMI and even about creating her own label to be «completely free in creating new songs».