In Focus: Joss Stone

Who could’ve thought a young teener from Dover, Kent, England would be able to bring soul music in the current scene as sweet as it was decades ago? Add along with it plenty of achievements under her belt at a young age. Before reaching 19, Joscelyn Eve Stoker, famous as Joss Stone has sold more than 7.5 million albums worldwide, has released three albums with platinum certifications, and won various music awards including two Brit Awards and Grammy nominations.

Much of Joss Stone’s influences are part of soul music’s finest, such as James Brown, Roberta Flack, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, and Dusty Springfield, showing her deep roots with the genre that surged in her own music. She has already appeared onstage with legendaries James Brown, The Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Patti Labelle, Mavis Staples, Donna Summer, and Smokey Robinson. She has collaborated with jazz pianist Herbie Hancock and blues singer-guitarist Jonny Lang, was among the musicians who joined Band Aid on November 2004 in support to save Darfur, was a part of the Live 8 at Hyde Park, London, and performed at the South African leg of the Live Earth concerts at the Coca Cola Dome, in Johannesburg in July 2007. Also, Joss Stone became a part of the Fantastic Four soundtrack with the song “What Ever Happened to the Heroes” in July 2005.

Joss Stone once dreamt of being a singer when she was in school, and now the dream has come true, even exceeded the grounds of singing. This is evident in her accomplishments beyond music, such as becoming the spokesperson for The Gap in March 2005 and starring in the fantasy movie Eragon released December 2006. Joss Stone was also voted the World’s Sexiest Vegetarian in 2005 by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and got ranked as number seventy-eight on Maxim’s 2007 Hot 100.

Currently, Joss Stone has a new album, Introducing Joss Stone, with a mix of classic soul and old R&B, Motown sounds and jazz melodies. The songs on the album were beautifully written on the Caribbean island of Barbados where she formed a major theme for the album.

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