Tyler Perry eulogizes Angie Stone at funeral: ‘I’m angry at the way she was treated’

Film and television mogul Tyler Perry paid tribute to R&B singer Angie Stone at her funeral on Friday, telling the church congregation at Word of Faith Cathedral in Austell, Ga., that he is “angry” by how she was treated in the music industry.

“I’m angry at the way she was treated,” said Perry, who shared that he had only recently been made aware of the challenges Stone faced in recouping money owed to her by her record label. “To think that this woman was in the business for all of these years…All of those years, all of those songs, all of that money that was owed to her. Where is it? It’s wrong.”

Stone, who died on March 1 at 63 after being involved in a car accident in Alabama, had previously shared on social media on Jan. 2 that, after more than 40 years in the business, she had not received royalty payments from her former label, Universal Music Group. “They’re going to have to give me my money,” said Stone, who had said she had only recently learned of her financial situation after inquiring amidst medical issues. Ironically, the night Stone was killed, she was traveling from a gig in Montgomery.

“There’s a difference between performing because you want to and performing because you have to,” said Tyler Perry. “I’m tired of seeing us struggle and go through things and work hard and not reap the benefits of what we were supposed to reap.”

The creator of “Madea’s Family Reunion” and “Beauty in Black” added, “You have to be careful when you start mistreating people, especially children of God because the Bible says, ‘Touch not my anointed and do my prophet no harm.’”

Though Perry admitted he didn’t know Stone as well as others, sharing he often saw her at shows, he called the soul singer a “prophet,” adding, “She prophesied and preached her own eulogy.”

Perry recalled the lyrics to Stone’s hit single “No More Rain (“In This Cloud”), telling the congregation, “She says, ‘My Sunshine has come, and I’m all cried out. There’s no more rain in this cloud.’” He continued, “The beauty of what she was talking about is when a cloud has no more tears, it dissipates. It’s gone. But if you listen to that song again, there’s a part that I want you to really, really listen to. She said, ‘What goes around comes around. What goes up must come down. The things you do come back to you.’”

The media mogul praised Angie Stone as someone who “sold kindness…[and] joy to people…She sold love and her voice to people.” He concluded his remarks: “God bless you, Angie, my heart, my soul, is with you. I’m so glad that there’s no more rain in your cloud.”