Stokley

Stokley Williams is a studio regular as well as a frontman. Born in July 1967 and a native of St. Paul, Minnesota, he is best known as the lead voice and studio drummer of the R&B group Mint Condition, but his reach extends well beyond that band. Listeners hear him behind Janet Jackson, Karyn White and Sounds of Blackness, and on Prince's Musicology, where he contributed background vocals. He names Cliff Alexis Sr., Prince and Maurice White among his main influences.

His solo career began in 2017 with Introducing Stokley, released on Bluraffe and Concord Records and produced by Stokley himself alongside the Philadelphia team Carvin & Ivan. That year he also joined The Revolution on tour in tribute to Prince. A 2011 feature on Kelly Price's "Not My Daddy" had earned him his first Grammy nomination, for Best R&B Performance. Sankofa, his second solo album, followed in 2019, a joint venture between Jam & Lewis and Bluraffe and Perspective Records. In March 2020, "She..." gave him his first solo number one, topping Billboard's Adult R&B Chart for two consecutive weeks. In 2024 he was cast as Rick James in Super Freak: A Rick James Story, with a spring tour planned.