Introducing Joss Stone (stylised as Introducing... Joss Stone) is the third studio album by English singer and songwriter Joss Stone, released on 9 March 2007 by Virgin Records. Stone began writing the album in April 2006 in Barbados, before meeting up with producer Raphael Saadiq in the Bahamas to record the songs. Introducing Joss Stone also features guest vocal appearances by rapper Common and singer Lauryn Hill.
Upon its release, the album was met with generally positive reviews from music critics. Introducing Joss Stone was not as commercially successful as Stone's previous albums in her native United Kingdom, peaking at number 12 on the UK Albums Chart and selling 27,000 copies in its first week. In the United States, it debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 118,000 units, which broke the record at the time for the highest debut for a British female solo artist on the chart. It also performed well across continental Europe, charting inside the top 10 in several countries. The album has sold 1.3 million copies worldwide.
Background and recording
Chris Anokute was hired by Virgin Records chairman Jason Flom to A&R Introducing Joss Stone with a budget of $1 million, which Anokute described to HitQuarters as his "first real A&R job". In April 2006, Flom sent Stone to Barbados with Anokute for two months, where she began writing the lyrics and he helped her develop the songs. Stone wrote an estimated 60 songs. In collaboration with Stone's manager Marty Maidenberg and Merck Mercuriadis, Anokute developed the vision for the album, enlisting producers and musicians such as Raphael Saadiq, Novel, Dallas Austin and Common. Anokute also arranged a duet with Lauryn Hill, who had not guested on anyone else's record since her debut album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998).
After spending months in Barbados, Stone travelled to Nassau, Bahamas, to meet up with Saadiq, who produced the entire album. "Raphael is the most incredible musician I've ever met in my whole life", Stone said. "Musically, I feel like he reads my mind. I'll give him a look and he'll know exactly what I want." The two spent two months in Nassau recording at Compass Point Studios, followed by the album's mixing at Electric Lady Studios in New York City.
Release and promotion
On 13 March 2007, VH1 launched a music series titled Album Autopsy: Introducing Joss Stone on its broadband video channel VSPOT. The series took an in-depth look at the entire album process, including Stone's songwriting process, recording sessions, creation of the album cover art and interviews with Stone and people involved in the album's production. The deluxe edition of the album includes a bonus DVD containing behind-the-scenes footage, interviews with Stone and the music video for "Tell Me 'bout It".
From March to June 2007, Stone performed on several American television shows to promote the album, including Late Show with David Letterman, Tavis Smiley, Today, The Early Show, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Dancing with the Stars, The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Live! with Kelly and Michael. According to Stone, her record label cancelled all her then-upcoming press appearances to promote the album in the United Kingdom, as a result of the backlash that her appearance at the 2007 Brit Awards received from the British media.
Stone toured North America in support of the album from 27 April to 13 June 2007, visiting 16 cities in total, including Philadelphia, New Orleans, San Francisco, Vancouver, Seattle, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, New York City and Boston. Two months later, Stone embarked on a North American late-summer tour, which ran from 27 August to 29 September 2007 and covered 12 cities: Los Angeles; Park City, Utah; Snowmass Village, Colorado; Seattle; Jacksonville, Oregon; Las Vegas; Mexico City; Austin, Texas; Biloxi, Mississippi; Chicago; San Francisco; and Kansas City, Missouri.
Singles
"Tell Me 'bout It" was released on 5 March 2007 as the lead single from Introducing Joss Stone. The song peaked at number 28 on the UK Singles Chart, and became Stone's first solo single to chart on the US Billboard Hot 100, reaching number 83. The album's second single, "Tell Me What We're Gonna Do Now", features rapper Common and was released on 23 July 2007, peaking at number 84 on the UK Singles Chart.