Joss Stone Introduces Herself To Toronto First

Young British soul singer Joss Stone has been in Toronto, off and on, rehearsing for her upcoming tour since early January. On Saturday night, she unveiled what people can probably expect from her performances to 500 of her Toronto faithful.

The 15-song, 70-minute set — a surprise show that was just announced a day earlier and had a limited number of tickets issued — featured mostly material from Introducing Joss Stone, which is set to hit stores on March 20 via Virgin Records.

The album was produced by Stone's musical collaborator, Raphael Saadiq (The Roots, D'Angelo, Macy Gray), and recorded over two months in the Bahamas. It was mixed at Electric Lady Studios in New York City. Stone had initially retreated to the Barbados to be alone to write the songs for her third LP.

Reclusive Fugee Lauryn Hill joins Stone on the album's opening track, "Music," which was inspired by The Fugees' "The Mask." Rapper Common also gets in on the action by contributing to "Tell Me What We're Going To Do Now."

"Tell Me 'Bout It" is the first single, while other songs include "Girl, They Won't Believe It," "Catch Me I'm Falling," "In The Arms Of My Baby" and "I Wish."

Stone's The Soul Sessions, a collection of covers and obscure soul songs, came out in 2003. Mind, Body & Soul, her first album of original material, followed a year later. The two records have combined to sell more than 7.5 million copies, but Stone says that the new one "is the first album I've made that is truly me.

"That's why I'm calling it Introducing Joss Stone. These are my words and this is who I am as an artist."

Stone hit the world stage at the tender age of 16 and has since been nominated for four Grammy Awards and appeared with such music legends as James Brown, The Rolling Stones and Stevie Wonder.

Though no dates have been announced, Stone is expected to start touring in April.