Angela Stribling, the pioneering BET personality and popular radio host, has died at age 58. Her husband, Ken Washington, confirmed she died Saturday, September 26, at home after a two-year battle with brain cancer. Stribling was best known for hosting Screen Scene and helping launch BET's jazz programming in the 1990s. Here's everything you need to know about her life and legacy.
Key Facts
- Stribling died Saturday, September 26, at age 58, after a two-year fight with brain cancer.
- Her husband, Ken Washington, Ph.D., confirmed her death in a statement to WHUR 96.3 FM.
- She was the first woman to host WHUR's original Quiet Storm, per WHUR.
- Most recently, she hosted the late-night show Pillow Talk with Angela on WHUR and Sirius XM.
- A celebration of life will be held in Washington, D.C., with the date and venue still to be announced.
Angela Stribling in 2000; Angela Stribling in 2019.
Chris Bergman/Fotos International/Getty; Shannon Finney/WireImage
Early Life and Background
Stribling was born in Buffalo, New York, and studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology before charting a very different course. Mentors and friends urged her to pursue a career built around her voice, so she moved to Washington, D.C. (a decision that would shape the rest of her life).
It was a smart bet. Her rich, unhurried delivery made her a natural for the microphone, and she was equally at home behind a jazz band.
"I'm a jazz singer first. It has always been my passion," Stribling told Copa Style Magazine. Her broadcast career, she added, was just as essential to who she was. That balance between singer and broadcaster defined her work for the next three decades.
Pioneering Years at BET
Stribling became one of the early on-air faces of Black Entertainment Television. She spent four years hosting Screen Scene, the network's entertainment news program, according to EURweb.
She then helped launch BET Jazz, hosting Jazz Central alongside legends Ramsey Lewis and Lou Rawls. She also hosted BET Jazz Discovery and BET Jazz Scene, giving the genre a national television home.
Over the years, she interviewed a remarkable roster of names, including Bill Clinton, Quincy Jones, Janet Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Sterling K. Brown.
Her screen work reached beyond BET, too. She also hosted on WJLA-TV in Washington and CBS Baltimore's WJZ-TV, per The Daily Beast. She made a cameo as a TV anchor in the 1992 Eddie Murphy film The Distinguished Gentleman.
In 2020, she appeared on season five of The Real Housewives of Potomac.
First Woman on the Quiet Storm
Radio was where Stribling made her deepest mark. WHUR says she became the first woman to host its original Quiet Storm, the groundbreaking late-night format created by the late Melvin Lindsey in 1976.
She later hosted Pillow Talk with Angela, the late-night show that reached listeners on both WHUR and Sirius XM. Her voice also became a fixture in advertising, per her LinkedIn page, with national campaigns for Mercedes-Benz, Folgers Coffee and Allstate Insurance.
Her reach extended to New York, too. Skip Dillard, who hired her as the imaging voice for The Quiet Storm on WBLS in 2009, told Daily Voice she was phenomenal. Her voice is still heard on the station today.
Personal Life and Final Year
Stribling was married to Ken Washington, who was by her side at the end along with her sister, Darlene. In a statement to WHUR, Washington shared that she died peacefully at home after "a courageous two-year battle with brain cancer." No official cause of death has been released, per The Daily Beast.
Even during her illness, Stribling kept her spirits high in public. In her final birthday post on Instagram, dated October 13, 2025, she alluded to a "surprising health challenge" and said she had survived it through faith.
"I'm grateful for every single moment," she wrote. It was a rare, candid glimpse of her private struggle, and one that fans are revisiting now.
(For more on celebrity health news, see our recent report on Kim Kardashian's esophagitis diagnosis.)
Tributes and What Happens Next
Tributes poured in over the weekend from colleagues and friends across the industry. Longtime journalist Ed Gordon, who worked alongside Stribling at BET, shared a heartfelt message on Facebook on September 27.
"She was a sweet soul," Gordon wrote. He added that the two remained close after leaving the network, and that she had recently told him she and her husband planned to spend more time in D.C. after years out west.
Gordon also noted it has been a devastating year for the BET family, according to TV Insider.
WHUR says a celebration of life will take place in Washington, D.C. Details are expected to be announced soon. Stribling leaves behind a legacy as a singer, a groundbreaking broadcaster and a voice that kept generations of listeners company after dark. Stay tuned to Bigwritehook for updates.
