Musician D’Angelo, a legend of the neo-soul movement who brought the organic flavor of classic R&B to the hip-hop age, has died. Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he passed Tuesday, October 14 in New York City.
D’Angelo was privately battling pancreatic cancer
According to PEOPLE, D’Angelo, born Michael Eugene Archer, was in hospice for two weeks but had been in the hospital for months.
Born in Richmond as the son of a Pentecostal minister, D’Angelo was just three when he began playing piano. He performed with his father at church at the age of five. Later in life, he formed the group Three of a Kind with his cousins and performed in local talent shows.
In 1990, he formed the band called Michael Archer and Precise with his brother Luther at 16. That year, he sang Feel the Fire by Peabo Bryson at the Apollo’s Amateur Night. D’Angelo won first place the following year, when he Rub You the Right Way by Johnny Gill.
D’Angelo used the prize money to buy a four-track recorder to write songs for his 1995 debut album Brown Sugar. Brown Sugar, which reached No. 4 on the U.S. Billboard Top R&B Albums chart, went platinum and garnered D’Angelo four Grammy nominations.
His album Voodoo, which was released in 2000, hit No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Top R&B Albums chart and the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. It won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album, and his song Untitled (How Does It Feel) received Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, along with a nomination for Best R&B Song.
D’Angelo’s third studio album, Black Messiah in 2014 hit No. 1 on Billboard’s U.S. Indie Store Album Sales and U.S. Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. It also won a Grammy for Best R&B Album.
In 2024, D’Angelo collaborated with Jay-Z on the track I Want You Forever, featured on The Book of Clarence soundtrack.
D’Angelo worked with many acclaimed artists, including Questlove, Common, Q-Tip, J Dilla, Lauryn Hill, Raphael Saadiq and Angie Stone.
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