D’Angelo has handed away. The Richmond-born singer, songwriter, and producer, of essentially the most gifted and revered musicians of his technology, handed away after a personal battle with pancreatic most cancers. He was 51.
“The shining star of our family has dimmed his light for us in this life,” D’Angelo’s household mentioned in a press release. “After a prolonged and courageous battle with cancer, we are heartbroken to announce that Michael D’Angelo Archer, known to his fans around the world as D’Angelo, has been called home, departing this life today, October 14th, 2025. We are saddened that he can only leave dear memories with his family, but we are eternally grateful for the legacy of extraordinarily moving music he leaves behind. We ask that you respect our privacy during this difficult time but invite you all join us in mourning his passing while also celebrating the gift of song that he has left for the world.”
D’Angelo burst into the general public consciousness within the mid-Nineties as one of many main lights of the neo-soul motion. At a time when R&B had been transferring in a sleeker, poppier path, he introduced a basic, natural really feel to the style whereas nonetheless interacting with hip-hop. After teaming with Brian McKnight and a slate of R&B stars as Black Males United for the Jason’s Lyric soundtrack hit “U Will Know” in 1994, he unveiled his debut album Brown Sugar in 1995. The album was broadly acquired as a landmark launch. It spun off the Billboard prime 10 single “Lady” and different hits together with “Brown Sugar,” “Cruisin’,” and “Me and Those Dreamin’ Eyes of Mine.”
After a number of extra hits from film soundtracks and noteworthy collaborations with the likes of Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, and Angie Stone, he returned in 2000 with sophomore album Voodoo. One other masterpiece, the album is finest recognized for “Untitled (How Does It Feel),” a slow-build R&B epic with an iconic music video. It additionally included hits like “Devil’s Pie” and the Methodology Man & Redman collab “Left & Right.”
Looser and groovier than Brown Sugar, Voodoo went down as one of many crowning achievements of the Soulquarians, a collective of likeminded hip-hop and R&B artists that included D’Angelo alongside Questlove, Badu, Q-Tip, Talib Kweli, James Poyser, and Mos Def. It was honored as Finest R&B Album on the 2001 Grammys, with “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” taking residence Finest Male R&B Vocal Efficiency.
D’Angelo left the general public eye for years after the Voodoo period however got here again on the finish of 2014 with the shock launch of Black Messiah, his third and closing album. It was one other astonishing document, an on the spot basic that boasted luxuriant gradual jams like “Really Love” and spoke to the tumult that knowledgeable the rising Black Lives Matter motion by means of tracks like “1000 Deaths” and “The Charade.” Black Messiah gained D’Angelo two extra Grammys, Finest R&B Album and Finest R&B Track for “Really Love.” He was greeted as a conquering hero upon the album’s launch, a standing he’ll little question preserve in perpetuity.
