D'Angelo, an icon of R&B who helped shape that genre – and popular music – in the 21st century, has died at the age of 51, the New York Times is reporting.
In a statement shared to Variety, the singer/songwriter's family confirmed that he succumbed to cancer.
“The shining star of our family has dimmed his light for us in this life… 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 14, 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.”
Though D'Angelo released only three albums over the course of his three decade career, each proved to be hugely influential.
Meticulous and a perfectionist in the studio, D'Angelo preferred endlessly tinkering with his sound – and radically pushing the boundaries of the soul and R&B genres that he grew up with – to keeping up the momentum of the huge commercial success he achieved at the turn of the century.
Born in Richmond, Virginia in 1974, D'Angelo was the son of a Pentecostal minister, and took up the piano before kindergarten. His formative musical experiences came in the church, playing during services.
His performances with a number of groups in his teen years caught the eye of EMI executives, and by 19, he was under contract. D'Angelo's successful for-hire songwriting – his first hit came shortly after his signing with U Will Know, which he penned for the group Black Men United (B.M.U.) – soon allowed him the freedom to work on his own music.
In 1995, D'Angelo established himself as a cutting-edge artist with his debut LP, Brown Sugar. Though not initially a huge hit, the album was a central early document of neo-soul, which combined the accessibility and hooks of the R&B and soul classics of the previous generation with a rebellious hip-hop approach.
Collaborations in the following years with similarly forward-thinking artists in that sphere – among them the enormously successful Lauryn Hill – helped set the stage for what would become D'Angelo's milestone, his much-labored-over sophomore album, Voodoo.
The album's sound, which expanded the artist's previous genre-blurring experimentations in dizzying directions, became somewhat overshadowed by its lead single, Untitled (How Does It Feel). Promoted by a video of the muscular singer soulfully lip-syncing to the slow-burner while nude, it turned D'Angelo into as much a sex symbol as a musician in the public eye.
Though said adulation brought him enormous commercial success – Voodoo was an instant chart-topper – D'Angelo quickly became alienated with his male-model image, and withdrew from the public eye after touring in support of the album.
The ever-experimental singer/songwriter would only release one more album in his lifetime, but what an album it was. Over a decade in the making, 2014's Black Messiah – even more radical than its predecessor, yet still accessible and charming – immediately re-established his artistic pre-eminence.
D'Angelo's final release in his lifetime came in the form of the stunning Unshaken, an eerie slice of psych-funk written for the 2018 game, Red Dead Redemption 2.
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