D’Angelo, the legendary R&B and neo-soul pioneer behind hits including “Lady,” “Brown Sugar” and “Untitled (How Does It Feel),” has died from pancreatic cancer aged 51.
The American musician’s family confirmed his death in a statement that said: “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, 14 October 2025.”
His family added: “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.”
While he released just three studio albums in his lifetime, including his critically adored and commercially successful 1995 debut Brown Sugar, D’Angelo was regarded as one of the most influential R&B artists of his generation. He was just 21 when he released Brown Sugar, a hit thanks to his signature falsetto (which helped draw comparisons with Prince), languid, sultry instrumentation and seductive lyrics that explored both sexuality and spirituality.
He proved himself a gifted musician from a young age, learning to play the piano aged three and performing in church in South Richmond, Virginia, alongside his father, a Pentecostal minister. He went on to perform in local groups under names such as Three of a Kind, Michael Archer and Precise, and Intelligent, Deadly but Unique (IDU). The record label EMI signed him in 1993, the year he wrote the hit “U Will Know” for the group Black Men United (BMU), before establishing himself as a fully fledged solo artist.
While Brown Sugar led to D’Angelo (born Michael Eugene Archer on 11 February 1974) being credited as a pioneer of “neo-soul”, he later suggested he was ambivalent about the term. “I don’t want to disassociate, and I respect it for what it is, but any time you put a name on something, you put it in a box,” he said during a rare public appearance in 2014. “I never claimed I do neo-soul. When I first came out, I said, I do Black music.”
His 2000 follow-up, Voodoo, debuted at No 1 on the US Billboard 200 and earned him a fresh round of critical adulation, with lead single “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” winning the Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. The accompanying video for the track turned D’Angelo into a somewhat reluctant sex symbol, but helped keep Voodoo, which also scooped the Best R&B Album Award, at the top of the charts for two weeks.
The reactions to the video and D’Angelo’s live performances, where he often felt pressured to take off his shirt, took their toll. “One time I got mad when a female threw money at me onstage, and that made me feel f***ed up,” he told GQ in a 2014 interview. He threw the money back: “I was like, ‘I’m not a stripper.’” After the Voodoo tour, D’Angelo “sunk into this thing”, propelled by the loss of his uncle and grandmother, and began abusing drugs and alcohol.
It was another 14 years and several stints in and out of rehab before D’Angelo released what would be his third and final album, Black Messiah, in 2015. Originally intended for release the following year, it was brought forward as a response to the Black Lives Matter movement. His manager, Alan Leeds, disclosed to The New York Times that D’Angelo told him: “I want to speak out.”
“It’s almost a surprise to find the reclusive R&B enigma’s style so unchanged,” The Independent’s late critic Andy Gill wrote in his review at the time. “Notwithstanding the occasional foray into jazz and blues, Black Messiah is much the same blend of miasmic boudoir soul, bare-bones funk and liberation songs that characterised his 2000 milestone, Voodoo.”
“This is a very powerful medium that we are involved in,” D’Angelo told GQ that year of the album’s gospel influences. “I learned at an early age that what we were doing in the choir was just as important as the preacher. It was a ministry in itself. We could stir the pot, you know? The stage is our pulpit, and you can use all of that energy and that music and the lights and the colours and the sound. But you know, you’ve got to be careful.”
In the same interview, his peers lavished praise on the man rapper Common called “one of the most impactful artists of our day and age”, as he remembered the moment he heard D’Angelo’s song “Lady”.
“I was calling people and saying, ‘Have you heard this?’ he recalled. Meanwhile, singer George Clinton compared Voodoo to Marvin Gaye’s groundbreaking album What’s Going On, while Eric Clapton’s stunned reaction was caught on camera: “I can’t take much more!” he exclaimed. “Is it all like this? My God!”
Black Messiah received near-unanimous critical acclaim and earned D’Angelo a further three Grammy nominations, including Record of the Year for the single “Really Love”. He won two awards: Best R&B Song for “Really Love”, and Best R&B Album.
News of his death prompted an outpouring of tributes from his peers, friends and fans. DJ Premier, who produced his song “Devil’s Pie”, wrote: “Such a sad loss... We had so many great times. Gonna miss you so much. Sleep peacefully D’ love you KING.”
Rapper Tyler, the Creator posted a black and white photo of the R&B star on X, while Flavor Flav posted on the social media platform: “R.I.P. ICON D’Angelo.”
Doja Cat praised D’Angelo as “a true voice of soul and inspiration to many brilliant artists of our generation and generations to come” on X.
Meanwhile, Nile Rodgers remembered when record executive Gary Harris – who signed D’Angelo – had brought the then-young singer over to his apartment in New York to show him music.
“He was trying to figure out what to do with the music he’d brought with him,” Rogers wrote on Instagram on Tuesday. “I listened to every cut… not just out of respect but because it was smoking. At the end of the encounter he asked me, ‘What should I do with it?’ I remember this as if it were yesterday. I said, “put it out. It’s perfect!’
“Being the artist he is, I guess he had to explore some ways to make it better. About a year later, I heard one of those songs on the radio. It was genius and it was exactly what he had played for me. I know… I still have the original cassette.”
D’Angelo was never married, though he famously dated singer Angie Stone, his frequent collaborator and co-writer on Voodoo. They had one son together. Stone died in a car crash earlier this year at 63, and D’Angelo has two other children.
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