“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,” the statement added. “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.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"D'Angelo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/df26b410-a90d-11f0-bba7-95e0e9a48010.jpeg\"\/)
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D’Angelo performs in Chicago on April 4, 2000. (Paul Natkin\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Born Michael Eugene Archer in Richmond, Va., D\u2019Angelo was the youngest of three sons of a Pentecostal preacher<\/a>. He grew up playing music with his older brother, Luther Archer. In 1994, they wrote and coproduced the single \u201cU Will Know\u201d for the R&B supergroup Black Men United, which featured Brian McKnight, Usher, R. Kelly, Boyz II Men and Raphael Saadiq, among others.<\/p>\n D\u2019Angelo released his critically acclaimed debut album, Brown Sugar, the following year. His sophomore album, Voodoo, was released in 2000 and is considered a genre-bending landmark<\/a>.<\/p>\n It won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. And the sultry single \u201cUnited (How Does It Feel)<\/a>\u201d earned D\u2019Angelo a Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, while the song\u2019s music video<\/a> \u2014 featuring a nude, slow-jam crooning D\u2019Angelo \u2014 turned him into an unwitting sex symbol. (Critic Robert Christgau once dubbed D\u2019Angelo \u201cR&B Jesus\u201d<\/a> and a better performer than Marvin Gaye.)<\/p>\n It also drove him away from the public eye, to alcohol abuse and eventually rehab. In 2008, his former manager, Dominique Trenier, told Spin magazine<\/a> that D’Angelo was entirely uncomfortable with his sex symbol status.<\/p>\n “I\u2019m glad the video did what it did,” Trenier recalled. “But he and I were both disappointed because, to this day, in the general populace\u2019s memory, he\u2019s the naked dude.\u201d<\/p>\n After Voodoo, he did not release another studio album until 2014\u2019s politically charged Black Messiah, which also won the Grammy for Best R&B Album.<\/p>\n “We are deeply saddened by the passing of D\u2019Angelo,” RCA Records, his longtime label, said in a statement. “He was a peerless visionary who effortlessly blended the classic sounds of soul, funk, gospel, R&B, and jazz with a hip hop sensibility.”<\/p>\n D’Angelo performing in Byron Bay, Australia on March 24, 2016. (Mark Metcalfe\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n D\u2019Angelo collaborated with numerous R&B and hip-hop artists as part of a loose collective known as the Soulquarians, including the Roots, Common, J.Dilla, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill and his then-girlfriend Angie Stone, with whom he shared a son, Michael Archer Jr., a hip-hop artist who performs as Swayvo Twain<\/a>.<\/p>\n Stone died in a car crash earlier this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI am grateful for your thoughts and prayers during these very difficult times, as it has been a very rough and sad year for me,\u201d Michael Archer Jr. said in a statement to People magazine on Tuesday<\/a>. \u201cI ask that you please continue to keep me in your thoughts as it will not be easy, but one thing that both my parents taught me was to be strong, and I intend to do just that.”<\/p>\n D’Angelo also has another son, Morocco Archer, and a daughter, Imani Archer<\/a>, who is a singer.<\/p>\n In May, D\u2019Angelo abruptly canceled a scheduled headlining performance at the Roots Picnic in Philadelphia, citing \u201can unforeseen\u201d medical issue stemming from a recent surgery.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is with the deepest of regrets that [I] must cancel my performance at the Roots Picnic in Philadelphia,\u201d D\u2019Angelo wrote in a statement posted on the event\u2019s Instagram page<\/a>. \u201cBut, due to an unforeseen medical delay regarding surgery [I] had earlier this year, [I\u2019ve] been advised by my team of specialist that the performance this weekend could further complicate matters.\u201d<\/p>\n He thanked his fans for their \u201ccontinued support\u201d and added: \u201c[I\u2019m] currently in the Lab & can\u2019t wait to serve Up what\u2019s in the Pot! LOVE U All and will see you very soon!\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018A true original\u2019<\/p>\n As news of his death spread, fellow artists and musicians took to social media to post tributes.<\/p>\n Beyonc\u00e9<\/p>\n![\"D'Angelo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/df7919d0-a90d-11f0-aedf-fb025bcdb2dd.jpeg\"\/)
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