Nationwide — Neo-soul icon D’Angelo — who shared a son with fellow singer Angie Stone — has died at the age of 51, just months after Stone’s passing earlier this year. Their child, Michael D’Angelo Archer II, has now lost both parents in a short span of time, a heartbreaking tragedy for their family and fans alike. The legendary “Brown Sugar” hitmaker died on Tuesday, October 14, in New York City after a battle with pancreatic cancer, according to People.
D’Angelo, born Michael Eugene Archer, had been in hospice care for two weeks and hospitalized for months, a source shared. TMZ was first to report his passing. News of his death sparked an outpouring of grief across the music industry. DJ Premier, who collaborated with D’Angelo on the 1998 classic “Devil’s Pie,” posted on X: “Such a sad loss to the passing of D’Angelo. We have so many great times. Gonna miss you so much. Sleep Peacefully D’ Love You KING.”
A Richmond, Virginia native and the son of a Pentecostal minister, D’Angelo showed musical talent from an early age. By age 3, he was playing piano, and by 5, he was performing in church alongside his father. As a teen, he formed groups like Three of a Kind and Michael Archer and Precise before making his mark at Amateur Night at the Apollo, where he won in 1991 after performing Johnny Gill’s “Rub You the Right Way.”
With his Apollo prize money, he returned home to Richmond, bought a four-track recorder, and began writing songs that would become his landmark 1995 debut album, Brown Sugar. The record went platinum within a year, peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard Top R&B Albums chart and earning four Grammy nominations. In 2000, his follow-up album Voodoo reached No. 1 on both the R&B and Billboard 200 charts and earned him two Grammy Awards, solidifying his place as a neo-soul pioneer.
As his fame grew, D’Angelo became a sex symbol, especially after the release of “Untitled (How Does It Feel).” However, fame also brought personal struggles. He battled drug and alcohol addiction, was arrested in 2005 for possession and DUI, and survived a serious car crash shortly after. Though his challenges were public, his artistic brilliance never dimmed.
In 2014, after years of anticipation, he released Black Messiah, an album hailed as a modern soul masterpiece. It topped the U.S. Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and earned another Grammy Award. Over the years, D’Angelo collaborated with some of music’s most respected artists, including Questlove, Lauryn Hill, Raphael Saadiq, Common, Q-Tip, J Dilla, and of course, Angie Stone.
In 2024, D’Angelo collaborated with Jay-Z on “I Want You Forever” for The Book of Clarence soundtrack, and according to Raphael Saadiq, he was working on new music. His death marks the end of a groundbreaking musical journey — but his influence on soul, R&B, and Black music culture will live on for generations.