D’Angelo, Grammy-award profitable R&B singer, dies aged 51

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Mark Savage Music correspondent

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/34f2/live/76ff4c60-a93c-11f0-a207-37a46608d8d7.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/34f2/live/76ff4c60-a93c-11f0-a207-37a46608d8d7.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/34f2/live/76ff4c60-a93c-11f0-a207-37a46608d8d7.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/34f2/live/76ff4c60-a93c-11f0-a207-37a46608d8d7.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/34f2/live/76ff4c60-a93c-11f0-a207-37a46608d8d7.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/34f2/live/76ff4c60-a93c-11f0-a207-37a46608d8d7.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/34f2/live/76ff4c60-a93c-11f0-a207-37a46608d8d7.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/34f2/live/76ff4c60-a93c-11f0-a207-37a46608d8d7.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Frans Schellekens/Redferns D'Angelo singing into a microphone on stage." class="sc-5340b511-0 bGQwLJ"/> Frans Schellekens/Redferns Fellow musicians Beyoncé, Nile Rogers and Lauryn Hill had been amongst these paying their respects to D'Angelo

Tributes have flooded in for the R&B and soul singer D’Angelo, who has died aged 51 after a pancreatic most cancers prognosis.

In a press release, his household wrote that the star, whose actual identify was Michael Eugene Archer, left behind a "legacy of terribly transferring music" and requested followers to have fun “the reward of track that he has left for the world”.

The influential singer was identified for pioneering neo-soul, a style mixing R&B with different varieties of music, together with hip-hop and jazz.

His three albums received 4 Grammy Awards. The music video for his hit track Untitled (How Does It Really feel) grew to become infamous for its smouldering, single-shot efficiency, the place D’Angelo gave the impression to be performing bare.

"The shining star of our household has dimmed his mild for us on this life," his household stated in a press release obtained by CBS Information, the BBC’s US media companion.

Fellow musicians Beyoncé, Nile Rogers and Lauryn Hill had been amongst these paying their respects.

'Power and sensitivity'

Singer Beyoncé thanked D’Angelo for his music on her web site. "You had been the pioneer of neo-soul, and that modified and remodeled rhythm and blues eternally," she wrote. "We'll always remember you."

Writing about his first assembly with D'Angelo, guitarist and producer Rogers recalled having inspired the late star - who was then on the best way up - to place out his materials because it was "good".

"A couple of yr later I heard a kind of songs on the radio. It was genius and it was precisely what he had performed for me," wrote Rogers. "I do know... I nonetheless have the unique cassette."

Singer and rapper Hill, who labored with D'Angelo at first of his profession, shared a equally prolonged and private reflection, saying his "magnificence and expertise weren't of this world".

"You imaged a unity of power and sensitivity in Black manhood to a era that solely noticed itself as having to be one or the opposite," she wrote.

Fellow rappers Doja Cat and Missy Elliot additionally paid their respects, in addition to singers Jill Scott and Jennifer Hudson.

"A real voice of soul and inspiration to many good artists of our era and generations to come back," Doja Cat wrote on X.

"Relaxation Peacefully D'Angelo," posted Elliot, who was turning into one in every of hip-hop's greatest across the identical time because the soul singer's rise within the late Nineties.

Scott posted: "I by no means met D'Angelo however I really like him, respect him, admire his reward."

Hudson famous how "we misplaced a real unique at this time". "D'Angelo, your voice will stay on eternally. Relaxation properly, King!!!"

Tyler the Creator stated his "musical DNA" was formed by D'Angelo - "We're so fortunate to have been alive to take pleasure in his artwork," he wrote.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/ca1f/live/5c41aa50-a93a-11f0-928c-71dbb8619e94.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/ca1f/live/5c41aa50-a93a-11f0-928c-71dbb8619e94.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/ca1f/live/5c41aa50-a93a-11f0-928c-71dbb8619e94.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/ca1f/live/5c41aa50-a93a-11f0-928c-71dbb8619e94.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/ca1f/live/5c41aa50-a93a-11f0-928c-71dbb8619e94.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/ca1f/live/5c41aa50-a93a-11f0-928c-71dbb8619e94.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/ca1f/live/5c41aa50-a93a-11f0-928c-71dbb8619e94.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/ca1f/live/5c41aa50-a93a-11f0-928c-71dbb8619e94.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Reuters A close-up of D’Angelo, who is singing into a mic. He is wearing a black top hat and looking to his left, against an orange background" class="sc-5340b511-0 bGQwLJ"/> Reuters The award-winning singer was identified for pioneering neo-soul, a style mixing R&B with different varieties of music, together with hip-hop and jazz

D’Angelo started his profession as a songwriter, and labored alongside massive names in music like Lauryn Hill and The Roots.

He rose to fame within the Nineties along with his debut album Brown Sugar. His track, Woman, from that album reached the quantity 10 spot on Billboard’s Scorching 100 chart in 1996.

That track earned him a number of Grammy nominations and secured his spot on the music scene.

The son of a Pentecostal minister, D'Angelo was born in Richmond, Virginia, and taught himself to play piano when he was simply three years outdated.

All through his adolescence, he carried out domestically in teams together with Three of a Sort, Michael Archer and Exact, and Clever, Lethal however Distinctive (I.D.U.).

When he was 18, he received the newbie expertise competitors at Harlem's Apollo Theater for 3 consecutive weeks; and was rapidly signed to a publishing take care of EMI.

He established himself as a industrial pressure along with his 1995 debut album, additionally known as Brown Sugar, and received two Grammys for the 2000 follow-up, Voodoo.

Nonetheless, he subsequently struggled with alcoholism and almost died in a automotive crash in 2005.

He returned to music in 2014 with Black Messiah - an album within the works for years - which he completed after watching the nationwide unrest prompted by protests over the failure to convict cops within the deaths of the unarmed black males Michael Brown and Eric Garner.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/0fda/live/69f76170-a93b-11f0-a207-37a46608d8d7.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/0fda/live/69f76170-a93b-11f0-a207-37a46608d8d7.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/0fda/live/69f76170-a93b-11f0-a207-37a46608d8d7.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/0fda/live/69f76170-a93b-11f0-a207-37a46608d8d7.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/0fda/live/69f76170-a93b-11f0-a207-37a46608d8d7.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/0fda/live/69f76170-a93b-11f0-a207-37a46608d8d7.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/0fda/live/69f76170-a93b-11f0-a207-37a46608d8d7.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/0fda/live/69f76170-a93b-11f0-a207-37a46608d8d7.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Getty Images D'Angelo, wearing a white hat and a boa with black feathers around his neck, performs on a stage with bright pink lighting. He is raising his arms in the air. " class="sc-5340b511-0 bGQwLJ"/> Getty Photos D'Angelo's track Woman earned him a number of Grammy nominations and secured his spot within the music scene

It went on to win the Grammy for greatest R&B album in February 2016.

Amongst these paying tribute was hip-hop legend DJ Premier, who produced D'Angelo's track Satan's Pie.

"Such a tragic loss," he wrote on social media. "We've got so many nice occasions. Gonna miss you a lot. Sleep Peacefully D' Love You KING."

The Voodoo album which was launched in 2000 topped the US charts and in its most up-to-date record of the best albums of all time, Rolling Stone journal positioned it at 28 – one place above The Beatles' White Album.