Soul legend D’Angelo has died after a private battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 51.
“The shining star of our family has dimmed his light for us in this life,” his family said in a statement to Us Weekly on Tuesday, October 14. “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 14th, 2025.”
The statement continued, “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 to join us in mourning his passing while also celebrating the gift of song that he has left for the world.”
RCA Records also addressed D’Angelo’s death, telling Us in a statement, “We are deeply saddened by the passing of D’Angelo. He was a peerless visionary who effortlessly blended the classic sounds of soul, funk, gospel, R&B, and jazz with a hip-hop sensibility. A known perfectionist, D’Angelo released three albums that were widely celebrated as masterpieces by both the music community and his beloved fans around the world. He was heavily awarded and critically acclaimed for his talents.”
Baller Alert was the first to report the news.
The singer died in New York City, sources connected to his family and former manager Kedar Massenberg told TMZ.
D’Angelo was best known for his 1995 debut album, Brown Sugar, which helped kickstart the neo-soul movement. The album contained hits including “Lady,” “Cruisin’” and “Brown Sugar.”
His 2000 single “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” from his second studio album, Voodoo, earned D’Angelo a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. The album also won Best R&B Album.
“Untitled” also became known for its steamy music video, which showcased the singer’s nude body from the waist up. The video solidified D’Angelo’s status as a sex symbol.
D’Angelo later went on to win Grammys for his third and final studio album, Black Messiah, and the single “Really Love” in 2016. He received several other Grammy nominations throughout his career, including one for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 1999 for his collaboration with Lauryn Hill, “Nothing Even Matters.”
Less than one year before D’Angelo’s death, singer and songwriter Raphael Saadiq said on the “Rolling Stone Music Now” podcast that the Virginia native had been working on his fourth album.
“D’s in a good space right now,” Saadiq, 59, said. “I talked to him a couple times. He’s excited. We don’t talk much, but when we do talk it’s crazy, like, ‘Oh, you gotta hear this!’ He’s like, ‘You gotta play bass. I’ve got this track. I’m telling you, you got to get on it. It got your name all over it.’”
He continued, “He’s working on six pieces right now and he seems super excited. He’s in control of his own destiny at this point. He has a management team, but they can’t make him do anything that he don’t wanna do. He knows it’s on him now, and I think that’s a different angle that he’s coming from.”
D’Angelo appeared in Questlove’s documentary about Sly Stone earlier this year, called Sly Lives!, where he discussed the pressure of being a gifted Black public figure.
“It doesn’t matter whether you’re doing music, sports,” he said. “We as Black folk, we always gotta be three, four, five steps ahead of everybody else in order just to break even. It’s just always been that way.”
D’Angelo is survived by two sons and a daughter. He shared his eldest son with singer Angie Stone, who died in a car accident at age 63 in March.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.usmagazine.com ’
