Soul Legend D’Angelo, 51, Dies After Private Battle with Pancreatic Cancer

A source confirms that the singer has died after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer

Neo-soul legend and “Brown Sugar” hitmaker D’Angelo has died after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, a source confirmed. He was 51.

TMZ reported that D’Angelo (born Michael Eugene Archer) had died in New York City on Tuesday, Oct. 14.

“He was in hospice for two weeks but had been in the hospital for months”

DJ Premier, who collaborated with D’Angelo on the 1998 track “Devil’s Pie,” shared a post via X on Oct. 14 lamenting the news.

“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,” DJ Premier wrote.

The Richmond-born son of a Pentecostal minister began playing the piano at the age of 3, and by 5 years old D’Angelo was playing the instrument with his father at church. A few years later, he began playing the piano at his grandfather’s Pentecostal church.

Growing up, he and his two cousins formed the group Three of a Kind and began performing at local talent shows. By 16, he formed another band called Michael Archer and Precise with his brother, Luther.

That year, D’Angelo landed a slot during Amateur Night at the Apollo, where he sang “Feel the Fire” by Peabo Bryson. While he didn’t win at the time, he returned to the stage the following year to perform “Rub You the Right Way” by Johnny Gill in 1991 and took the first place.

With his monetary prize, he returned to Richmond, bought a four-track recorder and started writing what would become most of the songs that made up his 1995 debut album Brown Sugar. Brown Sugar peaked at No. 4 on the U.S. Billboard Top R&B Albums chart went platinum within a year of its release. It also earned D’Angelo four Grammy Award nominations.

In 2000, D’Angelo released his sophomore album Voodoo, which peaked at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Top R&B Albums chart and the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. The album also won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album and his song “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” received Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, along with a nomination for Best R&B Song.

As he became more regarded as a sex symbol, D’Angelo struggled with drug and alcohol addiction. He was arrested in 2005 and charged with possession of cocaine and marijuana and driving while intoxicated. A week after being sentenced in September of that year, he was involved in a car accident, and was rumored to be critically injured.

While D’Angelo continued collaborating and performing throughout the years, he didn’t release his third studio album, the acclaimed Black Messiah, until 2014. The album peaked at No. 1 on Billboard’s U.S. Indie Store Album Sales and U.S. Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. It also won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album and is considered a modern neo-soul masterpiece.

Throughout his career, D’Angelo collaborated with artists including Questlove, Common, Q-Tip, J Dilla, Lauryn Hill, Raphael Saadiq and Angie Stone.

In 2024, D’Angelo collaborated alongside Jay-Z on the track “I Want You Forever,” which was featured on The Book of Clarence soundtrack. In a 2024 interview with Rolling Stone‘s Music Now podcast, Saadiq had also confirmed that D’Angelo was working on new music.