A Terribly Late Salute to D’Angelo

The soul great caught his ride far too soon at 51

October 28, 2025October 28, 2025 Ron Hart 0 Comments Brown Sugar, D'Angelo, Method Man, Michael Eugene Archer, Pino Palladino, Questlove, Redman, RIP, Roy Hargrove, Voodoo

D’Angelo on the cover of 2000’s Voodoo. (Image: Virgin Records)

Just because we didn’t immediately post an obituary for D’Angelo — who died on Oct. 14 from pancreatic cancer at 51 — don’t think for a second his passing hasn’t killed us.

In the two weeks that have transpired in the wake of his death, it’s no doubt hard to reckon with the idea of this massive talent born Michael Eugene Archer released only three albums in the span of 20 years: 1995’s Brown Sugar, 2000’s Voodoo and 2014’s Black Messiah.

“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,” read a family statement released shortly after his death. “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.”

I will never forget going to see D’Angelo perform at Radio City Music Hall on March 17, 2000 shortly after the release of Voodoo in late January of that year to universal acclaim.

Flanked by a band that featured Roy Hargrove on trumpet and the rhythm section of Pino Palladino on bass and drummer Questlove, D’Angelo gave the performance of a lifetime that only exists in the minds of those who were in attendance.

“D’Angelo sang and danced and preached and flexed and crooned and humped the floor and covered Roberta Flack and snapped a mike stand in two and danced and sang and sang some more,” wrote Robert Christgau of the show. “Everything meshed; all stops were pulled out. It was already the greatest concert I’d seen in years when Redman and Method Man propelled the climactic ‘Left and Right’ through the vaulted ceiling.”

I didn’t get the chance to see him tour behind Black Messiah, but from what I hear from friends and critics, it was a hoot.

“The joy on stage was something of a surprise considering D’Angelo’s long retreat from the public eye, part of which was brought on by personal battles with drugs and alcohol,” wrote Phil Cosores for Consequence of Sound in reference to the singer’s show at Club Nokia in Los Angeles in June of 2015. “But, now with a beloved album to highlight and a few classics to pepper in, the smile was hard to remove from the singer’s face, with him seeming ready to return to his throne as one of R&B’s most revered figures. More so, the pleasure seemed to only grow with the audience’s response.”

And now that he’s gone, those of us who got to witness this supreme soul master on the concert stage will have to hold those memories tight. For we will never see the likes of this dynamo of American soul music again in this lifetime. Maybe in the next one, don’t be late.

Rest in peace to a true Voodoo Child.