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All Music Guide:
D'Angelo was one of the founding fathers and leading lights of the neo-soul movement of the mid- to late '90s, which aimed to bring the organic flavor of classic R&B back to the hip-hop age. Modeling himself on the likes of Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Curtis Mayfield, and Al Green, D'Angelo's influences didn't just come across in his vocal style -- like most of those artists, he wrote his own material (and frequently produced it as well), helping to revive the concept of the R&B auteur. His debut album, Brown Sugar, gradually earned him an audience so devoted that the follow-up, Voodoo, debuted at number one despite a five-year wait in between.
Michael D'Angelo Archer was born February 11, 1974, in Richmond, VA, the son of a Pentecostal minister. He began teaching himself piano as a very young child, and at age 18, he won the amateur talent competition at Harlem's Apollo Theater three weeks in a row. He was briefly a member of a hip-hop group called I.D.U. and signed a publishing deal with EMI in 1991. His first major success came in 1994 as a writer/producer, helming the single "U Will Know" on the Jason's Lyric soundtrack; it featured a one-time, all-star R&B aggregate dubbed Black Men United. That helped lead to his debut solo album, 1995's Brown Sugar. Helped by the title track and "Lady," Brown Sugar slowly caught on with R&B fans looking for an alternative to the hip-hop soul dominating the urban contemporary landscape; along with artists like Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, and Maxwell, D'Angelo became part of a retro-leaning, neo-soul revivalist movement. Brown Sugar received enormously complimentary reviews and sold over two million copies, and D'Angelo supported it with extensive touring over the next two years.
And then -- not much of anything happened. D'Angelo took some time off to rest and split acrimoniously with his management; meanwhile, EMI went under, leaving his 1998 stopgap release Live at the Jazz Cafe out of print. On occasion, D'Angelo contributed a cover tune to a movie soundtrack, including Eddie Kendricks' "Girl You Need a Change of Mind" (Get on the Bus), the Ohio Players' "Heaven Must Be Like This" (Down in the Delta), and Prince's "She's Always in My Hair" (Scream 2). He also duetted with Lauryn Hill on "Nothing Really Matters," a cut from her Grammy-winning blockbuster The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Still, fans awaiting a proper follow-up to Brown Sugar remained frustrated -- at first by no news at all, and then by frequent delays in the recording process and the scheduled release date. Finally, the special-guest-laden Voodoo was released in early 2000 and debuted at number one, an indication of just how large -- and devoted -- D'Angelo's fan base was. The extremely Prince-like lead single, "Untitled (How Does It Feel)," was a smash on the R&B charts and won a Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal; likewise, Voodoo won for Best R&B Album. Reviews of Voodoo were once again highly positive, although a few critics objected to the looser, more atmospheric, more jam-oriented feel of the record, preferring the tighter songcraft of Brown Sugar.
Wikipedia:
Michael Eugene Archer (born February 11, 1974), better known by his stage name D'Angelo (pronounced dee-Angelo), is an American R&B and neo soul singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He is known for his production and songwriting talents as much as for his vocal abilities, and often draws comparisons to his influences, Marvin Gaye, and Prince. D'Angelo was one of the most influential artists during the rise of the neo-soul movement.
Early life [edit]
D'Angelo was born Michael Eugene Archer, in Richmond, Virginia on February 11, 1974, to a Pentecostal preacher father, and a mother he described as powerful. He was raised in an entirely Pentecostal family. Strict, they forbade interaction with other church members. His time deep within Pentecostalism left Archer with several notable memories, including seeing his 9-year-old-brother receive the Holy Ghost. He would later recall one of his memories as a 12-year-old:
Archer's musical talents were discovered very early on. At 3, he was spotted by his 10-year-old brother Luther, playing the house piano.
Career [edit]
1991–1995: Career beginnings and Brown Sugar [edit]
D'Angelo signed a record deal with EMI Records in 1991 after catching the attention of record executives with a demo tape. He penned the hit song "U Will Know", which was performed by Black Men United for the Jason's Lyric motion picture soundtrack. Shortly after, he was signed by Gary Harris and he began recording his debut album for EMI Records.
Brown Sugar was released in June 1995. Although sales were sluggish at first, the album was eventually a hit, due in large part to "Lady," a top-ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, peaking at #10. The album earned platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America, for shipments of one million copies in the U.S., while its total sales have been estimated within the range of 1.5 million to over two million copies. The album helped give commercial visibility to the burgeoning neo-soul movement of the 1990s, along with debut albums by Maxwell, Erykah Badu, and Lauryn Hill. The album was a critical success as well and appeared on many critics' best-of lists that year.
1996–2000: Sabbatical period and Voodoo [edit]
Following his debut album's success, D'Angelo went into a four-and-a-half-year absence from the music scene and releasing solo work. His recordings for soundtracks included Belly ("Devil's Pie"), and he frequently sang covers such as "Girl, You Need a Change of Mind" (Eddie Kendricks, Get on the Bus), "She's Always in My Hair" (Prince, Scream 2) and "Heaven Must be Like This" (the Ohio Players, Down in the Delta), as well as appearing on Lauryn Hill's landmark The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill on the duet "Nothing Even Matters."
The much-delayed follow-up to Brown Sugar, Voodoo, was finally released in 2000 on Virgin Records after the EMI Records Group was absorbed by the former label. It debuted at #1 and went on to win two Grammy Awards, one for Best R&B Album and the other for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. The lead single, 1999's "Left & Right" (featuring Method Man and Redman) did well, but it was the second single, "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" (a tribute to artist Prince), that became a huge R&B hit buoyed by an innovative video featuring a nude D'Angelo from his face to his hips while singing the song. The video was nominated for four MTV Video Music Awards and currently ranks #44 in VH1's list of the 100 Greatest Videos. He also performed "Be Here" (with Raphael Saadiq) from Saadiq's album Instant Vintage.
After the release, D'Angelo embarked on what would become one of the most fabled series of live soul shows in history, the Voodoo Tour. Consisting of a live group called the Soultronics (presumed to have been assembled by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson of The Roots), which engulfed arena-size stages with various dancers and instrument players, it was one of the most attended shows of the year. The tour was taken all around the world, some of the most notable performances being the Free Jazz Festival in Brazil and the North Sea Jazz Festival in Europe. The live show was a thinly disguised homage to Prince's late 1980s shows in its grandeur, conceptual stage set-up, and set list. Slum Village (then in its original line-up of Jay Dee, Baatin & T3) opened for D'Angelo on several dates, and soul-tinged R&B singer Anthony Hamilton sang backup in the band.
In 2002, magazine named him in its list of the 50 Bands to See Before You Die, and, in 2003, Voodoo was ranked at number 488 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Pitchfork Media rated it at #44 on its list of the best albums of the 2000s.
2001–2009: Second sabbatical [edit]
Since 2000, D'Angelo has given no interviews or live performances, and released no new material, save for minor collaborations with other artists, and sporadic unfinished demos leaked to the Internet. A follow up album of Voodoo has been rumored for years. D'Angelo's two studio albums garnered much commercial and critical acclaim, and have been cited as two of the most excellent and singular R&B albums of the past 15 years. Rock critic Robert Christgau has dubbed him as "R&B Jesus".
After a long period of inactivity, D'Angelo made guest appearances on several albums, including releases by J Dilla, Common, Red Hot & Riot, and the RH Factor. The former was released in 2002 by the Red Hot Organization on MCA/Universal Records as a compilation album that paid tribute to the music and work of Nigerian musician Fela Kuti. D'Angelo performed on a remake of the Fela Kuti classic "Water No Get Enemy" with fellow contemporary R&B artists Macy Gray, the Soultronics, Nile Rodgers, Roy Hargrove, and Fela Kuti's son Femi Kuti. All proceeds from Red Hot & Riot were donated to charities devoted to raising AIDS awareness and fighting the disease. In August 2006 he began collaborations with Common and Q-Tip. He also entered discussions with Jermaine Dupri on how to market what appears to be a forthcoming LP, although the official news of a release has not been made public yet. Although music for his own album has yet to materialize, D'Angelo was featured on the song "Imagine" by Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, from his album Tha Blue Carpet Treatment, which was released on November 21, 2006. On April 17, 2007, a new song called "Really Love" was leaked on Triple J Radio in Australia by Questlove D'Angelo also had a guest appearance on Common's 2007 album, Finding Forever on the track "So Far to Go," a song that first appeared on J Dilla's 2006 release The Shining. After a 2007 court proceeding, he confirmed very briefly that new music was in the works, although the album remained untitled.
On June 24, 2008, Virgin/EMI released an enhanced greatest hits CD/DVD that included top hits, rare tracks, and seven previously unreleased music videos from D'Angelo. According to the press release, "The new collection is titled The Best So Far… because D'Angelo is far from finished, currently writing and recording his highly anticipated next musical chapter." There was also a digital album, video downloads, and ringtones available on the day of its release. In November 2008, D'Angelo's collaboration with Q-Tip was officially confirmed with the release of the Q-Tip album The Renaissance, which featured D'Angelo on the track “Believe.”
2009–present: James River and Europe Tour [edit]
A new album was originally slated for release in 2009. D'Angelo revealed that the album would be titled James River and that Prince would work heavily on the disc. The collaboration was to have a list reading like a who's who in the contemporary R&B, neo soul and funk genres. The year came and went with no album being released. D'Angelo's manager said in a brief statement, "James River, D’Angelo’s first studio effort in nearly nine years, is also sporting a collaboration with Gnarls Barkley’s Cee Lo Green. Green joins Raphael Saadiq, Mark Ronson, and Roy Hargrove, who have already contributed to D’Angelo’s forthcoming album."
In the early part of 2010, D'Angelo was rumored to be in the studio hard at work on his long-delayed third album. On January 29, 2010, an incomplete song titled "1000 Deaths" was leaked on to the Internet and uploaded on YouTube, claiming it was to possibly be from the James River album; however, after four days, it was deleted because of a copyright claim by D'Angelo's publishing company. Although the official Web site went offline in November 2009, in February 2010, it started linking to D'Angelo's official MySpace Page with a banner mentioning Album & Tour Summer 2010. After his June arrest in New York City, his MySpace page stopped showing the banner, and, one day later, his management issued a statement that said that he entered a plea of not guilty and was contesting the allegations made against him. Erykah Badu tweeted that he visited her in the studio while working on his own album at the Electric Lady Studios in New York. His manager's MySpace page stated "D’Angelo’s album is slated for release late summer 2010" until early 2011. At this current time, however, his manager's MySpace mentioned, "D'Angelo's album is slated for release Fall 2011," but delays in the album release are suspected.
In late May 2010, various online record stores began listing an album called Interpretations: Remakes for sale. Most of the listed tracks have been widely available for some time, via CD or MP3, and it is not clear if this is an official release, as no announcement was made. The cover art is the same as 2008's Best So Far compilation album. Later in the year, the Web site of Russell Elevado claimed that D'Angelo had returned to New York for three months to finish his album, stating, "The time has finally come again to go in the studio with D'Angelo. starting the last week of August and for the next three months, we're going in to complete overdubs and do final mixing on a few songs. Wish us luck...more updates to come."
No new announcements were made anywhere online or in the press about the album until December 6, 2010, when a company named 101 Distribution quietly released an import album overseas titled James River (Album Prelude), which featured just under an hour of snippets of new songs, alternate versions of others, and jam sessions, listing the official first song off the album as "1000 Deaths." It was released in the United States on December 28 on Amazon's Web site in limited quantities for over US$25, immediately deleted only 24 hours later. On several Web sites where the album was being sold it was claimed that the James River album would finally have a 2011 release, but nothing else is known about 101 Distributors or the validity of its statement. It has also been claimed that the album is a bootleg recording of stolen material and is not an official D'Angelo release of any sort.
In late April 2011, Russell Elevado again posted an update regarding the upcoming album on his Web site.
On October 7, RCA Music Group announced that it was disbanding J Records, Arista Records, and Jive Records. With the shutdown, D'Angelo (and all other artists previously signed to those labels) would release his future material on RCA Records.
In late October 2011, two concerts were scheduled for January 30 and 31, 2012, at Club Paradiso in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Tickets went on sale on November 5 and were sold out within 24 hours.
In an interview with Pitchfork Media, drummer ?uestlove said that the album was 97% finished and that D'Angelo was just finishing his lyrics.
For the 2012 Tour, he scheduled 11 concerts in Europe from January 26 to February 12 in London, Paris, Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and Zurich. The band included Pino Palladino, Chris "Daddy" Dave, Jef Lee Johnson, Kendra Foster, Isaiah Sharkey, Jermaine Holmes, Ray Angry, Jesse Johnson of The Time, and others. He performed four new songs: "Sugah Daddy," "The Charade," "Ain't that Easy," and "In Another Life." D'Angelo will continue to tour in Europe with dates booked throughout July 2012, plus an eagerly awaited performance at the Essence Music Festival—D'angelo's first announced performance state side in over 11 years. D'Angelo made an unannounced appearance at the Bonnaroo Music Festival as part of the Superjam led by ?uestlove.
July 8 he appeared at the renowned North Sea Jazz festival in Rotterdam, after his legendary concert there twelve years earlier in 2000.
In early 2013, ?uestlove told Billboard in an interview that the new album was 99% done, and would be ready to hand over to the label in February 2013, stating that he had spent much of January working in the studio with D'Angelo tying up loose ends.
Personal life [edit]
In the 1990s he dated soul singer Angie Stone and helped produce her debut album Black Diamond in 1999. They have a son, also named Michael, born in 1998.
Legal issues [edit]
On March 6, 2010, he was arrested and charged with solicitation after asking a female undercover police officer for oral sex at the intersection of Greenwich and Horatio streets in the West Village of Manhattan in New York City, New York.
