Grammy-winning R&B soul singer D’Angelo is dead from pancreatic cancer … TMZ has learned.
The “Brown Sugar” singer-songwriter died Tuesday morning in NYC … according to sources connected to his family and his former manager Kedar Massenberg. While D’Angelo had not been public about his cancer battle, we’re told he’d been in treatment for several months.
D’Angelo was a singular talent who collaborated with the likes of Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg and Q-Tip … after bursting onto the scene in 1995 with his solo debut album, “Brown Sugar.”
He won 4 Grammys, including Best R&B Album for “Voodoo” in 2001 and “Black Messiah” in 2016. He also won Best R&B Song in 2016 for “Really Love” and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for “Untitled (How Does It Feel).”
Even before the Grammy win, ‘How Does It Feel’ left an indelible imprint on music and the minds of school girls everywhere for its iconic video, which featured the singer alone against a blank, black background, appearing to be fully unclothed.
Last year, Raphael Saadiq told the “Rolling Stone Music Now” podcast D’Angelo was working on releasing a new album, saying, “He’s excited … He’s working on six pieces right now and he seems super excited.”
The singer is survived by 2 sons and a daughter. The mother of his first son was singer Angie Stone … who died tragically this year in a car accident.
