Tributes are pouring in for R&B icon D’Angelo after his family announced the singer’s death on Tuesday, with stars including Tyler, The Creator, Doja Cat, Nile Rogers, Flea and Missy Elliot all honoring the late legend.
D’Angelo, known as one of the most influential artists in R&B as a pioneering force on the neo soul movement of the ’90s, died Tuesday after a battle with cancer. “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,” D’Angelo’s family said in a statement Tuesday.
Tyler, the Creator posted an extensive statement on Instagram, recalling buying Voodoo for his ninth birthday as a child, saying that D’Angelo’s Brown Sugar had already become a staple at his home.
“I couldn’t understand how someone could write something so simple but personal but broad but genius,” Tyler wrote. “That’s how special he was. A savant. A true alien. I am so lucky to have gotten my copy of VOODOO when I did. We are so lucky to have been alive to enjoy his art. My musical DNA was helped shaped by this man. Forever grateful. Safe travels.”
In a post on X, Doja Cat called D’Angelo, “a true voice of soul and inspiration to many brilliant artists of our generation and generations to come.”
Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers called D’Angelo, “one of my all time favorites in an Instagram post.
“No one did anything funkier over the last 30 years,” Flea said. “I never knew him but humbled myself before his music. What a rare and beautiful voice and an inimitable approach to songwriting. What a musician!!! He changed the course of popular music. Fly free with the angels D’Angelo, we will listen to you forever and always be moved. I drop to my knees and pray.”
Missy Elliot encouraged fans to send prayers to D’Angelo’s son, who also lost his mother, Angie Stone, earlier this year.
Nile Rodgers posted a tribute on Instagram Tuesday, recalling the early days when record executive Gary Harris — who signed D’Angelo — had brought him over to Rodgers’ apartment in New York to show him music.
“He was trying to figure out what to do with the music he’d brought with him,” Rogers wrote. “I listened to every cut … not just out of respect but because it was smoking. At the end of the encounter he asked me, ‘What should I do with it?’ I remember this as if it were yesterday. I said, “put it out. It’s perfect!’ Being the artist he is, I guess he had to explore some ways to make it better. About a year later I heard one of those songs on the radio. It was genius and it was exactly what he had played for me. I know… I still have the original cassette.”
