The music world is mourning the loss of another music artist, Michael Eugene Archer, better known by his stage name, D’Angelo—a singer, writer, and producer who was acclaimed for his musicianship, vocal style, and influence on a generation of artists. D’Angelo passed away October 14, 2025 at the age of 51 after privately battling a long illness. His voice redefined the sound of neo-soul, a music movement that began during the 1990’s, along with two other music greats known for this particular music genre—Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill—a music genre that fuses contemporary R&B with traditional Soul, Funk, and Hip Hop.
D'Angelo caught my attention when I discovered he was from Richmond, Virgina—like many other famous people in the music industry from the state of Virginia—jazz singer, Ella Fitzgerald, country singers Patsy Cline and June Carter Cash, hip-hop artist Missy Elliott, Pharrell Williams, Timbaland, Trey Songz, Bruce Hornsby, Pearly Bailey, and Chris Brown, just to name a few.
In 1995, D’Angelo released his debut album, “Brown Sugar,” and a star was born. Five years later, in 2000, D’Angelo released his follow-up project, “Voodoo,” with the hit single, “Untitled (How Does It Feel?).” This single was accompanied with a music video that blew him up into the stratosphere! In this blog, I would like to tell you about this video that almost made D’Angelo quit the music business for good. It was a video that one could say, " it backfired."
The music video featured a chiseled and nearly-naked D’Angelo singing directly into the camera. (He did wear low-slung pajama bottoms, but there was no trace of pants on the video.) I must admit with honesty, he sure “nuff” caught my attention! Unfortunately, D’Angelo was all about his music and had absolutely no interest in becoming a sex-symbol, but it was too late. The video became so overwhelming for him that it sent him down a dangerous path of drug and alcohol abuse. D’Angelo became a sex-symbol and his music took back-stage. The intent of the video was to appeal to a wider fan base by showcasing his sexuality—MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!
However, the video was not intended to be about sex. Paul Hunter, the video’s director says he had another vision in mind: “But my direction was completely opposite of that, he said. It was about his grandmother’s cooking. Think of your grandmother’s greens, how it smelled in the kitchen. What did the yams and fried chicken taste like? That’s what I want you to express.”
June: (Say what? The video’s director wanted D’Angelo to express his
“grandma’s vision” with D’Angelo singing nearly nude? “Uhm”).
Okay, I won’t jump to conclusions. I’ll just continue for more clarity.
On the set where the video was filmed, they talked about the church and the Holy Ghost before the cameras rolled to film D’Angelo. The video was completed and released. Fast forward, when D’Angelo went on tour to promote the album “Voodoo,” the ladies in the audience yelled, “Take it off” when D’Angelo was on stage singing. D’Angelo responded, “I’m not a stripper!” He was most uncomfortable with his new image and felt the attention on sex had taken away the interest in his music—something he really desired. At one show, a woman threw money at D’Angelo and he threw it back! He was not happy at all with the attention he was getting.
Sadly, as a result of the video, all of the unwanted sexual attention, along with the death of his grandmother, an uncle and a close friend became too much for D’Angelo to bare. He went into a tail spin—facing several legal issues—drug arrests, driving while intoxicated, and a 2010 arrest in New York City for solicitation. His weight reached over 300 pounds. That chiseled and buff body that was shown in the video was gone. D’Angelo did not release new music again until fourteen years later. In 2014, D’Angelo released his third album, “Black Messiah,” an album that has been considered a masterpiece. It made Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
By the way, D’Angelo won a Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal performance for “Untitled (How Does It Feel”) and the video earned him MTV Video Music Award nominations, including “Video of the Year,” Best Male Video,” and “Best R&B Video.” The song, “Untitled (How Does It Feel”) and the video were both successful, unfortunately, not for D’Angelo.
He is a talent that will be truly missed
/june-montgomery/images/June_Montgomerylogo.png)