D’Angelo, Grammy-award winning R&B singer, dies aged 51

Tributes have been pouring in for R&B and soul singer D'Angelo, who died at age 51 after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

In a statement, his family said the star, whose real name was Michael Eugene Archer, left behind “a legacy of extraordinarily moving music” and asked fans to celebrate “the gift of song he left to the world.”

The influential singer was known as an innovator of neo-soul, a genre that combined R&B with other styles of music, including hip-hop and jazz.

His three albums have won four Grammy Awards. The video for his hit song Untitled (How Does It Feel) became infamous for its smoldering one-shot performance in which D'Angelo appeared to perform naked.

“The shining star of our family has dimmed its light for us in this life,” his family said in a statement obtained by CBS News, the BBC's media partner in the United States.

Fellow musicians Beyoncé, Nile Rodgers and Lauryn Hill were among those to pay their respects.

Singer Beyoncé thanked D'Angelo for his music on her website. “You pioneered neo-soul and it changed and transformed rhythm and blues forever,” she wrote. “We will never forget you.”

Recounting his first meeting with D'Angelo, guitarist and producer Rodgers recalled how he encouraged the late star, then on his way to the top, to release his material because it was “perfect.”

“About a year later I heard one of these songs on the radio. It was brilliant and exactly what he played for me,” Rogers wrote. “I know… I still have the original tape.”

Singer and rapper Hill, who worked with D'Angelo early in his career, shared an equally lengthy and personal reflection, saying his “beauty and talent were out of this world.”

“You introduced the unity of strength and sensibilities of black men to a generation that thought of themselves only as one thing or another,” she wrote.

Boy Rappers Doja Cat and Missy Elliott, as well as singers Jill Scott and Jennifer Hudson also paid their respects.

“A true voice of soul and inspiration to many brilliant artists of our and future generations,” wrote Doja Cat on X.

“Rest in peace D'Angelo,” wrote Elliott, who was emerging as one of hip-hop's biggest artists around the same time the soul singer was gaining popularity in the late 1990s.

Scott wrote, “I've never met D'Angelo, but I love him, respect him, admire his gift.”

Hudson noted that “today we lost a true original.” “D'Angelo, your voice will live forever. Rest, king!!!”

Tyler the Creator said his “musical DNA” was shaped by D'Angelo: “We are so lucky to be alive to enjoy his art,” he wrote.

D'Angelo began his career as a songwriter and has worked with famous musicians such as Lauryn Hill and The Roots.

He rose to fame in the 1990s with his debut album Brown Sugar. His song Lady from this album peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1996.

The song earned him several Grammy nominations and secured his place in the music scene.

The son of a Pentecostal minister, D'Angelo was born in Richmond, Virginia, and learned to play the piano when he was just three years old.

As a teenager, he performed in local bands including Three of a Kind, Michael Archer and Precision and Intelligent, Deadly But Unique (IDU).

When he was 18, he won an amateur talent contest at Harlem's Apollo Theater for three weeks in a row; and a publishing deal with EMI was quickly signed.

He established himself as a commercial force with his 1995 debut album, also titled Brown Sugar, and won two Grammy Awards for his follow-up, 2000's Voodoo.

However, he subsequently struggled with alcoholism and nearly died in a car accident in 2005.

He returned to music in 2014 with Black Messiah—an album he had been working on for years—which he completed after watching the national unrest sparked by protests over the failure to convict police officers in the deaths of unarmed black men Michael Brown and Eric Garner.

In February 2016, it won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album.

Among those paying tribute was hip-hop legend DJ Premier, who produced D'Angelo's “Devil's Pie.”

“Such a sad loss,” he wrote on social media. “We have so many wonderful moments. I will miss you very much. Sleep well, I love you, KING.”

Voodoo, released in 2000, topped the US charts, and Rolling Stone magazine placed it at number 28 on its latest list of the greatest albums of all time, one place above The Beatles' White Album.

D'Angelo was in the studio working on his fourth album with Raphael Saadiq.