D’Angelo
Michael Eugene Archer—better known by his stage name D’Angelo—was one of the most influential artists during the rise of the neo-soul movement.
The much-delayed follow-up to Brown Sugar, Voodoo, was 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 Albumand 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&Bhit 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.[16] 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, Q 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.”
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