Now this is bad news: D’Angelo was critically injured in an SUV wreck a week ago.
Best known to the general public for his outrageously good physique–in his video for “Untitled” he made Brad Pitt in Fight Club look like Will Ferrell in Old School–D’Angelo is also EASILY the greatest member of that whole “neo-soul” movement from a few years back. His album Voodoo is in my opinion a major funk achievement, and ran neck-and-neck with Kid A for best album of 2000. I hadn’t been paying attention to what has been something of a downward spiral for D’Angelo in the years since, so reading that article and its account of his various substance-abuse-derived legal problems was upsetting. And it also made me lose some sympathy for him, as he’s quite clearly someone who had no business whatsoever behind the wheel of a car (which is where I’m assuming he was during this accident). If he were a defendant on Judge Judy I’d be angry if the audience didn’t clap after he lost his case, let’s put it that way. But he’s a brilliant musician and I hope this doesn’t keep him from making more music.