Brown Sugar was released in June 1995. Though sales were sluggish at first, the album was eventually a hit, due in large part to "Lady," a Top Ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, peaking at #10. The album helped give commercial visibility to the burgeoning neo soul movement of the 1990s, along with debut albums by Maxwell, Erykah Badu, and Lauryn Hill. The album was a critical success as well, and appeared on many critics' "best of" lists for the year.
The much-delayed follow-up to Brown Sugar, Voodoo, was finally released in 2000. It debuted at #1 and went on to win two Grammy Awards, one for Best R&B Album, and 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&B hit buoyed by an innovative yet infamous video featuring a nude D'Angelo from his face to his hips while singing the song. The video was nominated for 4 MTV Video Music Awards and currently ranks #44 in VH1's list of the 100 Greatest Videos.
After the release D'Angelo made guest appearances on several albums, including releases by J Dilla, Common,[18] Red Hot & Riot and The RH Factor. Red Hot & Riot was released in 2002 by the Red Hot Organization as a compilation CD in tribute to the music and work of Nigerian musician, Fela Kuti. D'Angelo performed on a remake of the Fela Kuti classic, "Water No Get Enemy," with fellow hip-hop and R&B artists, Macy Gray, The Soultronics, Nile Rodgers, Roy Hargrove, and Fela Kuti's son, Femi Kuti. All proceeds from Red Hot & Riot were donated to charities devoted to raising AIDS awareness and fighting the disease.
In August 2006 he began collaborations with CommonIn January 2005, D'Angelo was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana, possession of a controlled substance, and driving while intoxicated. He pleaded guilty to the DUI and marijuana charge then, on April 13, was given a fine, suspended sentence also his driver's license was revoked. On September 12, he received a three-year suspended sentence on the cocaine possession charge. On September 19, just a week after being sentenced for cocaine possession, D'Angelo was critically injured in Powhatan County, Virginia, when the SUV he was driving hit a fence, ejecting him from the vehicle. He was not wearing a seatbelt.
On April 17, 2007 a new song called "Really Love" was leaked on Triple J Radio in Australia by Questlove[20] D'Angelo also had a guest appearance on Common's 2007 album, Finding Forever on the track, "So Far to Go", a song that first appeared on J Dilla's 2006 release, The Shining. After a 2007 court proceeding, he confirmed very briefly that new music is "in the works" although the album remained untitled.
On June 24, 2008, Virgin EMI released an enhanced greatest hits CD/DVD which will include top hits, rare tracks & seven previously unreleased music videos from D'Angelo. According to the press release, the new collection is titled The Best So Far… because D'Angelo is far from finished, currently writing and recording his highly anticipated next musical chapter."
he new album was originally slated for release in 2009. D'Angelo revealed that the album would be titled "James River" and that Prince would work heavily on the disc. The collaboration was to have a list reading like a who's who in the R&B, neo soul and funk genres. The year came and went with no album being released. D'Angelo's manager said in a brief statement that "'James River,' D’Angelo’s first studio effort in nearly nine years, is also sporting a collaboration with Gnarls Barkley’s Cee Lo Green. Green joins Raphael Saadiq, Mark Ronson, and Roy Hargrove, who have already contributed to D’Angelo’s forthcoming album."
In the early part of 2010, D'Angelo was rumored to be in the studio hard at work on his long-delayed third album.[23] On January 29, 2010, an incomplete song titled "1000 Deaths" was leaked on to the internet and uploaded to YouTube claiming it was to possibly be from the James River album; however, after four days it was deleted due to a copyright claim by D'Angelo's publishing company. Although official website went offline in November 2009 in February 2010 it started linking to D'Angelo's official MySpace Page with a banner reading 'Album & Tour Summer 2010'. After his June arrest in New York City his MySpace page stopped showing the 'Album and Tour Summer 2010' banner and one day later his management issued a statement saying that he entered a plea of not guilty and is contesting the allegations made against him.
In late May 2010, various online record stores began listing an album called 'Interpretations: Remakes' for sale.[26] Most of the listed tracks have been widely available for some time, via CD or MP3, and it is not clear if this is an official release, as no announcement was made. The cover art is the same as 2008's "Best So Far" compilation album. Later in the year the website of Russell Elevado had claimed that D'Angelo had returned to New York for three months to finish his album, stating: "The time has finally come again to go in the studio with D'Angelo. starting the last week of August and for the next 3 months we're going in to complete overdubs and do final mixing on a few songs. Wish us luck...more updates to come.
Early on the morning of March 6, 2010, he was arrested and charged with solicitation after asking a female undercover police officer for oral sex at the intersection of Greenwich and Horatio streets in the West Village neighborhood of New York City, New York.
On October 7, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding J Records along with Arista Records and Jive Records. With the shutdown, D'Angelo (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) will release his future material on the RCA Records brand.
2012 is the year of D'Angelo's awaited return. For the D- Tour, he scheduled 11 concerts in Europe from January 26th to February 12th in London, Paris, Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Zurich. The band includes Pino Palladino, Chris "Daddy" Dave, Jef Lee Johnson, Kendra Foster, Jermaine Holmes, Ray Angry, Jesse Johnson of The Time and others. He performed 4 new songs: 'Sugah Daddy', 'The Charade', 'Ain't That Easy' and 'In Another Life'. According to people that visited the concert, the new songs were well received.
Information edited from wikipedia
No comments:
Post a Comment