The late singer may have suffered from setbacks and only released three studio albums, but the range he displayed in this perfect catalogue was astonishing

D’Angelo, Grammy-winning neo-soul pioneer, dies aged 51

D’Angelo – a life in pictures

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n the mid-90s, the Roots’ drummer Questlove was approached to work on the first album by a new soul singer. He turned the offer down out of hand: “I was like, ehhh, soul singers in the 90s – whatever,” he later remembered. “I’m not doing this. Nothing about soul singing had moved me, from any 90s offering, the same way it did with Otis Redding, Stevie Wonder, Lou Rawls.”