D'Angelo is an American R&B and neo soul singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. Born in Richmond, Virginia, the son of a Pentecostal minister. He began teaching himself piano as a very young child, and at age 18 he won the amateur talent competition at Harlem's Apollo Theatre three weeks in a row. After briefly being a member of a hip-hop group called I.D.U., his first major success came in 1994 as the co-writer and co-producer of "U Will Know".

His debut solo album, Brown Sugar, released in July 1995, received rave reviews and was certified Platinum in the US. Following this, D'Angelo embarked on a hiatus before releasing Voodoo in January 2000 which debuted at number one, its lead single "Untitled (How Does It Feel)", was a smash on the R&B charts and won a Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal; likewise, Voodoo won for Best R&B Album.