At more than 20 years D’Angelo’s senior, Nile Rodgers detailed an early encounter in which the younger singer, who died on Oct. 14, came to him in a moment of uncertainty about his music. Rodgers shared the memory in an Instagram caption shortly after news broke of D’Angelo’s death. The post included an image of the singer with the words “D’Angelo Dead at 51 RIP My Brother” and the song “Brown Sugar” playing in the background.
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“My friend Gary Harris brought this musician named D’Angelo over to my NYC apt,” Rodgers began. “He was trying to figure out what to do with the music he’d brought with him. I listened to every cut … not just out of respect but because it was smoking. At the end of the encounter he asked me, ‘What should I do with it?’ I remember this as if it were yesterday. I said, ‘Put it out. It’s perfect!’ Being the #artist he is, I guess he had to explore some ways to make it better.”
Rodgers went on to reveal the fate of some of that music: “About a year later I heard one of those songs on the radio. It was #genius and it was exactly what he had played for me. I know…I still have the original cassette.”
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The pair would go on to cover Fela Kuti’s “Water No Get Enemy” together for AIDS-awareness nonprofit Red Hot’s Red Hot + Riot: The Music and Spirit of Fela Kuti, a 2022 tribute record featuring more than three dozen artists. According to OkayAfrica, the song came from a studio session led by Questlove, Fela’s son Femi Kuti, and D’Angelo himself.
In their statement on his death, D’Angelo’s family noted that the singer had been battling cancer. “We are saddened that he can only leave dear memories with his family, but we are eternally grateful for the legacy of extraordinarily moving music he leaves behind,” they wrote. “We ask that you respect our privacy during this difficult time but invite you all join us in mourning his passing while also celebrating the gift of song that he has left for the world.”
From Rolling Stone US
