On a late October evening, an unrecognizable number appeared on the phone. “Hello, Keith… it’s Dyana… Dyana Williams,” said the woman with the warm voice. “I’m calling on behalf of Michael’s family.” This was no cursory catch-up. The request from the legendary radio host, community activist, television personality, and co-creator of Black Music Month was about as heavy as it could get. I was being tasked with writing the obituary for Michael Eugene Archer, the soul-funk visionary known to millions as D’Angelo.

The irony of it all was surreal. Dyana was most aware of my Captain Ahab/Moby Dick connection to the complex singer-songwriter-instrumentalist who stripped down the shimmery gloss of ’90s R&B in his own revivalist image with his landmark 1995 LP debut Brown Sugar . Other classic r

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