Music Thread for 9/18/08- The Sad Story of D'Angelo

(Tips to one of my "peoples" Elijah Adamson for hitting me up about this today, though I will decline to use his name "Papa E" because that would be a suspect look, and only a few may get that term. And if you don't understand it, that's ok, it is highly irrelevant).

The Story of Michael Eugene Acher, or D'Angelo as most know him, is just another example of how the life in the music industry, and in general, could come crashing down on you in epic proportions. And it is all mainly because of the individual his or her self.

Take a look at D'Angelo back in his hay day in 1999, including his forever classic "How does it feel"video.


He was the prototypical "Put the ladies in Cloud 9" dude, with a clear cut image and a real personality that was all about soul, soul, and more soul. D'Angelo seemed to be on the verge of being a legend in the R&B with his first two albums, though they were spaced five years apart from each other. After the critically acclaimed Brown Sugar in 1995, the second album release called Voodoo with "How Does it Feel" signified to many that this man had the potential to really re-define music completely in the 21st century. With him handing all the writing and most (if not all) the production, D'Angelo was a gem that seems destine to shine for the course of time.

Then the drugs hit. And when the drugs hit, they can really hit hard. Sadly for D'Angelo, that would be a massive understatement.

While people talk about Amy Winehouse or Britney Spears rehab or recover, not a single person even talked about the troubles this man D'Angelo has faced over the last several years thanks to paraphernalia. It is indeed one sad story. Look at this photo.

From Wikipedia:

In 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to the DUI and marijuana charge and, on April 13, was given a fine and suspended sentence and his driver's license was revoked. On September 12, he received a three-year suspended sentence on the cocaine possession charge.

On September 19, 2005, just a week after being sentenced for cocaine possession, D'Angelo was critically injured in Powhatan County, Virginia when the SUV he was riding in hit a fence, ejecting him from the vehicle. He was not wearing a seatbelt.

In August 2006, D'Angelo is confirmed to have exited a rehabilitation stint on the island of Antigua[citation needed].

On August 10, 2007, D'Angelo was sent to court on charges relating to a car accident that occurred on September 19, 2005. These charges included reckless driving and driving with a suspended license. He pleaded guilty to these charges and was ordered to pay a $1,250 fine, in addition to forfeiting his license for 15 months. He also received a nine-month suspended jail sentence.

Here's another photo (it just gets worse):

And now, Spin Magazine is doing a story analyzing what has led to this man blowing all of his talent and wasting his life for the love of weed, coke, over inebriation, and all that harmful stuff.

From David Peisner's depressing report on this man.

On a Sunday in April 2006, Gary Harris pulled up to D'Angelo's large starter mansion outside Richmond, Virginia, in a limo. Harris, the A&R man who'd first signed D'Angelo in the early '90s and who had overseen his 1995 debut, Brown Sugar, was on a mission: to escort the singer to Eric Clapton's Crossroads Treatment Centre in Antigua.

As he walked into the spacious kitchen, Harris knew this wouldn't be easy. Spread across the kitchen table, marble countertops, shelves -- nearly every available flat surface -- were empty alcohol bottles of all conceivable varieties. "There was scotch, vodka, beer," Harris recalls. "While I was waiting for him, he emptied the contents out of the corners of three or four bottles to get a shot." D'Angelo himself was unshaven, about 40 pounds overweight, and hadn't packed. "He was trying to act like he didn't know I was coming that day," Harris says.

And if you didn't click on that link yet, you will see the almost full transformation of a figure that the lady's couldn't stop living to a figure where the addiction to the "stuff" has made it took to look at what he has become. Physically, mentally, and sure as hell, spiritually.


Let's just wish hopefully he doesn't change before it is too late.