D'Angelo (born Michael Eugene Archer, February 11, 1974), is a Grammy Award winning American soul singer, pianist, guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. D'Angelo is known for his production and songwriting talents as much as for his vocal abilities, and often draws comparisons to his influences, Marvin Gaye, and Prince. He has himself influenced the sound of modern R&B, particularly neo-soul. D'Angelo has a son named Michael by former girlfriend R&B singer Angie Stone. Rock critic Robert Christgau has described him as "R&B Jesus" [1]. He was born in Richmond, Virginia, the son of a Pentecostal preacher, and began performing as a young child. By his late teens he had signed a songwriting deal with EMI, and penned the hit song "U Will Know", performed by Black Men United for the Jason's Lyric motion picture soundtrack. Shortly after, he began recording his debut album, Brown Sugar, which was released in June of 1995. Though sales were sluggish at first, the album was eventually a hit, in large part to "Lady," a Top Ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, peaking at #10, and helped kickstart the burgeoning neo soul singers of the 1990s (along with Maxwell, Erykah Badu and others). The album was a critical success as well, and appeared on many critics' "best of" lists for the year.