D’Angelo’s music was imbued with the influence of Black women

Female collaborators, muses and ministers shaped D’Angelo’s voice, arrangements and emotional acuityThe first time D’Angelo reached me, he wasn’t alone. His voice was entwined with Erykah Badu’s on Your Precious Love, a duet that felt like an offering being passed between sweethearts. I was 14, the edge of adolescence, opening to my own life. Their voices sounded delicate, blooming – almost shy. A cover of a classic Motown record written by Ashford & Simps