We all know that Michael has had a HUGE impact on male vocalists re their style, moves, etc. But for some reason, I don’t see that with D’angelo. Of course, we know that he has more of a tilt towards P, but still, I don’t see that MJ was a seemingly huge influence on him.

I don't think he was either. Marvin, Donny, Sly and Prince seems to have influenced him more. Marvin and Prince being the major influences. In fact "Send It On" was like the perfect mixture of Marvin ("Distant Lover") and Prince ("Adore") to me.

[Edited 1/31/12 16:34pm]

I don't think he was at all. D'Angelo seems fine without it though.

In fact "Send It On" was like the perfect mixture of Marvin ("Distant Lover") and Prince ("Adore") to me.

This might interest you.

Thanks, Timmy, I don’t feel so insane now. It is odd and kinda unthinkable in a way that there is at least one vocalist that MJ hasn’t seemingly influenced. But then, D’Angelo is pure soul/funk and that is not what MJ was. Has D’Angelo ever spoken on if MJ as influenced him?

I don't know enough of D'Angelo's music to know though I wouldn't be surprised if he was at least a fan. I'm sure it was mentioned somewhere. I hear way more Prince though, especially in How Does It Feel.

scriptgirl said:

Thanks, Timmy, I don’t feel so insane now. It is odd and kinda unthinkable in a way that there is at least one vocalist that MJ hasn’t seemingly influenced. But then, D’Angelo is pure soul/funk and that is not what MJ was. Has D’Angelo ever spoken on if MJ as influenced him?

As far as I know? No.

Yeah, D doesn't give many interviews

Lol, I didn't know there was even a debate about this? MJ probably hasn't had an influence on D'angelo. Maybe he's not even a fan, which is fine. Who know's? Makes no difference whatsoever to me.

Either way, I enjoy D'angelo and his music. Talented dude.

Cinnamon234 said:

Lol, I didn't know there was even a debate about this? MJ probably hasn't had an influence on D'angelo. Maybe he's not even a fan, which is fine. Who know's? Makes no difference whatsoever to me.

Either way, I enjoy D'angelo and his music. Talented dude.

Thats how I feel...

I love D'angelo regardess..

Its a possibility MJ didnt... and then again their is a possibility he did.. who knows.. from his music it doesnt sound like it much... sounds more Prince and Marvin Gaye influenced...

He said in an interview that "Remember The Time" was his favourite song ever. He also said he used to make demos of that song before he was famous. It was in an interview that he did between the Brown Sugar and Voodoo albums.

I don't hear MJ influence at all in his work.

It's actually weird to me in general though that anyone would assume that everybody was influenced by the same artist.

I really don't understand why this question is so important to OP, but I will say this:

As an artist, you would be a fool to limit yourself. It's important to look for influence in the world around you.

Which is what I don't understand about people who ask these sort of questions. Example, obviously, Kanye's music doesn't sound anything like progressive rock, but that didn't stop him from listening and taking some of that influence into his own music in his latest album when he sampled King Crimson and others. Imogen Heap doesn't sound anything close to MJ, but she called him a big influence on her as a singer, and so on. Hell, even Rhianna tried to cover Hero by Mariah Carey which means she probably tried to sing like her even though she sounds NOTHING like her.

While, D'Angelo's music does follow in the same lane as Prince as they were both influenced by many of the same set of musicians, I don't think it's out there to suggest that they BOTH have influences that happen to be outside of the kind of music they make as well, yet at the end of the day, everyone is just taking the same thing and regurgitating it differently.

I hope this made sense. I got into a similar discussion once and they kept going "Yeah, but the bigger influence is XYZ. I mean yeah fucking DUH, but that doesn't mean that you limit the artist's influence to like two people because they make similar music. The only person who truly knows is the artist themselves.

It's not that it is earth shatteringly important to me, but it just occurred to me that so many musicians cite MJ as a influence and you can hear and see it in their work and it just struck me that with D'Angelo that is not the case. I love it, I love that he is more a "P" man, but it just kind of surprised me.

There's folks who thank him as an influence, not on their own styles but as a black man making moves. So maybe that's why he's name dropped most of the time. With D'Angelo, that may not always be the case.

Unholyalliance said:

I really don't understand why this question is so important to OP, but I will say this:

As an artist, you would be a fool to limit yourself. It's important to look for influence in the world around you.

Which is what I don't understand about people who ask these sort of questions. Example, obviously, Kanye's music doesn't sound anything like progressive rock, but that didn't stop him from listening and taking some of that influence into his own music in his latest album when he sampled King Crimson and others. Imogen Heap doesn't sound anything close to MJ, but she called him a big influence on her as a singer, and so on. Hell, even Rhianna tried to cover Hero by Mariah Carey which means she probably tried to sing like her even though she sounds NOTHING like her.

While, D'Angelo's music does follow in the same lane as Prince as they were both influenced by many of the same set of musicians, I don't think it's out there to suggest that they BOTH have influences that happen to be outside of the kind of music they make as well, yet at the end of the day, everyone is just taking the same thing and regurgitating it differently.

I hope this made sense. I got into a similar discussion once and they kept going "Yeah, but the bigger influence is XYZ. I mean yeah fucking DUH, but that doesn't mean that you limit the artist's influence to like two people because they make similar music. The only person who truly knows is the artist themselves.

Well, OP just wanted to start a discussion; it is an entertainment forum.

I really think you pegged it. This entire community is made up of people whom I guess don't like to be pigeonholed or limited in their musical preferences/tastes. As you said, artists are no different.

Childish Gambino namechecked NPR's Terry Gross and mentioned the 400 Blows on his debut album. An artist's influences, regardless of the nature of their sound, can be unpredictable.

They did play a classic Jackson 5 video before his show in Amsterdam.

He's not as strong an influence as Prince, but everyone who decides to make a career of music has probably been influenced by Michael at some time.

Michael has the opposite affect on me. I think of him more as a cautionary tale. He's the epitome of the anit-fame, anti-celebrity ethos. That's the influence he'd have on me.

Unholyalliance said:

I really don't understand why this question is so important to OP, but I will say this:

As an artist, you would be a fool to limit yourself. It's important to look for influence in the world around you.

Which is what I don't understand about people who ask these sort of questions. Example, obviously, Kanye's music doesn't sound anything like progressive rock, but that didn't stop him from listening and taking some of that influence into his own music in his latest album when he sampled King Crimson and others. Imogen Heap doesn't sound anything close to MJ, but she called him a big influence on her as a singer, and so on. Hell, even Rhianna tried to cover Hero by Mariah Carey which means she probably tried to sing like her even though she sounds NOTHING like her.

While, D'Angelo's music does follow in the same lane as Prince as they were both influenced by many of the same set of musicians, I don't think it's out there to suggest that they BOTH have influences that happen to be outside of the kind of music they make as well, yet at the end of the day, everyone is just taking the same thing and regurgitating it differently.

I hope this made sense. I got into a similar discussion once and they kept going "Yeah, but the bigger influence is XYZ. I mean yeah fucking DUH, but that doesn't mean that you limit the artist's influence to like two people because they make similar music. The only person who truly knows is the artist themselves.

I agree with this. There have been countless artists that dont make the music Michael did and have named him as a influence just to drop a few names.... Amy Lee from Evanescense, Cold Play, Jack White, Wu Tang Clan, Bone Thugs, etc...

smoothcriminal12 said:

This might interest you.

Soothing instrumental.

It bears mention that Robert "Kool" Bell and other band members were credited as having composed the music for "Send It On".

smoothcriminal12 said:

I don't think he was at all. D'Angelo seems fine without it though.

In fact "Send It On" was like the perfect mixture of Marvin ("Distant Lover") and Prince ("Adore") to me.

This might interest you.

Ah no wonder I thought I heard it before. Cool.

scriptgirl said:

It's not that it is earth shatteringly important to me, but it just occurred to me that so many musicians cite MJ as a influence and you can hear and see it in their work and it just struck me that with D'Angelo that is not the case. I love it, I love that he is more a "P" man, but it just kind of surprised me.

Another good example of someone who is a big MJ fan but you can't hear it is Bjork. She talked about Butterflies being a favourite.

Yep and who could ever forget this dress? She wore that years before he passed too. She been reppin' for Michael for a while

Yes a lot of people have. I remember Amy Lee crediting MJ in 2003 or 04' too, I always saw people complimenting and crediting him before the death, it's the media who wants to brainwash those who didn't keep up that he was forgotten.