Michael Archer Jr. — the son of the late D’Angelo and Angie Stone — opened up this week about the shock and sorrow of losing both parents within months, telling an ABC News Live special that he feels “cheated” by his father’s death and is working to process the grief while building his own life and career. “I feel, like, cheated in a sense, you know, especially with my father. I was just excited for what the future held for us,” Archer Jr. said on the special. 

Archer Jr., who records under the name Swayvo Twain, described first noticing his father’s decline in mid-2025 and later learning D’Angelo had been hospitalized and moved into hospice care ahead of his October 2025 death from pancreatic cancer. His mother died earlier in 2025 after a devastating car crash — the loss of both parents left Archer Jr. navigating a sudden, profound void in his life. 

To cope, Archer Jr. said he’s leaning on music, weightlifting, and therapy. “I just started with a therapist,” he said, adding that creative work is how he’s channeling the grief and honoring his parents’ legacies as he moves forward. Those closest to him say he’s begun making new music and taking small steps toward a public artistic life.

The music world continues to mourn and celebrate D’Angelo’s influence. Performances at recent tributes — including a Grammy-stage moment that fans and family called “bittersweet” — showcased the musician’s cultural footprint and the emotional weight of his loss. Archer Jr. said watching those tributes was painful but meaningful, because they connected him to how the public remembers his father’s work. As he grieves, his turn toward therapy and songwriting reads as a deliberate, grounded attempt to shape his own path while carrying forward his parents’ legacies.