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Luther Vandross

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Luther Vandross

Luther Ronzoni Vandross, Jr. (April 20, 1951 – July 1, 2005) was an eight-time Grammy Award-winning American R&B and soul singer and songwriter. During his career, Vandross sold over 25 million albums[1] and won eight Grammy awards[2] including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance four times. He won four Grammy Awards in 2004 including the Grammy Award for Song of the Year for the track "Dance With My Father",[3] co-written with Richard Marx.

Biography

1951-1979: Early life and career

Born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, he was born in Smith Housing Project. At age three he began playing the piano. Vandross grew up in a musical family that moved to the Bronx when he was thirteen. His sister sang with vocal group The Crests[3] who had a number two hit in the early 1960s with "Sixteen Candles". Vandross' father died of diabetes when Vandross was eight years old.[3] His life-changing moment came when, at the age of thirteen, he heard Dionne Warwick sing "Anyone Who Had a Heart" (a song he would cover in his later years).[citation needed]

Luther Vandross was in a vocal group in high school—Shades of Jade—that once played at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.[4] His first recording credit was as producer of the album Soul Christmas in 1968, his first vocal credit as a vocalist on the Quincy Jones album Best in 1969. He was also a member of a theater workshop, "Listen My Brother", at the time and appeared on the second and fifth episodes of Sesame Street in November 1969.[5][6]

He attended Western Michigan University for a year, but dropped out to continue pursuing a career in music.[7]

His next recording credit was on an album by Roberta Flack in 1972. Having co-written "Fascination" for David Bowie's Young Americans, he went on to tour with him as a back-up vocalist in September 1974.[8][6] Vandross wrote "Everybody Rejoice"[9] for the 1975 Broadway musical The Wiz; also appearing as a choir member in the movie.[10]

Vandross also sang backing vocals for Diana Ross, Roberta Flack, Carly Simon, Chaka Khan, Donna Summer, Bette Midler, Chic, and Barbra Streisand. Early in his career, Vandross was content to remain mostly in the background, as a producer and backup singer for other artists, but Flack encouraged Vandross to start his own career.[citation needed]

Before his breakthrough, he released two albums with a singing group he formed, also called Luther, on Cotillion Records.[citation needed] The group had a successful single entitled "It's Good for the Soul", although their two albums—the self-titled Luther in 1976 and This Close to You in 1977—were not successful. Vandross bought back the rights to these albums after the record label dropped the group, preventing their later re-release.[citation needed]

Vandross also wrote and sang commercials jingles during the late 1970s and early 1980s,[3] earning upwards of $600,000 per year around the New York area.[citation needed] He created and often sang jingles for such advertising campaigns as Kentucky Fried Chicken's "We Do Chicken Right",[citation needed] NBC's "Proud As a Peacock"[citation needed] and The US Army's "Be All You Can Be".[citation needed] Vandross also voiced a cartoon character named Zack for three Saturday morning animated PSA spots for ABC Television called "Zack of All Trades".[citation needed] Vandross continued his successful career as a popular session singer during the late 1970s. His lead vocals can be heard on the Gregg Diamond produced single "Hot Butterfly" from Bionic Boogie in 1978, which gained moderate club success.[citation needed]

1980–2003: Career success

File:Vandrosshits.jpg
Luther Vandross' Greatest Hits

With some contributions from friend and songwriter/producer, Wayne K. Garfield[citation needed], Vandross finally made his long desired career breakthrough as a featured singer with the pop-dance group Change, a studio creation from French-Italian music entrepreneur Jacques Fred Petrus, with songs written and produced by Davide Romani, Paolo Gianolio, and Mauro Malavasi. Their 1980 hits "The Glow of Love" and "Searching", which Vandross sang on, opened up the world for him. Vandross was originally intended to perform on Change's 1981 follow-up album Miracles but wanted more money than Petrus would give (he was replaced by James "Crabs" Robinson). Vandross' decision freed him to sign a recording contract with Epic Records in 1981, although he still did some work for Petrus, singing background vocals on Miracles and Petrus' new project, The B. B. & Q. band. In return, Petrus and Malavasi would write and produce Vandross' 1st solo single, the title track of his first Epic Album, [[Never Too Much}}in 1983, which would mark his second attempt at a solo career, which proved to be successful. In addition to the hit title track, that album contained a version of the Burt Bacharach and Hal David-penned song "A House Is Not a Home". This period also marked the beginning of his songwriting collaboration with bassist Marcus Miller, who played on many of the tracks, and would later produce or co-produce a number of tracks for Vandross.

Vandross released a series of successful albums during the 1980s and continued his session work with guest vocals on groups like Charme in 1982. Although the albums were successful overall, many of his earlier albums made a much bigger impact on the R&B charts than on the pop charts. During the 1980s, Vandross had two singles that reached number one on the Billboard R&B charts: "Stop to Love", in 1986, and a duet with Gregory Hines—"There's Nothing Better Than Love."[11] He was also an in-demand producer;[citation needed] he was at the helm for Aretha Franklin's albums Jump to It and Get It Right. In 1983, the opportunity to work with his main music influence, Dionne Warwick, came about with Vandross producing, writings songs, and singing on How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye, her fourth album for Arista Records. The title track duet reached #27 on the Hot 100 chart (#7 R&B/#4 Adult Contemporary),[12] while the second single, "Got a Date" was only a moderate hit (#45 R&B/#15 Club Play).

The 1989 compilation The Best of Luther Vandross... The Best of Love, included the ballad "Here and Now", his first single to chart in the Billboard pop chart top ten. He won his first Grammy award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance in the 1991.

File:FLWLTV.jpg
Vandross' From Luther With Love: The Videos DVD

More albums followed in the 1990s, beginning with 1991's Power of Love which spawned two top ten pop hits. He won his second Best Male R&B Vocal in the Grammy Awards of 1992 with the track "Power of Love/Love Power" winning the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song in the same year. In 1992, "The Best Things in Life Are Free", a duet with Janet Jackson from the movie Mo' Money became a hit.

In 1993, Vandross had a nonspeaking role in the Robert Townsend movie Meteor Man. He played a hit man who plotted to stop Townsend's title character.

Vandross hit the top ten again in 1994 with Mariah Carey, doing a cover version of Lionel Richie and Diana Ross's duet "Endless Love." He also appears on Frank Sinatra's posthumous Duets album. In the Grammy Awards of 1997, he won his third Best Male R&B Vocal for the track "Your Secret Love". A second greatest hits album, released in 1997, compiled most of his 1990s hits and was his final album released through Epic Records. After releasing I Know on Virgin Records, he signed with J Records. His first album on Clive Davis's new label, entitled Luther Vandross, was released in 2001, and it produced the hits "Take You Out" (#7 R&B/#26 Pop), and "I'd Rather" (#17 Adult Contemporary/#40 R&B/#83 Pop)

In 2003, Vandross released the album Dance With My Father The title track, which was dedicated to Vandross' memory childhood dances with his father, won Luther and his co-writer, Richard Marx, the 2004 Grammy Award for Song Of The Year. The song also won Vandross his fourth and final award in the Best Male R&B Vocal Performance category. The album was his first to reach number one on the Billboard album chart. The video for the title track features a various celebrities alongside their fathers and other family members. Celebrities such as Beyoncé, Celine Dion, Jason Kidd, Stevie Wonder and Quincy Jones submitted home videos or pictures of their families for the music video.[citation needed]

Vandross's last known recording was his version of "One Shining Moment",[citation needed] CBS's closing theme song of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.

2003-2005: Illness and death

Luther Vandross's final album, Dance with My Father (2003).

Vandross had diabetes,[3] a disease that ran in his family, as well as hypertension. His weight fluctuated over the years, with Vandross weighing over 300 pounds (136 kg) at his heaviest.[citation needed] His father, Luther Sr., died of complications from diabetes when Luther Jr. was eight years old. Luther Jr.'s two sisters and a brother also predeceased him.[citation needed] On April 16, 2003, just 4 days before his 52nd birthday, Vandross suffered a stroke in his home in Manhattan.[3] Though the cause of Vandross' stroke was not specifically attributed to diabetes, diabetics have been identified as being much more susceptible to strokes than non-diabetics.

He appeared briefly on videotape at the 2004 Grammys to accept his Song of the Year award, where he said, "Whenever I say goodbye it's never for long because I believe in the power of love".[3] Other than an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, he was never seen in public again. Vandross died on July 1, 2005 at John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Edison, New Jersey at the age of 54.[6] At this time, the cause of death was not known, although hospital spokesman Rob Cavanaugh has said that Vandross never recovered from the 2003 stroke.[citation needed] It was reported that he died peacefully, surrounded by his family and friends.[citation needed] The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a friend of Vandross, described him as "a boy so mellow, so powerful; a boy of rare, rare vintage. We lost Luther very early because of his medical condition, but his legacy will be a powerful legacy."[citation needed]

His funeral was in New York City on July 8, 2005.[13] After two days of viewing, Vandross was laid to rest in George Washington Memorial Park in Paramus, New Jersey.[14]

Personal life

During Vandross's entire career, he was dogged by questions regarding his sexuality. A lifelong bachelor, his name was never romantically linked in the media with women. Although Vandross never explicitly denied being gay, he never publicly acknowledged it either. He generally attempted to steer questioners away from the issue altogether by saying that his busy lifestyle made marriage difficult and indicated that it was not what he wanted. There are also allegations that surfaced in the past that he and Gregory Hines could have been romantically linked. Because they were close friends, people started to question their so-called "just friends" relationship. [15] After his death, an article in Out magazine had several of Vandross' friends, including gay comedy writer Bruce Vilanch, claiming that Luther was indeed a very unhappily closeted gay man.[16]

Influences and followers

Vandross was inspired by the soul divas of the 1960s and 1970s: Dionne Warwick, Patti LaBelle, Diana Ross, and Aretha Franklin, whom he eventually produced.

Vandross' songs have also been performed numerous times by American Idol contestants. Notable covers include Season 1 Finalist Tamyra Gray's version of "Dance With My Father" on Boston Public, R&B artist Keyshia Cole's version of "Never Too Much" on her 2005 debut album The Way It Is.

Vandross performed many covers of older songs, such as "Since I Lost My Baby" (originally recorded by The Temptations), "Love the One You're With" (originally recorded by Stephen Stills), "Superstar/Until You Come Back to Me" ("Superstar" was a hit for The Carpenters and "Until You Come Back To Me" was a 1974 hit for Aretha Franklin), "Love Won't Let Me Wait" (originally recorded by Major Harris), "Always and Forever" (originally recorded by Heatwave), "If This World Were Mine" (a duet with Cheryl Lynn, originally recorded by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell), "Creepin'" and "Knocks Me Off My Feet" (both originally recorded by Stevie Wonder), "Hello" (the 1984 number-one hit by Lionel Richie), "Lovely Day" (originally recorded by Bill Withers), "Killing Me Softly" (a hit for Roberta Flack) and the Bacharach/David standard, "A House Is Not A Home." Vandross's hit "Love Power" included snippets of the soul classic "The Power of Love". Another hit, "Bad Boy (Having a Party)", contained a passage from Sam Cooke's "Having a Party".

Legacy

Tribute

On September 20, 2005, the album So Amazing: An All-Star Tribute to Luther Vandross was released. The album is a collection of some of Luther's songs performed by various artists, including Stevie Wonder, Mary J. Blige, Usher, Fantasia, Beyoncé, Donna Summer, Alicia Keys, Elton John, Celine Dion, Wyclef Jean, Babyface, Patti LaBelle, John Legend, Angie Stone, Jamie Foxx and Aretha Franklin. Aretha Franklin won a Grammy for her rendition of "A House Is Not a Home," and Stevie Wonder and Beyoncé won a Grammy for their cover of "So Amazing."

Posthumous releases

J Records released a song "Shine"—an upbeat R&B track that samples Chic's disco song "My Forbidden Lover"—reaching #31 on the R&B chart. A later remix peaked at #10 on the Club Play chart. "Shine" and a track entitled "Got You Home" are previously unreleased songs on The Ultimate Luther Vandross, a greatest hits album on Epic Records/J Records/Legacy Recordings that was released August 22, 2006.

Discography

Main article: Luther Vandross discography

Further reading

  • Seymour, Craig (2004). Luther: The Life and Longing of Luther Vandross. HarperEntertainment. ISBN 0-06-059418-7. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

References

  1. ^ "Luther Vandross". AskMen.com (UK Edition). Retrieved 2006-12-02.
  2. ^ "Vandross' Funeral Soulful and Powerful". Yahoo! News. July 8 2005. Retrieved 2006-12-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Obituary: Luther Vandross". BBC News. July 1 2005. Retrieved 2006-12-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ "Luther Vandross' Swan Song". Yahoo! Music. July 1 2005. Retrieved 2006-12-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ "Luther Vandross artist page".
  6. ^ a b c "Luther Vandross dead at 54". CNN. July 1 2005. Retrieved 2006-12-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ Seymour, Craig (2004). Luther: The Life and Longing of Luther Vandross. HarperEntertainment. ISBN 0-06-059418-7. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  8. ^ "Luther Vandross". Vibe.com. Retrieved 2006-12-02.
  9. ^ "Full Cast and Crew for The Wiz". IMDb. Retrieved 2006-12-02.
  10. ^ "Luther Vandross". IMDb. Retrieved 2006-12-02.
  11. ^ Artist Chart History
  12. ^ Artist Chart History
  13. ^ "Luther Vandross Funeral Plans Set". 6ABC. July 8 2005. Retrieved 2006-12-14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ "Luther Vandross' All-Star Send-Off". E! News. July 8 2005. Retrieved 2006-12-14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ "Luther Vandross Dies at 54". 6ABC. July 2 2005. Retrieved 2006-12-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ "The Secret Gay Life of Luther Vandross". Out.com. Retrieved 2006-12-02.

See also

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