Luther Vandross

 

Born in New York in 1951, Vandross began his career writing and performing jingles for television
commercials. After spending the early '70s as a highly skilled session vocalist, Vandross met up with
David Bowie in 1974 and contributed backing vocals to Bowie's 1975 album “Young Americans”,
as well as co-writing Bowie's No.1 single "Fame."
The British rock star overheard Vandross singing and hired him on the spot to sing and arrange
background vocals on the record (which also included the Vandross composition "Fascination").
Vandross then organized a vocal group and spent a year on the road with Bowie. Through Bowie,
Vandross met Bette Midler and, through her, Arif Mardin, who was so impressed that he called
on him for sessions with Midler, Carly Simon, Ringo Starr, Chaka Khan, Average White Band
and Sister Sledge. He also handled the vocal arrangement for Barbra Streisand and Donna
Summer's No.1 pop hit "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)." He quickly became one of the
country's most in-demand background singers as well as doing commercial jingle work.
In the second half of the '70s, he recorded under a variety of guises, cutting two albums for
Cotillion under the name "Luther," recording with the session groups Roundtree, Charme
Bionic Boogie and Change and singing on hits by Chic.
Seeking recognition as a solo artist, Vandross recorded two demos and was signed to Epic
Records in 1981. Shortly after that he released his debut album, "Never too much" , which
topped the R&B charts and sold two million copies. All songs but one were written and
produced by Luther himself. Also prominently present is Marcus Miller on bass. The title track
"Never Too Much" stormed up the Billboard R&B charts to number one where it remained
for two weeks, it also got to Nr 33 in the Pop Singles chart. Other singles from this album are
"Don't you know that" reaching Nr 10 in the Black singles chart and "Sugar Spice" that didn't
get any higher than Nr 72.
The album, which reached Nr 1 in the Black Albums chart and Nr 19 in the Pop Albums
chart, also contained a remake of the Dionne Warwick classic "A House is Not A Home".
When asked what she thought about Luther covering this song, she said she loved it. To
date a Luther concert is no Luther concert without this song.
Vandross went on to produce albums for Aretha Franklin and other female singers, while
maintaining his own career through the '80s.
The 1982 follow up album "Forever, For Always, For Love" did not provide any Nr 1
singles. "Bad Boy/Having A Party" reached nr 3 in the Black Singles chart, his remake of
the Temptations gem "Since I Lost My Baby" stopped at Nr 17 and "Promise me" never even
reached the top 40, halting at Nr 72. The album however is solid and it showed Luther was
here to stay. Like his first album it peaked at Nr 1 in the Black Albums chart.
During that same year he worked with Cheryl Lynn on her "Instant Love" album.
Also in 1982 saw Luther worked with one of his favorite artists growing up Aretha Franklin
on her album “Jump To It”.
After the big success of the 1982 "Jump to it" album, Luther once again worked with Aretha
on the1983 follow-up "Get it right", written and produced Luther and Marcus Miller.
1983 also saw the release of Luther's third album in as many years. It looks like Luther
got the hang of duets teaming up with Dionne Warwick this time on "How Many Times
Can We Say Goodbye" that also appeared on Dionne's own album from 1983. It reached
nr 7 on the Black Singles chart. The next single "I'll let You Slide" made it to Nr 9 in 1984.
The album also contained the medley "Superstar/Until You Come Back To Me". Showing
his appreciation for the Carpenters ("Superstar") and Aretha Franklin ("Until You Come
Back to Me"), Vandross created a masterpiece with the combination of these two songs.
Like his first two albums, this also reached Nr 1 on the Black Albums chart.
Luther's fourth album in 1985 continued where he left off, a Nr 1 again on the Hot R&B/Hip-
Hop albums chart, Nr 19 Billboard Hot 100 album chart. However no Nr 1 singles.
"Till My Baby Comes Home" and "It's Over Now" both reached Nr 4 on the Hot R&B/Hip-
Hop singles chart. "Wait for Love" stayed just outside the top 10 at Nr 11 and "If Only for
One Night" written and previously recorded by Brenda Russell, halted at Nr 59. On this
album Luther also choose to re-do another classic song, showing his vocal skills on "Creepin"
from Stevie Wonder.
This album however is slightly different than his previous 3 having only 2 up-tempo songs
on. The other 6 tracks are very polished ballads.
Together with Marcus Miller Luther also wrote a track for the 1985 Temptations album
"Touch me". With Ali-Ollie Woodson's polished vocals, the Temptations scored a Billboard
R&B Top 20 hit with "Do You Really Love Your Baby." Penned by Luther Vandross and
Marcus Miller, the Tempts gratefully reap the rewards of Vandross' crafty style. Woodson
and Ron Tyson switch off on lead. With a mixture of urban and pop rhythms, the single
peaked at Nr 14 after 15 weeks
In between his own albums, production and session work for others, Luther also found the
time for 1 or 2 movie soundtracks like the song "She's So Good To Me" from the movie
The Goonies from 1985.
Luther Vandross was riding high in the 1980s, dominating the R&B charts and slowly, but
steadily, increasing his pop exposure. "Give Me The Reason" was his fourth consecutive
platinum smash and second straight double-platinum winner, but beyond that was a superbly
sung, expressive triumph. The title track was also featured on the soundtrack of the movie
“Ruthless People”.
"Stop To Love" and "Give Me The Reason" were beautifully produced, arranged, and
performed numbers and huge R&B hits. For the first time he had 2 Nr 1 R&B/Hip-Hop
singles on 1 album: "Stop To Love" and "There's Nothing Better Than Love", a duet with
Gregory Hines. Other singles were the title track "Give Me The Reason", "I Really Didn't
Mean It" and "So Amazing".
"Any Love" was Luther's 6th Nr 1 album on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart in a row. It went
"only" platinum, a bit of a letdown after two consecutive double-platinum winners. The title
track was the only Nr 1 R&B single from this album, "She Won't Talk To Me" and "For
You To Love" both made it to Nr 3. On this album Luther choose to remake one of his
own songs, "The Second Time Around" is from one of his '70 albums on Cotillion records.
These two album were long out of print and never re-released.
By 1989 his way-overdue double-record hits collection came out. Apart from his hits,
it also contained two new tracks. "Here And Now" meant his breakthrough to the Pop
Top 10 long after most people had given up hope that he'd ever cross over. The song
became a wedding song favorite and it earned him a Grammy award for R&B Male
Vocal in 1990. The album reached triple-platinum status.
Luther always was a fan of Cissy Houston, who used to be in the female vocal group The
Sweet Inspirations. Cissy is also a background singer on most of Luther's albums and in 1
990 he had the change to work with Cissy's daughter Whitney on her 3rd album. Luther
wrote this one with Hubert Eaves III, another one of his writing partners and to top it off,
mum Cissy joins in on background vocals.
In 1991 Luther returned with a full album with all new material "Power Of Love". The title
track reached Nr 1 in the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop singles chart and made sure he again received
a Grammy for R&B Male Vocal. The song also was R&B Song of the year, making it 2
Grammy for Luther in 1991. This and the other 3 singles "Don't Want to Be a Fool," "The
Rush" and "Sometimes It's Only Love" are the high points, but the album is filled with songs
that are nearly as powerful, including a wonderful cover of Ben E. King's "I Who Have
Nothing”.
Luther again worked with Aretha Franklin on her 1991 album "What You See Is What
You Sweat" and this time it was a duet "Doctor's Orders".
The third time Luther worked with Aretha and this time it's a duet.
A year later he teamed up with Janet Jackson for yet another soundtrack. "The Best
Things In Life Are Free" is from the "Mo Money" soundtrack and produced by Jimmy
Jam & Terry Lewis
The first album to not reach the Nr 1 position on the R&B/Hip-Hop album chart was
"Never Let Me Go" from 1993. There are no real blockbuster singles on it, but still is
quite an enjoyable album. "Little Miracles" reached Nr 10 and "Heaven Knows" never
got higher than Nr 24 on the Hot R&B charts.
Breaking the tradition of including 1 or 2 covers on every album, in 1994 Luther released
an album consisting only of covers, called "Songs". It contained his biggest cross-over
hit, a remake of the old Lionel Richie / Diana Ross duet "Endless Love". His singing
partner on this was Mariah Carey who was having a string of hits herself. He also tackled
"Hello" from Lionel and McFadden and Whitehead's "Ain't No Stopping Us Now".
In 1995 Luther decided to record a Christmas album. In January 1996 this was followed
by a greatest hits album that contained 1 new track.
Luther Vandross' tenth new studio album "Your Secret Love" saw the light later in 1996.
By now he was not scoring the big hits anymore like he was in the 80's. The album reached
Nr 2 on the R&B album chart, the title track Nr 5 on the Hot R&B singles chart. The album
included a duet with one of his regular background singers Lisa Fischer "Whether Or Not
The World Gets Better" and a remake of the Stevie Wonder classic "Knocks me Off My Feet".
Luther's final album for Epic records "One Night With You - The Best of Love" again is
a greatest hits collection again, this time with four new tracks. He continued his collaboration
with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, started in 1992 with the Janet Jackson duet "Best Things
In Life Are Free" from the soundtrack of the movie "Mo Money". Commercially it was a flop,
no hits from this album and album sales were poor.
After recording for Epic records since his 1981 debut Luther switched to Virgin in 1998 to
release "I Know". Again no real hits on it and the album only reached Nr 9 on the R&B/Hip-
Hop album chart. That probably is the reason why this was his only release for the label.
This album features a remake of “Get It Right” that he wrote for Aretha Franklin’s 1983
album, this time with female rapper Precise. She also guests on “Night In Harlem”.
After leaving Virgin Luther joined the roster of newly formed record label J-Records.
Former Arista chief Clive Davis pulled Luther aboard, along with Angie Stone, Deborah
Cox and new discovery Alicia Keys. On the self-titled 2001 album he made a return to
form. The first single "Take You Out" became his first Top 40 hit since "Endless Love".
On it he worked several different writers and producers..
20 year after his solo debut album, Luther was still going strong, reaching Nr 2 on the
R&B album chart.
His second album for J-Records is "Dance With My Father" but before the album was
released suffered a severe stroke in April 2003. The album itself was already recorded
and his record company and his family decided to go ahead with the release of the first s
ingle (the title track) and album even though Luther himself was in a coma at that time.
The single and album were an immediate success, the album entered the Billboard chart a
t Nr. 1.
While Luther was still undergoing physical therapy to recover from his stroke a live album,
recorded in February, was released in October 2003.

 

Year of release Album title
 
1981 Never too much
1982 Forever, for always, for love
1983 Busy body
1985 The night I fell in love
1986 Give me the reason
1988 Any love
1989 The best of Luther- The best of love
1991 Power of love
1993 Never let me go
1994 Songs
1995 This is Christmas
1996 Your secret love
1997 One night with you - The best of love
1998 I know
2001 Luther Vandross
2003 Dance with my father
2003 Live at Radio City Music Hall