ABC Artist Spotlight: Luther Vandross
Born in New York City, Vandross was heavily influenced with music by his mother, father and one of his sisters being singers themselves. Plus, his sisters took him to the famed Apollo Theater to see various musical acts and learned how to play the piano at an early age. In high school, he performed in a musical group as well as in a musical theater. He quit college only after a year to pursue a career in music.
He then started to write songs for other artists and sang backgrounds for other well-known singers such as David Bowie, Roberta Flack and Donna Summer. He wrote David Bowie’s “Fascination” and “Everybody Rejoice” from the Broadway musical The Wiz. He sang in a group which released two unsuccessful albums, created (and sang) commercial jingles and contributed vocals to various music groups and bands.
Click here to listen to “Everybody Rejoice”.
Vandross got his big break by becoming the lead vocalist for the studio-concept act called Change. Both singles, “The Glow of Love” and “Searching” (from the first album The Glow of Love) became huge hits for him and the group. While in the process of gearing up for the second album, he wanted more money, but the producers behind the group were not going to cater to his wishes. So, Vandross left, but lucked up in 1980 with signing a record-label contract and releasing his debut album, Never Too Much. The album also contained the classic cover of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David’s “A Home Is Not a Home.”
To watch the video to the title track “Never Too Much”, click here.
In 1980s, he released five albums that included the follow-up, Forever, For Always, For Love in 1982 featuring the single, “Bad Boy/Having A Party”, The Night I Fell in Love in 1985 with the cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Creepin’”, Give Me A Reason (1986) and Any Love (1988). But, he hit paydirt with the album Busy Body (1983) featuring the cover of the songs “Superstar/Until You Come Back to Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do)."
Click here to listen to "Superstar.”
During the 1990’s is when Vandross crossed over into the pop charts first (won him his first Grammy Award) with the huge single, “Here and Now” from his greatest hits album. He repeated that same feat with the single, “Power of Love/Love Power” from the album Power of Love in 1991. He released four more albums in this decade with the album, I Know. Leaving the label that he has been home to for almost 20 years, he teamed up with music industry titan Clive Davis to record his self-titled album, Luther Vandross featuring the first single, “Take You Out.” It was a huge hit on the R&B charts and it was a moderate hit on the pop charts. In 2003, the album, Dance With My Father was a also a huge hit for him. The title track, written by Vandross and Richard Marx, is a tribute to Vandross’ father and rewarded him (and Marx) with a Grammy for Song of the Year in 2004. This album marked his last one of original songs.
To see the heart-warming video to “Dance With My Father”, click here.
During his long career, he collaborated with artists such as Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson and Aretha Franklin (Vandross actually produced two of her albums). Vandross suffered a stroke right after completing the album and was not seen in public much after that. He died from a heart attack in 2005.