Luther
Vandross
b.
Luther Ronzoni Vandross,
20 April 1951, New York City, New York, USA. Born into a family immersed in
gospel and soul singing, Luther had already formed his own group while still
at school and later worked with the musical theatre workshop, Listen My
Brother. This enabled him to perform at Harlem’s Apollo Theatre. After a
brief hiatus from the music scene in the 70s, Vandross was invited by an old
school friend and workshop colleague, Carlos Alomar, to join him in the studio
with David Bowie for the recording of Young Americans. Vandross impressed Bowie enough to be invited to
arrange the vocal parts and make a substantial contribution to the backing
vocals for the album. By the time Bowie’s US tour was underway Vandross had
also secured the position as opening act. Luther’s vocal talent was soon in
demand and his session credits with Chaka Khan, Ringo Starr, Barbra Streisand
and Donna Summer generated sufficient interest from the Cotillion label to
sign him as part of a specially- put-together vocal group, Luther. The two
albums flopped, partly due to the use of a disco backing in favour of allowing
Vandross to express his more romantic, soul style.
The singer subsequently drifted back to session
work putting in outstanding performances for Quincy Jones, Patti Austin, Gwen
Guthrie, Chic and Sister Sledge. This work was subsidized by his composing
advertising jingles. His performance as guest singer with the studio group
Change on the 1980 Glow Of love
earned two UK Top 20 hits in ‘Glow Of Love’ and ‘Searchin”. This
led to the re-launch of a higher profile career, this time as solo artist with
CBS/Epic Records. ‘Never Too Much’ earned him an R&B number 1 while
the accompanying album reached the US Top 20. The single took a further eight
years to reach the UK Top 20. Subsequent singles, including duets with Cheryl
Lynn (‘If This World Was Mine’) and Dionne Warwick (‘How Many Times Can
We Say Goodbye’), saw him strengthen his popularity with the US R&B
market and gave him two further R&B number I hits with ‘Stop To Love’
(1986) and a duet with Gregory Hines, ‘There’nothing Better Than Love’
(1987). His albums Give Me The Reason and
Any Love both reached the UK Top 3.
These releases saw Vandross rise to become one of the finest soul singers of
the 80s and 90s. He has won various awards and his reputation as a producer
has been enhanced by his work with Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross and Whitney
Houston.
Albums: with the group Luther Luther
(1976), This Close To You (1976), solo Never
Too Much (1981), Forever, For
Always, For Love (1982), Busy Body (1983),
The Night I Fell In Love (1985), Give
Me The Reason (1986), Any Love (1988),
Power Of Love (1991), Never
Let Me Go (1993). Compilation: The
Best Of Luther T7andross. . The Best Of Love (1989).