Transcription
Are you in a good place now in your life? Depends on when you ask me whether or not it's a good place. Um, if you ask, are you happy? It depends. It It also depends on when you ask. Um, asking right now, no, not particularly.
From the day Luther Vandross was introduced to us, he embodied a walking paradox. A singer known for his love songs that connected with millions of people around the globe, but in fact never had a love of his own. In this video, we'll explore Luther's life, career, and the profound loneliness that shaped his personal journey. This is his story.
My middle name is Ranzone. My my Is this really true? It is actually. It's on the birth certificate and everything. Luther Ronzone Vandross. How' you Luther Ranzone Vandross Jr. was born on April 20th, 1951 in New York City. Vandross grew up in a musical household in Manhattan's Lower East Side in the Alfred E. Smith public housing development. His mother, Mary Ida Vandros, was a nurse and his father, Luther Vandross, Senior, worked as an upholsterer. Luther was always musically inclined, and by the age of three, he had taught himself how to play the piano by ear. Luther's childhood was filled with memories on the beach, dancing in his family's living room, and laughing. But in 1959, after spending time at the beach, his father suddenly passed away. Luther was 8 years old.
After his father's sudden passing, Luther turned to music as a way to escape the grief. In a 2002 interview, Luther would say, "I still carry that pain with me, and whenever I see the relationship between a father and son depicted on television or in a film, I am filled with sadness at what I have missed."
Luther's family was deeply musical. Not only was his late father a singer, his oldest sister, Patricia, sang with the Crests, a doo group consisting of four neighborhood boys and Patricia. They were on the brink of success when they were asked to go on a countrywide promotional tour. When Patricia asked their mother, Mary Ida, for permission to go on the road with four guys, she refused to allow her daughter to go, so Patricia had to leave the group. A year later, the Crest would go on to have their first hit single, and Patricia was still living at home, longing for a chance to make it out again. She and his other sister, Anne, would escort Luther to the theaters where he would fall in awe of the likes of Dion Warwick and Artha Franklin. In seeing them, a spark ignited in Luther. He had always been musically inclined, but watching those performers, the way the temptations moved, the way Diana Ross sacheted upon the stage, the way Dion cruned, he wanted to be like that. Dion Warwick would serve as Luther's main musical inspiration as he grew. He admired her voice and the way she carried herself as she performed. He took notes and studied her as well as the other acts, notably Diana Ross, as he himself grew into an artist.
Why did you say you were influenced by three female singers, all of whom are great, by the way? Yeah. Well, uh, Dion, Artha, and Diana were always my favorite singers. I remember the Mari Decay shows at the Brooklyn Fox Theater. That's where I first saw Dion Warick and decided at that point that I wanted to do it.
Also, by high school, his love of music was instinctual. He had founded a singing group called Shades of Jade, consisting mostly of his classmates and one of his best friends, Robin. He also appeared several times at the Apollo Theat's famous Amateur Night, Losing Each Time. But at 16, he had something else on his mind. Luther was in love, but it was unrequited. In a quote from Craig Seymour's book, Luther, the life and longing of Luther Vandross, Luther is quoted as saying, "The person was almost like, "Thank you, but I'm not interested. It was very painful and unrequited and alienating, very alienating." Luther would never disclose who the person was, but to cope with the heartache of unrequited love, he turned to food. "The first thing I would do if I was depressed or dejected, whatever, is eat," he said.
But heartbroken or not, Luther had a dream. Not letting the previous losses break him, he and the rest of the members of Shades of Jade were picked to be a part of the Apollo's performing youth group called Listen My Brother. The group consisted of more than 10 singers, but Luther was a standout. His voice, Silky Smooth, was unlike anyone else's. The group released two singles featuring Luther. Shortly after performing at the Harlem Cultural Festival in late August 1969, the group was hand selected to be featured on the pilot for a new public broadcasting service show for children that featured a bunch of toy puppets and taught kids lessons in life. The show's name was Sesame Street. And for all that success at 18, Luther hadn't yet found a puppy love of his own.
In a 1990 interview, he stated, "Maybe that's why when everyone was forming couples and falling in love, when romance was all around me, I missed out. I was distracted. My life was in the headphones. It might have been lonely in there, but I had no choice. By then, music was an obsession. It still is. Also, he was too busy with diplomatic matters. In his time at William Howard Taft High School in the Bronx, he had founded the first ever Patty Label fan club. He was the acting president and took his job very seriously.
After high school and a brief stint at Western Michigan University, Luther had decided he was going to go allin on his music career. He kept in touch with those from Listen, my brother and tried to network his way into gigs while working at a store in the city until one day the opportunity of a lifetime came along. Ken Harper, a former radio DJ, was producing an all black version of The Wizard of Oz set for Broadway. The Whiz, a working title at the time, needed songs, and Luther sent him all he could. Luther's upbeat climax tune, Everybody Rejoice: A Brand New Day, made it into the play and into Broadway.
Experience with David Bowie probably taught me the most because it was the first experience away from home that I had had. Remember when when I sang with Bowie, I was still living with my mother at home. So, this was the first chance that I had had to get out of New York City. Luther's friend Robin had married a guitarist who was working with David Bowie. One day, she invited Luther to a listening session at Bowie Studio. While listening to a rough cut of Bow's Young Americans, Luther had a few suggestions which turned into Bowie hiring Luther to not only sing backgrounds, but to come up with the arrangements and melodies for his album. Luther had previously written a song called Funky Music in which Bowie would rework into the tune Fascination that's featured on the Young Americans album. Luther would go on the road with Bowie as a background singer and then transition to an opening act for his 1974 tour. On January 5th, 1975, The Whiz opened on Broadway and by March, Young Americans was out and became Bow's biggestselling album in the United States.
After leaving the Bowie tour, Luther got the opportunity to work with B. Midler on arranging her new live show. Luther sang background during the show as well, but no one saw him. Bet's other background vocalists who she deemed the harlots were a well-known bunch, usually slim, usually female, and Luther was none of those things. So, he used to hide in the shadows behind the curtain with a microphone, harmonizing with the other three. But Luther wanted for the public to not only hear his voice, but to see him. Debilitatingly shy and not believing in his abilities to be a true solo artist, Luther decided to form another group, one he simply named Luther. The co-ed group consisted of former Shades of Jade members Anthony Hinton and Diane Sumler, as well as Theresa V. Reed and Christine Wiltshire. They released some moderately successful singles, but none of them charted. During this time, Luther was also writing jingles for additional cash and was singing background vocals for the likes of Chaka Khan, Roberto Flack, and even his ultimate supreme, Diana Ross. He was making over $600,000 a year at one point in the 70s.
By 1980, Luther the group had disbanded, but his work had caught the attention of French Italian businessman Jacqu Fred Petrus. Petrus had formed Change, a pop dance group, and he wanted Luther as a featured singer. They put out two singles, Searching in the Glow of Love, which both made it to number one on the US dance charts. Luther was slated to perform on a second project for the group, but dropped out due to Petrus not paying enough, but his luck hadn't run out yet. Luther landed a solo deal with Epic Records that same year.
Long and hard to get where you are. Well, it does seem kind of sudden. Why is that? Well, as a solo singer, I've only had one album, which was called Never Too Much. And uh probably I don't know why it seems It doesn't seem sudden to me, you know. Um, it probably seems sudden because I was uh pretty anonymous for a long time, you know, singing in the background as a session singer, as a singer. Well, for like Chaka Khan and Roberto Flack and David Bowie and Carly Simon.
Luther Vandross's solo career took off in 1981 with the release of his debut album, Never Too Much. The title track written by Vandross himself became an instant hit, reaching number one on the R&B charts and establishing him as a formidable force in the music industry. The album's success was not just limited to the title track. Songs like Don't You Know That and House Is Not a Home showcased his vocal prowess and ability to convey deep emotion through his music. Vandross continued to build on his success with a string of platinum albums throughout the 1980s. His second album, Forever For always for love, released in 1982, was another hit featuring the popular tracks Bad Boy Having a Party and Since I Lost My Baby.
By 1982, the world knew Luther. He was nominated for a Grammy, but lost to James Ingram. He also got the opportunity to work with one of his teenage idols, Artha Franklin, for who he produced the album Jump to It. The single of the same name was Franklin's first top 40 pop hit in 6 years, and the album went on to go gold.
But the honeymoon phase wouldn't last long. While recording Artha's 1983 follow-up album, Luther was giving Artha notes and advice on her singing. This upset Artha, who thought that she didn't need any pointers on how to sing. Plus, she was the one who Luther used to study. "How dare he tell her what to do?" she thought. The two began arguing back and forth, causing Artha to walk out of the recording session in New York and drive her bus all the way back to Detroit. The two refused to speak to each other for a while. Clive Davis was calling asking where the progress was on the album, but Luther had no answers until Houston, mother of Whitney, would call an intervention for the two to talk it out. They eventually got back in the studio and recorded the 1983 Get It Right album, which was also successful for Artha.
Luther's own 1983 album, Busy Body, was topped off by the smash single Superstar. It also included How many times Can We Say Goodbye, a duet with Dion Warwick, his main inspiration and a dream collaboration for him.
What inspired you, Luther, to actually become in the industry? I was sitting in the theater and uh this girl singer came on in a red dress, okay? And she sang Don't Make Me Over and Walk on By, okay? And I can tell you specifically that right at that moment, I knew that I wanted to be able to affect people the way that she had affected me. And that of course turned out to be Dion. Luther and Dion would become lifelong friends.
In 1985, Luther was watching Star Search when he spotted a young boy with a voice like Silk. Jimmy Salvini was a 14-year-old Italian boy from Long Island. Luther immediately contacted Jimmy, thinking he would sound good on some of the songs he was working on. He was managed by his brother, Larry Salvini. Luther would fly the two out to work with him in Los Angeles, where he would help them negotiate a contract with Electra Records for $250,000 and produce Jimmy's debut album.
Now, last week there was last last year there were a lot of rumors because you got thin. Mhm. You got a new body. Yeah. You're not going to ask me about that stupid thing. No, I'm going to ask you what diet you went so irresponsibly wrote in. I'm not going to even mention it. Look at my face. And retracted in in the in the in a subsequent issue. No, but I am going to ask you what you did. Okay. Uh what I did was I went on a diet and um I lost 126 pounds.
Also in 1985, Luther would threaten to sue Blues and Soul, a British music magazine, for wrongly printing that he was suffering from the AIDS virus. Luther denied having the disease and would make the rounds to different media outlets to shut down the rumor. Nevertheless, the damage was done, and this would add fuel to the questions many people had about his love life. It didn't help the rumors that Luther had shed a bunch of weight during this time. His new spelt physique was a testament to something else though, love. He was in a relationship and due to that wanted to look nice for his new partner. But of course, he never shared who the person was with the public. Luther was a very private person. He was never seen with lovers. We never knew if they were male or female. He never talked about them. But from his music, we all knew that he had love inside of him. He just wouldn't tell us.
Luther and the Salvi brothers were working on Jimmy's album in Los Angeles. During this time, he became very close with them, showing them around town and working on music. Luther was pulling out all the stops for the album, calling Irene Cara and Cheryl Lynn to appear on the record. The day after the album was finished, Jimmy, Larry, and Luther were driving in Luther's Mercedes on Laurel Canyon Boulevard when suddenly there was a crash. Luther came away with minor injuries. Jimmy was rushed to the hospital with a collapsed lung, but Larry was in much worse shape and eventually passed away at the hospital. Prosecutors initially charged Luther with felony vehicular manslaughter, but later determined they lacked the evidence to indict him. The Salvi family would file a unlawful death suit against Luther, and the case would be settled for around $630,000. This loss deeply impacted Luther. He would never talk about it in the media. But for all accounts, Larry had become one of his best friends, and his death was not only heartbreaking, but personally traumatizing for him.
But even through grief, the show went on. Luther's 1986 album, Give Me The Reason, solidified his reputation as a leading R&B artist. Album included the hit singles Stop to Love and So Amazing. Vandross's music videos from this period also gained significant airplay on MTV, further expanding his audience and giving him crossover appeal.
That my biggest greatest weight. And across the the hall walked one of the waiters. And I said, "See Whitney?" I said, "That's the size I want to get down to." She said, "Why?" I said, "Well," I said, "Look at you." I said, "He has a 34 waist. He's my height. You know, it's just right." You know, she said, "Yeah, but Luther, he can't sing."
Despite his success, Vandros faced several personal and professional challenges. His struggle with weight gain and health issues was a constant battle throughout his life. This was exacerbated with the loss of his drummer, Yogi Horton, who had passed away in 1987 from a self-inflicted fall. Luther had gained 120 lbs through his grief, and the person fans had seen in the MTV videos looked different when they caught him in person. Nevertheless, Luther was a superstar. Some would even call him a diva, and he had many battles with the other divas of the day. One of his most famous feuds was between him and Anita Baker. Anita was at the top of her game in the late 80s, fresh off her hit album, Rapture. Their beef all began during the 1987 Grammys. Luther and Anita had agreed to sing the Marvin Gay and Tammy Terrell duet, Your Precious Love, and had rehearsed everything to be on the live television broadcast. However, on the day of the Grammys, Anita changed her mind and opted to sing a tribute to Billy Holiday instead without Luther. That obviously rubbed him the wrong way. On top of that, he lost his Grammy nomination that night, throwing salt on the wound. Somehow, these two end up co-headlining a tour together, aptly titled The Heat. The two stars avoided each other to no avail. Luther had curtains put up to avoid even seeing Anita. Whenever Luther entered the venue, security guards would lock Anita's dressing room and shield the two stars from each other. The tour was tension-filled but commercially successful. The crowds love to see two of the biggest R&B stars of the time going head-to-head vocally, even if they didn't care for each other.
For all his commercial and critical success, it's a wonder that Luther wasn't a Grammy darling. But 9 years after he had released his first album, he had never won the award. In 1991, Vandross released Power of Love, which won him his first Grammy Award for best male R&B vocal performance. The album's title track and Don't Want to Be a Fool, were both major hits, and the album itself went platinum.
Luther put out his eighth studio album, Never Let Me Go, in 1993. It was his first album to not debut it at number one on the R&B album charts and did not receive any of the acclaim Luther had been accustomed to getting throughout his career. The tour to promote the album would be just as disastrous as the album itself. Um, we're opening for Luther, and uh, Luther is fabulous. He is. Dawn, Terry, Cindy, and Maxine, also known as Invogue, abruptly left his 1993 Never Let Me Go Tour due to spats with Luther. The group signed a contract that stated that they would be paid $55,000 each concert, but they couldn't do a few things. They couldn't wear any colors that Luther or his band were wearing. No reds, no whites, no blues, or blacks. They also couldn't wear sparkles. Also, Luther's stage was in the round, meaning that it was in the middle of the arena and rotated around for the entire audience to see. and Vogue had signed a contract stating that their band was supposed to be on the stage. But when audiences started complaining that the stage was so cluttered they couldn't see and the ladies started receiving bad reviews from critics, they wanted to move the band to where Luther's was, which he had a problem with. It was in their contract that they couldn't wear certain colors and outfits, Luther explained. Because that would diffuse the impact of what my backup singers wore. After all, those gowns that Lisa and Ava wear on stage cost me $20,000 each, and they have several of them. And since they were designed to get maximum response from the audience, I don't think it was unreasonable to ask in Vogue not to wear the same colors or styles we did. Look, people who buy tickets to my show expect to see and hear something new and different every time. Impressing them with the fabulous clothes my singers wear is almost as important as the performance itself. Invogue signed the contract, but tensions would flare as the tour went on all culminating in a big blowup between Luther and the ladies in which Luther called the police on them for disregarding the curtains he put up to shield himself from the group. In Vogue would go on to tell their story in the press, but Luther would dismiss the girls, calling them spoiled, non-truth-telling contract breakers.
Away from the petty girl group drama, this tour proved to be a tough time for Luther personally. His sister, Patricia, passed away in the middle of it. His longtime manager, Billy Ba, would also quit the tour as well, stating, "Lu is a very successful guy in his professional life, but a guy who's often very unhappy off the stage. And when Luther is miserable, he tends to make the lives of those around him miserable." And when Luther got home from the tour, he would not have anyone waiting for him there. No one to cook meals or lounge around with. It was just him.
This is an album of classic songs. I define classic as songs which stand the test of time. Songs which are not flavor of the month songs. Uh songs that the generations can share. In 1994 he released songs an album of covers that showcased his versatility as an artist. The album included his rendition of Liono Richie's Hello and Endless Love, a duet with Mariah Carey which became a massive hit. The album was panned by critics claiming inauthenticity from the whole thing. Amidst the critical flop, Luther took a break after songs and focused on his personal health. He had ballooned to 314 pounds at that point and would use the time to create an extremely regimented workout routine and lowc calorie diet.
But by 2001, he was ready for a comeback. First of all, you look wonderful. Terrific. Thanks. Thanks. What are you doing? You know, I'm doing the square thing. I'm exercising and dieting and, you know, improving my health in the process. Luther signed to Clive Davis's J Records and released a self-titled album in 2001. It produced the hit Take You Out, which is still a jam to this day.
In 2003, Vandross released what would be his final studio album, Dance with My Father. The title track, a deeply personal song about his late father, won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 2004. But Luther was not able to make it to the Grammys that night, rather appearing in a pre-taped video to accept his award. Although he had tried to control his health starting in the late '9s, his struggles with his weight and hypertension haunted him. In April 2003, he suffered a severe stroke that left him in a coma for nearly 2 months. The stroke affected his ability to speak and sing, and Vandross spent the next couple years of his life in recovery.
But even still, he longed for love. Michael Mustau, an associate of Luther's, insisted the singer was desperate to find a boyfriend in the years before he passed away, saying, "A famously openly gay singer songwriter told me Luther was dying to have a boyfriend. It was an inside show business open secret." The paradox of that, that the person who sang these beautiful songs, the person who brought so many people together was dying and did not have a romantic partner to share his last days with, was spellbounding. Luther, a force with a voice that inspired love from the masses, was alone. But he had family. His mother was there and would make appearances in his honor, even appearing at the AMAs to accept his last award. And sure, Luther had the love of the people. We loved him. But that romantic love, that longing for someone to share his life with was missing for Luther, and he never had it. Sure, he had partners here and there, but the gripping love that inspired songs like Superstar and A House Is Not a Home was not there for him, even if he did want it desperately.
His last public appearance was in May 2004 on the Oprah Winfrey show. And on July 1st, 2005, Luther Vandross passed away at the age of 54. The Velvet Voice, the greatest singer of love songs, was a true icon of his time. He inspired millions with his soulful melodies and heartfelt lyrics, touching the hearts of fans around the world. His music transcended generations, and his influence can still be felt today in the works of countless artists who followed in his footsteps. Luther was truly a superstar.
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