Download Free Luther Vandross * Songs

Luther Vandross music biography continued...

one of the most successful R&B artists of his time.

Luther Ronzoni Vandross, Jr. was born on April 20, 1951 in Manhattan, New York. He was raised in a musical family as his parents encouraged their children to pursue music as a career. Luther began playing the piano at three years old, eventually taking lessons when he was five. His older sister Patricia Van Dross was an early member of the Crests, a group who later enjoyed success with their hit single "Sixteen Candles". Following the death of his father when he was eight years old, his family moved to the Bronx where Luther attended William Howard Taft High School. There he formed the group Shades of Jade with his friends Carlos Alomar, Robin Clark, Anthony Hinton, Diane Sumler, and Fonzi Thornton, who had the one time privilege to perform at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem as part of the musical theater workshop Listen, My Brother. In 1968, he received recording credit as a producer of the album Soul Christmas, appeared as a vocalist on Quincy Jones' 1969 album Best, and appeared on the first episode of Sesame Street later that year. After high school, he attended Western Michigan University however dropped the following year to focus on his musical aspirations.

For the next few years, Luther would remain in the background as a backup singer and producer on various albums by artists such as Roberta Flack, David Bowie, Diana Ross, Carly Simon, Chaka Khan, Bette Midler, Chic, and Barbara Streisand. Flack recognized his talent as a singer, songwriter and producer and further pushed him to focus on his own career. He formed his own group, Luther, which experienced some success with the single "It's Good for the Soul". However both of their albums, Luther in 1976 and This Close To You in 1977 failed to garner much credit. In 1980, he appeared as a guest singer for the group Change generating two major hits "The Glow of Love" and "Searching" which eventually landed him a contract with Epic Records. One year later, he issued his debut record Never Too Much which featured the number one hit title track as well as "A House is Not a Home", "Don't You Know That?", and "Sugar and Spice (I Found Me a Girl)". Although his singles were performing extremely well on the R&B charts, Vandross would only experience moderate success on the pop charts. In 1982, he produced Cheryl Lynn's album Instant Love which became a Top Ten R&B hit and sang a duet with her on the Top Five hit single "If This World Were Mine", a cover of the 1968 original by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. He also produced Aretha Franklin's 1982 album Jump to It and appeared on Diana Ross' record Silk Electric.

He released his second album Forever, for Always, for Love in September of 1982. The album topped the R&B charts and was eventually certified platinum with the hit singles "Bad Boy/Having a Party", "Since I Lost My Baby", and "Promise Me". Vandross continued to generate hits in the 1980s for other recording artists by either producing or appearing on their tracks, however his most notable hits during this time were "Stop To Love" a 1986 number one hit, as well as the number one duet with Gregory Hines, "There's Nothing Better Than Love". In 1989, he released a greatest hits compilation, The Best of Luther Vandross...The Best Of Love which featured his first single to place in the Top Ten of the Billboard pop chart, "Here and Now" which also earned a Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. His success followed with the release of 1991's Power of Love for which he won a second Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance as well as an award for Best R&B song for "Power of Love/Love Power". In 1994, he performed a duet with Mariah Carey, a cover of "Endless Love", which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1997, he won his third Best Male R&B Vocal Performance Grammy Award for the title track of off his tenth album Your Secret Love.

Luther issued a second greatest hits album in 1997, his last release with Epic Records. He signed with Clive Davis' label J Records and released Luther Vandross in 2001. His next major achievement was Dance with My Father in 2003 which peaked at number one on the Billboard chart and won a Grammy for Best R&B Album. Its title track, earned two Grammy's for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Song of the Year. He also won a Grammy Award that year for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for his duet with Beyoncé Knowles "The Closer I Get to You". On July 1, 2005, Luther Vandross passed away at 54 years old. The cause of death remains unknown, however may be related to his suffering of diabetes and hypertension. A tribute album, So Amazing: An All-Star Tribute to Luther Vandross was released on September 20, 2005 featuring a collection of his best songs performed by major artists Stevie Wonder, Mary J. Blige, Usher, Donna Summer, Alicia Keys, Elton John, Aretha Franklin, Fantasia, Celine Dion, Babyface, Patti Labelle, John Legend, Angie Stone, Wyclef Jean, and Jamie Foxx.