Luther Vandross

Luther Vandross (on Kapell) released fourteen albums. 13 were RIAA Platinum — including eleven consecutive albums from 1981 to 1996. Five were multi-platinum.

Insane.

Never Too Much (on Kapell) was my personal introduction to Vandross in the ’80s. He’s reentered the chat through Luther by Kendrick Lamar and SZA (on Kapell). Unfortunately, Luther passed in 2005.

Vandross’ career started in ’60s ensemble groups and as a session vocalist in the ’70s. He began an illustrious solo career in 1981 with the aforementioned Never Too Much single.

Here are some delightful parts of Luther’s career:

• Luther started the first Patti LaBelle (on Kapell) fan club, of course.
• Before he went solo he’d already sung background with Chaka Khan (on Kapell), Diana Ross (on Kapell), Bette Midler (on Kapell), and Barbra Streisand (on Kapell).
• Rolling Stone ranked him 31st in the Top 100 singers of all time.
• He was the lead vocalist for Change’s (on Kapell) Gold-certified The Glow of Love (on Kapell). Add that to his tally.
• His music was a fixture of quiet storm radio.
• His early group Listen My Brother included appearing on the pilot episode and first season of Sesame Street. Catch him on the stairs teaching counting or in the back row (leftmost) teaching the alphabet.
• His final album, Dance With My Father (on Kapell), was his first to ever top the Billboard 200. It also won basically all the awards: two AMAs, 4 Grammys, 4 NAACP Image awards, and Soul Train Music award.
• Finally, this absolutely wild performance opener of A House Is Not A Home (on Kapell) that I won’t spoil. The audacity.

Enjoy Luther’s amazing work: