Luther Vandross
Not really into morbid-o-blogging but I’m gonna make an exception here.
I’ve just heard the sad news that Luther Vandross has died. In the last couple of years I have discovered what an amazing singer he was - I sought out his early albums after I realised he did so much with Chic, and knowing that I liked some of his famous tracks. Luther was early on in a band with Fonzi Thornton*, performing on Sesame Street (!) at one stage, before Luther went on to meet Bowie when he was investigating RnB music for his change of direction on Young Americans. Bowie actually used a song of Luther’s on that album!
Fonzi and Luther would get together again to add vocals to some of Chic’s best work, and in 1980/1 I think, Luther joined a disco group - Change - and recorded Glow of Love, which has a lovely vocal, totally light and joyous, over a Chic-like riff that Janet Jackson used later. It was then he began his solo career proper with the Never Too Much LP.
That album is a great place to start if you want to hear classic Luther, and is a real album’s worth of soul - the title track is well known, but the whole record hangs together well. My favourite from this era is Forever, For Always For Love, which has a pink hued cover and is kind of the template for the sensitive, high production romatic soul that followed, but has still a bit of the discofunk music that was where Luther had been in the previous few years. You can pick up his albums pretty cheap these days - think the medallion men who bought them to seduce the chicks must be feeling a bit past it (or have updated to David Bedingfield) as I see the LPs in Glasgow charity shops all the time for a quid or so.
His recent album is pretty good too, the duet with Beyonce is actually pretty ace, and is a real achievement considering he had had a stroke just before. Goodbye Luther, you’ll be missed!