Top Ten Songs of Luther Vandross
We played Luther’s music for romantic evenings with our significant other, we danced to his songs during our wedding receptions and we marked some of the most special events of our lives, both good and bad, with his voice playing somewhere in the background.
Women with “old school” musical tastes and their younger peers all liked Luther’s music and you could see as many mamas as daughters swoon at the sound of one his songs. My friends and I all have a “Luther” memory, in terms of remembering what we were doing when we hit this song or that one.
We loved his music when he was fat and we loved his music when he was thin. it just didn’t matter as long as he kept singing to us. Vandross was class personified and we knew that, whenever he performed, he was giving us his best.
Born Luther Ronzoni Vandross, Jr. on April 20, 1951, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan,
he started his own singing group while in high school and began college, but dropped out to pursue his career. He earned a handsome income writing and singing commercial jingles, then later sang backup for various music artists such as Chaka Khan, Roberta Flack, Diana Ross and Bette Midler. He quickly earned a reputation for excellence and, after making a couple of recordings that failed to gather momentum, he made a solo album- “Never Too Much”- in 1981 and his popularity took off like a whirlwind, as he drew a devoted base of fans, mostly females, who bought his albums and attended his concerts in droves.
He was nominated a number of times for Grammy Awards and went on to win eight of them
It seemed like nothing could stop Luther Vandross from his further ascent to more fame and hits, until April of 2003, when he suffered a massive stroke. He was never performed again
publicly after that and died on July 1, 2006 at the age of 54-years-old.
This was a tremendous loss to not only his family, but to his fans and to the music industry.
Many of today’s R&B stars were heavily influenced by his mellow vocal style, including Usher, Brandy, Alicia Keys and Brian McKnight.
A tribute album was made after Luther Vandross’s death, with several R&B stars performing his most well-known hits. A “Greatest Hits” album, with recordings by him of his most loved songs, was released posthumously.
I still have all of my Luther albums,some still on the old vinyl records they used to make and others on CD, and I plan to keep them forever. Listening to his songs reminds me of my younger years, old friends and certain experiences that, like Luther, can never be replaced.
I have listed here the songs I feel are worthy of being his Top Ten.
Any Love
Give Me the Reason
Here and Now
A House Is Not a Home
Never Too Much
Stop To Love
Superstar
There’s Nothing Better Than Love
‘Til My Baby Comes Home
Your Secret Love
Nobody will ever be able to match the unique quality of that voice, although some may try to.
What really stood out about Luther was not just his music, but his elegance, the way his carried himself.
His death was a great tragedy, but the consolation we have is that he left us with lots of great music to keep him always fresh and alive in our hearts and minds.
Luther was truly a “classic” and I miss him.
