Luther Vandross Discussion

[busyboy]

Luther Vandross Rare Duets Released in Box Set

by Maxine Green

Another record post Luther Vandross' death will be released later this year. After 2006's 'The Ultimate Luther Vandross', a box set containing four-CD collection of his greatest hits, rare recordings and unreleased tracks will be dropped in October.

Among collaborators in the record called 'Love, Luther' are Frank Sinatra, Dionne Warwick, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson and Beyonce Knowles. The duets with Sinatra and Knowles are those that have never been released before.

In 2005 Vandross died of unknown reason following his stroke two years prior. His legacy has been continued through tributes by his fellow artists. Two months after his death in July musicians like Stevie Wonder, Mary J. Blige, Usher, Elton John, Celine Dion, Babyface, John Legend and Aretha Franklin recorded 'So Amazing: An All-Star Tribute to Luther Vandross'. Aretha in particular won a Grammy for her cover of 'A House is Not a Home'.

[No Passengers On Her Plane!]

so it's not "The Closer I get 2 u"?

[rdh: THE YONKAZ!]

I heard it was an unreleased duet, but we'll see.

[Player211]

^ Great pic YONKAZ.

[No Passengers On Her Plane!]

rdh said:

I heard it was an unreleased duet, but we'll see.

hopefully..the more bee songs..the better

[Player211]

^ I hear that.

[syrus]

Aretha didn't deserve that Grammy for her horrible remake of AHINAH.

[busyboy]

Rare Cuts Bolster Four-Disc Vandross Box

Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

A handful of rare and previously unreleased tracks will be included on the four-disc Luther Vandross boxed set, "Love, Luther," due Oct. 16 via Epic/J/Legacy. They include 1981 demos for "Ready for Love" and "If You Can't Dance" and versions of "There's Only You," "So Amazing" and "Anyone Who Had a Heart" recorded during a rehearsal at a Montserrat studio in June 1986.

"There's Only You" will be worked as a single to Urban AC and Smooth Jazz radio in the coming weeks. It will be the first new Vandross single since his death after complications from a stroke in 2005.

The box, which runs roughly in chronological order, begins with such early hits as "Never Too Much," "If the World Were Mine" and a blend of his own "Bad Boy" with Sam Cooke's "Havin' a Party." Disc two sports such R&B chart-toppers as "Stop To Love," the Gregory Hines duet "There's Nothing Better Than Love" and Vandross' signature song, "Here and Now."

Disc three features some pre-fame appearances with the groups Luther and Charme, plus '90s-era hits like the Mariah Carey duet "Endless Love," "Power of Love/Love Power" and "Don't Want To Be a Fool." The last disc rounds up some live cuts, a pairing with Frank Sinatra on "The Lady Is a Tramp" from the latter's 1993 album "Duets" and Vandross' last big R&B hit, 2001's "Take You Out."

Rounding out the box are extensive liner notes from writer Ernest Hardy.

[busyboy]

Disc 1

1. Ready For Love (Previously unreleased demo)
2. If You Can't Dance (Previously unreleased demo)
3. Meet Luther Vandross (Promotional single introducing LV to radio programmers)
4. The Glow Of Love (Performed by Change)
5. Never Too Much (Extended version)
6. Don't You Know That?
7. A House Is Not A Home
8. Bad Boy/Having A Party
9. Since I Lost My Baby
10. She Loves Me Back
11. Who's Gonna Make It Easier For Me (Duet with Delores Hall)
12. If This World Were Mine (Duet with Cheryl Lynn)
13. How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye (Duet with Dionne Warwick)
14. Superstar/Until You Come Back To Me (That s What I m Gonna Do) (Album mix)

Disc 2

1. If Only For One Night
2. Creepin'
3. Wait For Love
4. 'Til My Baby Comes Home
5. It's Over Now
6. The Night I Fell In Love - The Montserrat Sessions (Intimate rehearsal recordings/previously unreleased)
7. There's Only You
8. Anyone Who Had A Heart
9. So Amazing
10. Give Me The Reason
11. Stop To Love
12. There's Nothing Better Than Love (Duet with Gregory Hines)
13. So Amazing
14. For You To Love
15. Here And Now

Disc 3

1. Love The One You're With
2. Funky Music (Is A Part Of Me) (Performed by the group Luther)
3. Georgy Porgy (Performed by Charme)
4. Power Of Love/Love Power
5. Don't Want To Be A Fool
6. I Want The Night To Stay
7. Endless Love (Duet with Mariah Carey)
8. Any Love
9. Knocks Me Off My Feet
10. Your Secret Love
11. Never Let Me Go
12. Can Heaven Wait
13. The Closer I Get To You (Duet with Beyoncé)

Disc 4

1. Isn't There Someone
2. Dance With My Father
3. Take You Out
4. I'd Rather
5. Buy Me A Rose
6. Shine
7. Got You Home
8. Jump To It (Performed by Aretha Franklin)
9. Hot Butterfly (Performed by Gregg Diamond Bionic Boogie)
10. Searching (Live at Wembley Arena, London)
11. Always And Forever (Live at The Royal Albert Hall, London)
12. Medley: Windows Of The World/What The World Needs Now (Live at Hammerstein Ballroom, New York)
13. The Lady Is A Tramp (Duet with Frank Sinatra)
14. A House Is Not A Home (Live at Radio City Music Hall,New York/alternate mix/previously unreleased)

[marcjm]

This seems interesting. I would get it, but I've bought so many of the CDs they have released posthumously.

[No Passengers On Her Plane!]

where is the new beyoncé duet?
ugh

[areyoureadytojump]

Out today in the USA!!

Circuit City: $32.99

It's 4 cds.

[areyoureadytojump]

MTV.com:

...and the late Luther Vandross' four-disc box set, Love Luther, opens at #191 on the Billboard 200, selling 4,000 copies.

[busyboy]

Love Songs, a compilation released in the UK for Valentine's Day, jumps 27-4 on the album chart there.

[allow that]

Berlin-based tech house God Paul Kalkbrenner has a track on his new album that heavily samples "Never Too Much." It works really well imo!

[Deleted]

Just reached ten years since he passed. I miss him. One of my all time favorite male vocalists.

I have no doubt he'd still be a huge force at Urban AC if he were alive today. A true R&B legend.

[Hurricane Lee]

Aug 14, 2015 12:26:38 GMT -5 @jazzysoul47 said:

Just reached ten years since he passed. I miss him. One of my all time favorite male vocalists.

I have no doubt he'd still be a huge force at Urban AC if he were alive today. A true R&B legend.

Agreed. I grew up listening to his music and was always mesmerized by his voice. It was perfect. I downloaded Wait For Love a few months ago because I realize I didn't have that song and something was missing from my life. I read a biography about him recently. It was a fascinated read but it definitely painted him out to be a complete diva.

[Zinc.]

One of my favorite R&B male voices ever. Superstar/Until You Come Back to Me is my favorite song by him.

[Rican@]

He is my favorite male vocalist. I miss him so much too. I remembered listening to him under my bed at night (I was afraid of the dark) on the radio as "quiet storm" would play his songs back to back.

[tamed09]

To me, the most complete male vocalist of all time in r&b. The range,the riffffssssss,the tone, the charisma, the I don't have to take my shirt off but you gon get wet, the songwriting...he had it all

[Deleted]

New mix (produced by Louie Vega) of an unreleased song from 1979 titled "My Body" coming April 13.

fandross.com/?fbclid=IwAR2eBLS9_v8D5czOhuYTASd85W7sKBPo1IIYevrX5x4DQQdvo979JnHigg4

[Edith Puthie]

Rolling Stone's 500 Best Albums of All Time (2020)

[George]

I’ve been watching Greenleaf on Netflix and Lamman Rucker makes me think he’d do great for a Vandross biopic.

[🇯🇲 lucy88 🇯🇲]

[Deleted]

[areyoureadytojump]

www.billboard.com/articles/news/9559355/luther-vandross-google-doodle/

Luther Vandross' 70th Birthday Saluted with Google Doodle Animated Video, New RIAA Certifications
By Gail Mitchell
4/20/2021

In celebration of what would have been R&B mastermind Luther Vandross’ 70th birthday today (April 20), Sony Music Entertainment’s catalog division Legacy Recordings reveals new RIAA certifications for four of his most memorable singles.

The quartet includes "Dance with My Father" (platinum), "Here and Now" (platinum), "Endless Love" (platinum) and "A House Is Not a Home" (gold).

In addition, Never Too Much — the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter-producer’s 1981 Epic Records solo album debut — turns 40 this year. In honor of that anniversary, the video for the album’s title track and Vandross’ first solo hit (No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs; No. 33 on the Hot 100) — has been upgraded to an HD version that's now available.


“Never Too Much” also doubles as the soundtrack for an animated Google Doodle as the site's contribution to today’s celebration.

Acknowledging Google’s salute, the Luther Vandross Estate commented, “It is a true reflection of Luther Vandross' musical legacy around the world to be honored by Google with an animated Doodle that fittingly captures the joy Luther has brought the world. Luther made each of his songs about one simple, universal subject — love; an emotion and feeling common to the human experience no matter who you are, where you're from or what you look like. No one else has expressed this emotion in song to the level Luther did for over 35 years, and to have Google broadcast that around the world is a wonderful showcase of his immeasurable talent.”

Peaking at No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and No. 19 on the Billboard 200, Never Too Much also includes a cover of the Burt Bacharach and Hal David composition “A House Is Not a Home.” Originally recorded by Dionne Warwick in 1964, the newly minted RIAA gold single is the aforementioned album’s only song not written by Vandross whose seven-minute version of the song became one of his all-time classics. Setting the stage for Vandross’ velvety, elegant tenor and subsequent stardom, Never Too Much earned the singer his first two Grammy Award nominations: best new artist and best male R&B vocal performance.

Of the three newly platinum-certified singles, 1989’s “Here and Now” gave Vandross his first Grammy for best male R&B vocal performance. Prior to that, the track became the singer’s fifth No. 1 R&B single and first top 10 hit (No. 6) on the Hot 100. That was followed in 1994 by another signature cover: his duet with Mariah Carey on “Endless Love.” Initially made famous by its writer Lionel Richie and Diana Ross in 1991, the Vandross/Carey reinterpretation reached No. 2 on the Hot 100. Certified gold in October 1994, “Endless Love” was nominated for a Grammy the next year in the newly-created category best pop collaboration with vocals.

In remembrance of the singer’s late dad, “Dance with My Father” is the title track from Vandross’ 2003 final studio album. The singer’s first and only album to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, it also became his eighth No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Co-written with Richard Marx, “Dance with My Father” won Grammys for song of the year and best male R&B vocal performance in 2004 before being certified gold the following year.

Vandross passed away at the age of 54 on July 1, 2005.

[areyoureadytojump]

RIAA.com:

MARIAH CAREY & LUTHER VANDROSS
Title: ENDLESS LOVE
Certification Date: April 20, 2021
Label: COLUMBIA
Format: SINGLE
Platinum

LUTHER VANDROSS
Title: DANCE WITH MY FATHER
Certification Date: April 20, 2021
Label: J RECORDS
Format: SINGLE
Platinum

LUTHER VANDROSS
Title: HERE AND NOW
Certification Date: April 20, 2021
Label: EPIC
Format: SINGLE
Platinum

LUTHER VANDROSS
Title: A HOUSE IS NOT A HOME
Certification Date: April 20, 2021
Label: EPIC
Format: SINGLE
Gold

[🇯🇲 lucy88 🇯🇲]

[jenglisbe]

I'm reading the biography Craig Seymour wrote about Luther Vandross, and I had no real idea of how much Luther did before his solo career. I mean, I knew about things like "The Glow of Love" and some work for Chaka Khan, but I had no idea he was involved with "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)," David Bowie, Bette Midler, Cher, Sesame Street!!!, and too many commercial jingles to name:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jocaPgxC6d8

[Hurricane Lee]

Imagine not knowing that was Luther on Young Americans!