luther vandross songs you come into my life

His father was an upholsterer and singer, and his mother was a nurse. He was the fourth child and second son of Mary Ida Vandross and Luther Vandross, Sr.

was born on April 20, 1951, at Bellevue Hospital, in the Kips Bay neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.

2.2 1980s: Change and solo breakthrough.

2.1 1970s: Back-up vocalist and first groups.

He won a total of four Grammy Awards in 2004 including the Grammy Award for Song of the Year for a song recorded not long before his death, ' Dance with My Father'. Duets such as ' The Closer I Get to You' with Beyoncé, ' Endless Love' with Mariah Carey and ' The Best Things in Life Are Free' with Janet Jackson were all hit songs in his career.ĭuring his career, Vandross sold over 40 million records worldwide, having eleven consecutive Platinum albums a record achieved by a R&B artist at the time and received eight Grammy Awards including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance four different times. Many of his songs were covers of original music by other artists such as ' If This World Were Mine' (duet with Cheryl Lynn), ' Since I Lost My Baby', ' Superstar', ' I (Who Have Nothing)' and ' Always and Forever'. His hit songs include ' Never Too Much', ' Here and Now', ' Any Love', ' Power of Love/Love Power', ' I Can Make It Better' and ' For You to Love'. After Vandross left the group, he was signed to Epic Records as a solo artist and released his debut solo album, Never Too Much, in 1981. He later became a lead singer of the group Change, which released its Gold-certified debut album, The Glow of Love, in 1980 on Warner/RFC Records. In addition to his popular work as a solo recording artist, Vandross was also an in-demand background vocalist throughout his career for several artists, including Todd Rundgren, Judy Collins, Chaka Khan, Bette Midler, Diana Ross, David Bowie, Ben E. He is noted for his sweet and soulful vocals. (Ap– July 1, 2005) was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Gerren Keith Gaynor is the Homepage and Opinion Editor at theGrio. A society in which being gay doesn’t feel like a prison sentence or something to hide. While Luther may have lived in the closet, let us honor his legacy by cultivating a better society than the one he knew. Having expectations that prevented him from being out, and proud of the talented and loving man that he was. But it also doesn’t matter much considering the real crime is that Vandross lived his 54 years of life living for others. Should Patti LaBelle have made the decision to confirm Vandross’ sexuality? Maybe not. What we do know is that what kept him in the dark is an industry, and a society, marred by bigotry. Unfortunately we will never know whether or not Luther would have felt empowered enough to come out, as his former J Records boss, Clive Davis, did in 2013. That alone tells us we still have a long way to go. Today, Frank Ocean remains the only openly gay Black man in mainstream R&B. Though, in 2017, we are fortunate to see better LGBTQ depictions in media, there’s still little representation in music, especially in the R&B arena. It’s not clear if Vandross ever did find that fairytale love by the time he passed, but even if he did, it’s a shame that he struggled to simply be who he was out front and center. How ironic that a man made famous for singing love songs on world stages, providing a soundtrack of love for generations, never truly knew love for himself. “I want somebody–who’s not on payroll–to care about where I am.” “It was very painful, unrequited, and alienating–very alienating.” “The response was, ‘Thank you, but I’m not interested,’” he recalled. His first experience of unrequited love occurred when he was just 16. “The time that I’ve spent being in love has never been reciprocated. In the same Vibe interview, Vandross admitted that he had never been in love. Like any Black gay man, closeted or not, Vandross only desired what anyone wanted out of life: love and happiness. Who would’ve wanted to come out in such a nasty climate? Nothing about being out at that time seemed safe or worthwhile. What’s worse, years later, in 2000, there was an erroneous report that he had died from the disease. Not being candid about his sexuality brought an onslaught of rumors that he had contracted AIDS. “I know that I’m paying a price for being so private…and I do wonder if it’s worth it,” he added. “Am I bicoastal? Yeah, I have houses in Beverly Hills and New York.” In a 2001 interview with Vibe, Vandross jokingly responded to the years-long chatter about his sexuality. In fact, it doesn’t appear Vandross ever really cared that people thought he was gay–he was simply unwilling to confirm or deny it. The tragedy is that he had to hide it in the first place. The tragedy is not that LaBelle outed Vandross without his blessing.

Luther vandross songs you come into my life