Luther Vandross
Luther Ronzoni Vandross ( April 20, 1951 in New York City; † July 1, 2005 in Edison, New Jersey) was an American R & B singer. He sold in the course of his three decades long career of over 25 million albums and won eight Grammy Awards. Among his biggest and best-known successes Never Too Much ( 1981), Stop to Love (1986) Here and Now (1989) Power of Love / Love Power, Do not Want to Be a Fool (1991 ), The Best Things in Life Are Free (1992, with Janet Jackson ) Endless Love (1994, with Mariah Carey ) and Dance with My Father ( 2003).
- 3.1 American Music Awards
- 3.2 Grammy Award
- 3.3 Image Award
Life
Luther Vandross was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, his father was also called Luther, he died in 1959. His mother Mary Ida was a nurse. Luther Vandross began at the age of three years playing the piano.
Vandross began his career in the 1970s as a backing singer for artists such as David Bowie, Roberta Flack, Carly Simon, Donna Summer, Bette Midler and Barbra Streisand.
His breakthrough came as a guest singer of the group Change. Their first hit was Searching. Vandross was represented from 1981 to 1995 almost entirely in the U.S. charts and was in the R & B chart 22 Top Ten hits (including five number 1). In the singles charts, he landed his first top 10 hit in 1990 with Here and Now. His biggest international successes were duets The Best Things in Life Are Free by Janet Jackson and Endless Love with Mariah Carey. His title Dance with My Father was awarded at the Grammy Awards in 2004 as Song of the Year. Many of his hits were created in collaboration with arranger and pianist Nat Adderley junior.
Vandross suffered from a hereditary diabetes. On 16 April 2003 he suffered a stroke, from whose consequences he no longer fully recovered and died on 1 July 2005.