Luther Vandross

Genres:	Comedy • Documentaries • Holiday & Seasonal • Holiday & Seasonal • Music Videos & Concerts • Musicals & The Arts • Pop / Rock • R&B / Soul
Descriptive "tags":	soul • rnb • male vocalists • rhythm and blues • pop
Decades Active:	1980s • 1990s • 2000s
Links online:	BBC Music • Facebook • MySpace • Official Homepage • Wikipedia

Biography

Luther Ronzoni Vandross, 20 April 1951, New York City, New York, USA, d. 1 July 2005, Edison, New Jersey, USA. Born into a family immersed in gospel and soul singing, Vandross had already formed his own group while still at school and later worked with the musical theatre workshop, Listen My Brother. This enabled him to perform at Harlem’s Apollo Theatre. After a brief hiatus from the music scene in the 70s, he was invited by an old school friend and workshop colleague, Carlos Alomar, to join him in the studio with David Bowie for the recording of Young Americans. Vandross impressed Bowie enough to be invited to arrange the vocal parts and make a substantial contribution to the backing vocals for the album. By the time Bowie’s US tour was underway, Vandross had also secured the position as opening act. His vocal talent was soon in demand and his session credits with Chaka Khan, Ringo Starr, Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer generated sufficient interest...

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