| Goodbye Luther
| | Amr Gamal explains why R&B will never be the same again | |
by Amr Gamal | |
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| Last July, the world said its last goodbyes to perhaps the greatest R&B singer to ever grace a stage, a man whose voice could convey all emotions, whether it be love, pain, hope or longing, allowing anyone listening to identify with him in some way. Luther Vandross, 54, passed away after undergoing intensive therapy to recover from a 2003 stroke. |
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| During his 20-year career, the legendary singer sold more than 25 million albums worldwide and won five Grammy awards. But success was not simply handed to him. The youngest of four children, Vandross grew up in poor surroundings in New York's Lower East Side. He began delving deep into music in high school, when he and friends formed a band. Building himself up from nothing, he made a name for himself as the voice behind jingles for commercials, as well as a backup singer for artists such as David Bowie and Barbra Streisand. |
| In 1981, Vandross broke into the scene with the extraordinary debut song "Never Too Much." In the '80s, he wrote, arranged, produced and sang a series of platinum albums: Forever, For Always, For Love, (1982) Busy Body (1983), The Night I Fell in Love (1985), Give Me the Reason (1986) and Any Love (1988). In 1989, he had a top 10 song in "Here and Now," included in the greatest-hits album The Best of Luther Vandross ... The Best of Love. He was also heavily involved in collaborations, working with singers such as Janet Jackson, Gregory Hines and Mariah Carey. |
| Throughout his career, unlike so many other R&B singers and rappers, Vandross chose to express his emotions without the use of a sexually explicit language. He was very much into poetry and chose to express feelings in a subtle way, with a talent that made him one of the main figures in romantic music. His silky smooth voice became known around the world, as did his musical style. |
| After suffering the debilitating stroke in 2003, Vandross rarely made public appearances, but he incredibly continued working in the studio, and in 2004 blew fans away with his single "Dance With My Father," which got him a best song Grammy award. The album itself, Dance With My Father, rocketed into the Billboard charts at number one. And in 2005, Vandross was yet again nominated, this time for a Soul Train Award for a duet he sang with Beyonce. |
| Vandross's influence and mastery was more evident than ever at his funeral, where Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Patti Labelle, Cissy Houston, Jeffrey Osborne, Usher and many more chart toppers attended and paid their respects, showing the world how much the legendary singer meant to each and every one of them. As Vandross would no doubt have wanted, his funeral was a musical farewell. Franklin offered "Amazing Grace," while the song "The Power of Love," was joined in by many of the artists present, coming in one by one to lend their voices to it. Along his last walk toward the church, more than 3,000 fans attended, paying their last respects to a truly great musician. |
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