Through this combination of commercial and backup work, Vandross was earning a more-than-comfortable living from music by the end of the 1970s. During the late 1970s, Vandross ’s anonymous voice was used to sell everything from fried chicken to long-distance telephone service, not mention as a recruiting tool for the U.S. He also became one of Madison Avenue ’s favorite voices for commercial jingles. Among the artists whose recordings his voice appeared on during the next few years were Chaka Khan, Carly Simon, Ringo Starr, the Average White Band, Barbra Streisand, and Donna Summer. Vandross soon became much sought after for singing and arranging work, and was finally able to concentrate on music full-time. Impressed with his voice and ideas, she hired Vandross to sing backup vocals on her next two albums. One of the musicians to whom Bowie introduced Vandross was Bette Midler. Through Bowie, Vandross made many important connections in the music industry, laying the groundwork for his own budding career. ” When the album was finished, Vandross joined the Bowie tour as a backup singer. He also recorded a Vandrosspenned song, “Fascination. Bowie loved the ideas, and he immediately hired Vandross to sing and arrange backup vocals for the album. A childhood friend, guitarist Carlos Alomar, had landed a job backing British singer David Bowie, and he invited Vandross to accompany him to a recording session during the making of Bowie ’s album Young Americans.During the session, Bowie overheard Vandross mentioning some background vocal arrangement suggestions to Alomar. In 1974, Vandross received his first real professional break. Jobs ” while he continued in his pursuit of fame. Selected awards: Two Amerian Music awards, 1992 two Grammy awards, 1992 9 other grammy nominations NAACP Image Award, 1990.Īddresses: Office -do Epic Records, 40 W. 1970s-1981 solo performer and record producer, 1981. Wrote the song “Everybody Rejoice ” for the Broadway musical The Wiz, 1972 toured with David Bowie, 1974 sang and arranged on albums numerous performers, including Chaka Khan, BetteMidler, Average White Band, and Roberta Flack, 1974 - sang commercial jingles, c. Professional singer and songwriter, 1972. Education: Attended Western Michigan University, 1970. In 1972, a song written by Vandross, “Everybody Rejoice, ” was chosen for the Broadway musical The Wiz.Although he received substantial royalties for the composition, the money was not enough to support himself completely, and Vandross continued to work at a variety of ”day At a Glance …īorn Luther Vandross, April 20, 1951, in New York, NY son of Mary Ida (a licensed practical nurse) Vandross. He quit after two miserable semesters, more determined than ever to pursue his dream of becoming a professional singer. His grades plummeted, and he became increasingly certain that his future was in the music industry.Īfter high school, Vandross enrolled at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. As he immersed himself more deeply in music, his interest in school waned. He was part of a crowd that liked to hang out in the school hallways and sing doo-wop. As a senior at William Howard Taft High School, Vandross became obsessed with the girl groups of the Motown label, as well as the gospel-based soul sounds being produced by the likes of Aretha Franklin and Cissy Houston. His sister Pat was a member of a doo-wop group called the Crests, whose song “Sixteen Candles ” was a fairly big hit when it came out.īy the time he was 13, Vandross was the only child still living at home. His first piano lessons came at the age of three. The Vandross family was a musical one, and from an early age, Luther was exposed to the black pop music of the day. Smith housing project in lower Manhattan. His father, an upholsterer, died when Luther was only eight years old, leaving his mother, Mary Ida Vandross, to support the family through her job as a licensed practical nurse. Much of his appeal comes from his emotional approach to music, which is modeled after great female vocalists such as Aretha Franklin and Dionne Warwick, rather than their male counterparts.īorn in New York City in 1951, Vandross was the youngest of four children. Since then, he has produced a string of nearly one dozen platinum albums and has firmly established himself as one of the leading romantic singers of his generation. A throwback to the smooth soul stylings of the 1960s, Vandross has been a fixture on the rhythm and blues charts since his solo recording debut in 1981. Luther Vandross is a vintage Cadillac among banged-up jalopies in the used car lot of current male pop singers.
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