July 1, 2005: Luther Vandross dies
It was a day that music fans around the world hoped against hope would not happen. Though the legendary vocalist Luther Vandross had suffered a stroke on April 16, 2003, there was great hope that his slow recovery would continue, and that he might even sing again. But those hopes faded on July 1, 2005, when it was announced that Luther had died.
Luther Vandross was the voice of a generation of adult soul music artists, scoring dozens of hits and providing breathtaking interpretations of the past hits of others. First achieving fame as a studio backup singer and a part of the group Change, Vandross became a solo star with his now historic solo debut album, which featured the smash “Never Too Much,” and a breathtaking 7 minute cover version of Dionne Warwick’s “A House Is Not A Home” that announced to the world that a new star had arrived.
Vandross became a consistent hitmaker for more than two decades, selling over 40 million records and topping the charts with such smashes as “Here And Now,” “Power of Love,” and “Dance With My Father,” and creating seminal covers of such all-time classics as “Since I Lost My Baby,” “Always and Forever,” and “If This World Were Mine” (with Cheryl Lynn). He also helped the careers of other vocalists, producing such stars as Warwick, Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross. Luther Vandross remained at the top of his game until has tragic stroke and death in 2005.
When looking back at the emergence of adult soul music in the 1980s, there is simply no star who played a bigger role. We miss him to this day.
