CNN.com - Luther Vandross dead at 54 - Legendary R&B artist Luther Vandross, whose smooth, silky voice gave soul to songs about life, love and relationships, died Friday. Includes link to previous site with sound files. Over the years, he was awarded five platinum and one double platinum disc, as well as winning 8 Grammy awards. Luther Vandross Official site with profile of the singer who passed away July 1, 2005. Between 19, five albums were released, all selling over a million copies each.
In 1981, Luther released his debut solo album. Reed, and Christine Wiltshire, also called Luther.
In the late 1970's was part of a singing quintet consisting former Shades of Jade members Anthony Hinton and Diane Sumler, Theresa V. He was lead singer of the group Change, which had hits such as "A Lover's Holiday", "Searching" and "The Glow Of Love". He was also a backing singer for Bette Midler, Donna Summer and Carly Simon.
His first big break came in 1975, when he performed as a backing singer on David Bowie's Young Americans album, and received a co-writer credit after his song "Funky Music" was adapted by Bowie to become "Fascination". Luther Vandross was born on the Lower East Side of New York on April 20, 1951. Going In Circles / Love The One You're With X3 - Never Too Much / Give Me The Reason / Power Of Love Nathaniel Adderley, Keyboards - Lisa Fischer, Associated Performer - Ed Walsh, Synthesizer - John "Skip" Anderson, Synthesizer - Cissy Houston, Associated Performer - Myrna Smith-Schilling, Associated Performer - Alfa Anderson, Associated Performer - Michelle Cobbs, Associated Performer - Paulette McWilliams, Associated Performer - Darlene Love, Associated Performer - Cindy Mizelle, Associated Performer - Tawatha Agee, Associated Performer - Brenda White-King, Associated Performer - Pat Joyner, Associated Performer - Tamira C.Playlist: The Very Best Of Luther Vandrossīad Boy/Having A Party / Once You Know How Luther Vandross, Associated Performer, Composer, Lyricist, Main Artist, Producer - Georg Wadenius, Guitar - Marcus Miller, Associated Performer, Composer, Keyboards, Lyricist, Producer, Synthesizer - Doc Powell, Guitar - Teddy Vann, Composer, Lyricist - Paul Jackson Jr., Guitar - Crusher Bennett, Percussion - Paulhino Da Costa, Congas, Percussion - Luther Vandross, Vocal Arranger - Michael White, Percussion - Bashiri Johnson, Percussion - Buddy Williams, Drums - Yogi Horton, Drums - Steve Kroon, Bongos, Congas - Jr. The two-disc compilation features thirty-five tracks from Vandrosss recording catalog. Cohen, Composer, Lyricist - Marsha Burns - Robin Clark - Bill Leonard, Assistant Engineer - Paulette McWilliams - Jay Militscher, Assistant Engineer - Brenda White-King - Neil Perry, Assistant Engineer - Phillip Ingram - Emile Charlap, Arranger - Gus Garces, Assistant Engineer - Dan Jon Chappelle, Orchestrator - Phil Perry - Andy Smith, Assistant Engineer - Jim Gilstrap - Mike Scott, Assistant Engineer - Johnny Britt - David Gleeson, Assistant Engineer - Lynn Davis - Kyle Bess, Assistant Engineer - Alex Brown - Mike Reiter, Assistant Engineer - Cindy Mizelle - CRAIG BROCK, Assistant Engineer - DANN HUFF, Guitar - Chris Ludwinski, Assistant Engineer - Kent Matcke, Assistant Engineer - Dan Shea, Keyboards, Programmer - Dana Jon Chappelle, Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer - Dana Jon Chapelle, Mixing Engineer - Bob Ludwig, Mastering Engineer The Essential Luther Vandross is a greatest hits album by American singer Luther Vandross, released on Main the UK and Jin the US, by Sony Music and Legacy Recordings as part of The Essential Series. McFadden, Composer, Lyricist - Tawatha Agee - Barbara Stout - J. Luther Vandross, Associated Performer, Co-Producer, Main Artist - Walter Afanasieff, Bass, Drum Programmer, Keyboards, Producer - J.