Luther: The Life And Longing Of Luther Vandross- Craig Seymour (2014)

philshanklin

Nov 3

Luther Vandross (1951-2005) was one of the greatest song stylists of all time. I bought his 1981 debut album on the strength of his first sublime single "Never Too Much" (still my favourite of his- it took 8 years to reach its UK chart peak of #13. In the US it made #33 on year of release) and an extraordinary version of the Bacharach/David song "A House Is Not A Home" which demonstrated his credentials from the outset and I stuck with him pretty much for his whole career. In the US he had been one of the most successful singers of advertising jingles, over here we'd met him before as featured vocalist on one of 1980's best singles "Searching" by Change which had got to #11. As a backing vocalist we'd been hearing his voice for years on "Young Americans" by David Bowie, the singles of Chic and Sister Sledge, Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand's singing battle "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough), Irene Cara's "Fame"- the list goes on and on. What I realised 18 years after his death at the age of 54 was I knew very little about this man other than his music, his weight gains and losses and rumours regarding his sexuality so I hoped Craig Seymour's 2014 biography would fill in the gaps.

It does, to an extent, but there's so much about this man that we will never find out. Intensely private, with a small group of loyal friends, initially the same schoolfriends who stayed with him throughout various ventures, including backing work for a touring Bowie and a group called Luther and when fame arrived most of the top division of female soul singers- Aretha, Dionne, Patti, Diana, Gladys, Chaka, Cissy and Whitney Houston. Much of his life was spent working, eating and watching TV whilst waiting for a love which never came. Luther, being a singer and writer of love songs which so often featured a search for love or the pitfalls of unrequited passion was often asked for his personal take. He never revealed genders and no-one of either sex has ever come forward to say they were in a relationship with him. Occasionally, he professed to be happy and in love but nobody knows with who. At one point he did tell a friend he was gay (somewhat cryptically) but he also publicly denied it (not surprisingly at a time of media frenzy in the AIDS era which already had seen journalists putting his weight loss down to the disease- at one point it was reported that he had died of AIDS when he was very much alive.

It was complications caused by Diabetes which caused his early demise and it's this body image which is central to the understanding of this complex man. He felt his weight held him back in both career and love life. He lost vast amounts of weight only to put it back on again. This extreme yo-yo dieting ultimately took its toll as he could never address the issues as why food was such an emotional crutch.

Craig Seymour's biography fascinates through its American perspective. Over here we accepted Luther as a major star right from the off. He had a number 1 album 9 years before he achieved that in the US where he was perceived predominantly as an R&B artist, his albums sold over a million copies each to a considerable Black American market and he felt it was difficult for him to cross over to the pop charts in the way he felt he should.

The triumphs and tragedies are meticulously examined by Craig Seymour's thorough and enthralling biography. There's so much I'd forgotten or didn't know and from the extensive bibliography it's clear the author has done his research. As a journalist on Vibe magazine he'd interviewed Vandross and he is quick to acknowledge he could be a prickly character. Ask anyone who worked with him, people who toured with him, Anita Baker and En Vogue had major rucks (En Vogue nicknamed him "Lucifer") and the people he fell out with over the years due to his professional intensity and personal quirks.

Seymour does have a tendency to over-write. He likes flowery adjectives for pithy descriptions. George Michael is "fluffy", Terence Trent D'Arby "screechy", Chaka Khan "erratic", Donna Summer is "the breathy toffee-coloured Venus", Barry White "a thick-set baritone." In a way this feels disparaging but it also made me smile and he does have a turn of phrase which is often funny. On Luther's possible naivety in avoiding the political in his songs in favour of the vagaries of love – "The man who once thought Diana Ross leaving the Supremes was a national crisis still lived in a world where only music mattered."

This work is up there amongst the best of celebrity biographies yet maybe because Luther's consistent message of love in a world of constant upheaval where urban sounds dominate means that this book has not got the attention it deserves. It was first published in 2004 by Harper Collins when Luther was alive. This was a revised edition ten years later which takes in this passing and his legacy which has been independently published and is available as an e-book on Amazon. The author's life seems far removed from his restrained, almost prudish subject. His own memoir is salaciously titled "All I Could Bare: My Life In The Strip Clubs Of Gay Washington" (he found a publisher for this!)

His examination of the life of Luther Vandross, on sheer readability, thoroughness (whilst keeping to the facts) and entertainment value alone merits my top rating (a view shared by an impressive 73% of 682 ratings on Amazon). If Luther Vandross' vocals ever stopped you in your tracks and you wondered about the man behind the voice I urge you to seek this book out.