In 1981, he secured a recording contract with Epic Records which allowed him to independently write and record his own material. Vandross rose to worldwide prominence when he worked as a guest vocalist on the Italian-American post-disco group Change’s 1980 album The Glow of Love. The song peaked at number 1 in Belgium and The Netherlands. In 1972, he contributed “Everybody Rejoice” to the Broadway musical, The Wiz. He also earned reputation as a top vocal arranger and songwriter. Luther Vandross started his musical career singing commercial jingles and background vocals for a number of prominent artists, including Chaka Khan, Diana Ross, Carly Simon, Barbra Streisand, and Donna Summer. In 1970, he dropped out of Western Michigan University to pursue a full-time career in music. Vandross graduated from William Howard Taft High School in 1969. While still in high school, he played in a number of bands and became a member of a theater workshop, Listen My Brother. His sister, Patricia, sang with the doo-wop group The Crests, and she would often take Vandross to the Apollo Theater to see Dionne Warwick and Aretha Franklin perform. His father died of diabetes when he was only eight. Vandross demonstrated musical talent early and taught himself to play the piano by ear at the tender age of three. Vandross has sold more than 25 million records across the world.īorn “Luther Ronzoni Vandross, Jr.” into a poor music-loving family in Manhattan, New York City in 1951, his father was an upholsterer while his mother was a nurse. Probably the most popular R&B artist of the 1980s and ’90s who initially rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Italian American post-disco group Change, he built up a reputation as a consummate stylist and solo artist with his multi-million selling albums and highly acclaimed collaborations with other influential artists. Luther Vandross was American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger and record producer.
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