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was Luther Vandross as Important as other Big name R&B Acts??

mistermaxxx

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when you think about Luther Vandross's impact on R&B where does he rank to you with other giants? album wise, Songs and the fact that he was one of the best Cover Artists Ever and put on a tight Live show. where you rank Luther Vandross and how does he stack overall with other R&B Giants past and Present to you? it was interesting that before Marvin Gaye died he said that Luther was his favorite vocalist out at the time and Clive Davis called him the best R&B Singer in the World back in 03. waht does Luther Vandross mean to you from a historic perspective?
 
He ranks in my top 3 all time, timeless classic voice too bad he was too lazy toward the end i hate he didn't leave enough music to carry on in vaults. Lazy as in before he got sick, all Luther wanted to do was covers, he sang too well to limit himself to that.
 
Yeah Luther was just as important as his idols. That's why when he died, a lot of people in the black community felt like their close relative died. It was the same reaction Sam Cooke and Marvin Gaye had when they died.
 
He's hugely important. Guys like Teddy Pendergrass, Al Green, Barry White & Marvin Gaye all had that vibe about them, but Luther was the first man truly known as a "panty-soaker", to put it bluntly.

He's hugely influential. I'm not sure where I'd rank him on a list, but I'd put him in the top ten no doubt.
 
I like Luther when he was singing with other people like Greg Diamond or Change. I wasn't really into his own music. But in the 80s I listened to pop radio mostly, and he wasn't played there really, but Lionel Richie & Billy Ocean was. I didn't listen to R&B radio much at all after around 83, which is when Luther was popular.
 
It took me a long time to really get into his solo work. Many of his songs don't reach out and grab you, but they start to shine after a few listenings, or when you see how consistent his work was. Although I bought "Dance With My Father" on impulse right when it came out and many of the tracks on that DID grab me on first listening, that's actually when I started listening to his older work.

He's also got a few underrated uptempo jams, my favorite is "Nights In Harlem"

 
I really like "Excuse Me Miss", one of his later songs. I started to like some of his songs later on. Luther was kinda mean to other acts, such as Anita Baker (though they made up later) and En Vogue. I remember Luther was on Arsenio Hall and En Vogue happened to be on the same show, and Luther was ignored and didn't look too happy about it. Although it was kinda rude of Arsenio to do that. I think it was on purpose, lol.
 
Yeah, Boy George once wrote about how Luther was mean to him. Kind of weird. He was talking about some story where he was backstage with Diana Ross and they were talking and Luther came in and looked at Boy George like he hated him and started to drag Diana away, like Boy George wasn't good enough to talk to either of em.
 
Superstition said:
He's hugely important. Guys like Teddy Pendergrass, Al Green, Barry White & Marvin Gaye all had that vibe about them, but Luther was the first man truly known as a "panty-soaker", to put it bluntly.

He's hugely influential. I'm not sure where I'd rank him on a list, but I'd put him in the top ten no doubt.
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Although I think Marvin may have been a tad bit higher on the list than Teddy, Al, and Luther, I definitely agree that Luther should be in the top ten somewhere.
 
Absolutely, Positively, without any doubt...I can not say enough about Luther Vandross...

:angel:Knowledge Is Growth
 
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wannabestartinsomthin21 said:
Yeah, Boy George once wrote about how Luther was mean to him. Kind of weird. He was talking about some story where he was backstage with Diana Ross and they were talking and Luther came in and looked at Boy George like he hated him and started to drag Diana away, like Boy George wasn't good enough to talk to either of em.
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I think this was the night in question:



They paired George up with Luther and then Stevie later that night... I am sad to say, but he was out of their league that night. Although that's not a reason for him to be treated badly. I have heard that Luther was a diva a lot of the time.
 
Superstition said:
They paired George up with Luther and then Stevie later that night... I am sad to say, but he was out of their league that night. Although that's not a reason for him to be treated badly. I have heard that Luther was a diva a lot of the time.
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There's always been this rumor about Luther and maybe he didn't want to be seen hanging out with George.
 
Well that's just sad if he didn't want to be "seen" with Boy George. He was probably just jealous that George was prettier then him, lol. Boy George was more stage presentation with the voice then just pure voice, but like you said superstition, that's no reason to treat him bad. He's talented in way's Luthor wasn't.
 
Yeah, I'm not a big fan, but after I saw that performance, I looked at a couple of his own performances (to see if he was actually subpar or if it was just a bad choice to pair him with the R&B stars that night) and he's pretty talented when he's doing his own material. He was just out of his element that night.
 
wannabestartinsomthin21 said:
Well that's just sad if he didn't want to be "seen" with Boy George. He was probably just jealous that George was prettier then him, lol. Boy George was more stage presentation with the voice then just pure voice, but like you said superstition, that's no reason to treat him bad. He's talented in way's Luthor wasn't.
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I'm not sure you understood. I haven't read Boy George's book, so I don't know the background of their meeting with Diana. I didn't say that was definitely a reason, just a possibility. Luther has long been rumored to be in the closet, although he never confirmed or denied it, and would get upset if asked. So maybe there would be gossip if he was to be seen with George. Regardless of that, Luther wasn't known as a really nice person, lol.
 
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Superstition said:
He's hugely important. Guys like Teddy Pendergrass, Al Green, Barry White & Marvin Gaye all had that vibe about them, but Luther was the first man truly known as a "panty-soaker", to put it bluntly.

He's hugely influential. I'm not sure where I'd rank him on a list, but I'd put him in the top ten no doubt.
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Actually Teddy was the ultimate "panty-soaker" because women would fantasize about being with him. Teddy had the ladies only concerts, etc. Women saw Luther as the guy who sang the pretty songs that said what they wanted their man to say to them. Luther went out of his way to reject the sex symbol imagine even saying in various interviews he thought it was disgusting for women to throw their underware at singers, no other male singer ever showed disdain for that the way Luther did. All in all doesn't negate the fact that he was one of the greatest vocalists ever!
 
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