The poem I’m sharing tomorrow with paid subscribers was inspired by Craig Seymour’s excellent biography Luther: The Life and Longing of Luther Vandross. If you’re a fan of Luther and music history, in general, I can’t recommend that book enough. In this voice note, I talk about some of the complicated nuances of Luther’s life and career.
In a way, Luther was an early music stan. He was such a huge fan of the Supremes that when they broke up so Diana could go solo, his grades at school suffered because he was so upset. That’s devotion. Years later, he was so successful that in addition to becoming friends with the likes of Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross and Aretha Franklin (okay, him and Aretha were a bit more like frenemies), he got to work with them regularly. That must have been such a dream come true.
Still though, it breaks my heart that a such a talented artist who was able to sing so passionately about love and romance wasn’t able to come out and live in a way that celebrated his full self. It’s like, with every song, he was giving us a gift that the culture refused to give to him in turn. I’ve always gotten the sense that he felt that because his music was such a hit with straight people, his life itself was a liability that needed to be managed.
My new book ALIVE AT THE END OF THE WORLD, which features the aforementioned poem about Luther Vandross, is available for pre-order now.
But Who Loved Luther Vandross?