Luther vandross was gay
With a velvety voice that could give you goosebumps by hitting just the right note, Luther Vandross is responsible for some of the sexiest songs in modern pop song history.
But the sad actual world is that the tardy, great soul and R&B singer-songwriter spent much of his life alone, waiting to find that particular someone, someone worth singing about.
Though warm and gregarious on stage, Vandross kept his private life very private. It wasn’t until after his untimely passing in 2005, at 54, that folks began to talk more pointedly about the rumors surrounding his sexuality: Was he gay?
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Then in 2017, Vandross’s friend Patti LaBelle acknowledged he was, indeed, gay, but chose to stay closeted out of fear over how it could impact his career.
Her comments, in particular, sparked an outrage over “outing” someone against their will. Sure, Vandross had passed many years prior, but was it really Miss LaBelle’s place to speak on something he was intentionally k
Luther Vandross, Gay Icon?
For most of his career, Luther Vandross cut a puzzling figure. A charming romantic whose songs were so renowned for bringing men and women to the bedroom that he was considered as much aphrodisiac as artist, Vandross, by all accounts, spent much of his life alone. He was surrounded by friends, many of them legendary, but Vandross was open about there being something—someone—missing from the center of it all. He never linked himself to a companion, even for performance, which inevitably led to the kinds of … questions … often posed to a suspiciously single man.
In Luther: Never Too Much, an eye-opening new documentary on the late singer that recently premiered on CNN, archival footage shows interviewers pressing Vandross about his sexuality. He stridently refused to confirm or disallow any rumors about his personal existence, saying that he owed fans only his talent and hard work. However, when viewed from a certain perspective, the film, from director Dawn Porter, steadily suggests that Vandross was the one thing he would never publicly admit to being: a fabulously homosexual man.
To be unmistakable, Porter follows the lead not just of Vandross himself but also that of several
Luther Vandross, one of R&B’s great voices and balladeers, is the subject of the engrossing and revealing new documentary, Luther: Never Too Much. The motion picture premiered at Sundance in January, and 360°Sound screened it as part of our continuing coverage of Toronto’s Steaming Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.
Vandross, who died in 2005 at age 54, sold over 40 million records in a career that spanned over three decades. As a casual fan who owns several of his classic ‘80s albums, I went into the clip knowing a tiny bit about the “Velvet Voice” and came out highly entertained and much more knowledgeable.
Here are five interesting things I learned from Luther: Never Too Much.
Vandross was credited with vocal arrangements on David Bowie’s Young Americans.
I knew that Vandross sang backup on David Bowie’s 1974 Philly soul-inspired album, Young Americans, which spawned the hit title track, as successfully as the widespread follow-up single “Fame.” But I didn’t realize the role he had in arranging the vocal parts.
The documentary contains amazing footage of a skinny, red-haired Bowie chain-smoking in the studio as he works out the vocal parts with Vandross. In
Patti LaBelle opens up about why Luther Vandross never came out
In a city known for its happy hour culture, summer can be an even better hour to take advantage of post-work drink and eat deals. Interns are in town, summer Fridays are in full swing, and patios and rooftops are aplenty. Here are a few prime, non-comprehensive spots for an afternoon deal with besties, colleagues, and new connections.
Alfreda. Dupont’s Alfreda, a tribute to the chef’s grandmother, offers relaxed pizza and traditional Italian eats. The happy hour runs Monday-Friday 4-6 p.m., featuring $8 spritzes and BOGO pizzas. Few do spritzes like the Italians, and Alfreda leans in on five kinds plus one N/A spritz; our go-to is the rose and mezcal with grapefruit or the locally made Don Ciccio limoncello spritz with basil.
Lyle’s. Especially leaning into the spritz side of summer is at Lyle’s, fully embracing the fizzy ephemera of the season with the Summer of Spritz. The Dupont Circle hotel restaurant imagines cocktails from France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Spritzes main attraction limoncello and vinho verde. For those that hit Lyle’s every week during the spritz special—and get a literal stamp on Lyle