Remembering Luther

When someone brings up Luther Vandross, which of this great singer’s hits enters your mind? “Never Too Much.” Ah, you knew Luther at the beginning, when he was migrating from the Manhattan jingle scene into the pop/R+B world he would dominate for decades. “A House Is Not a Home”? Then you know that Dionne Warwick was an early idol of his, and that he recorded this gorgeous Bacharach/David song as an homage to her.  

“Any Love.” Now we’re in sync. This beautiful song-penned by Luther and the incomparable Marcus Miller and released in 1988-became Luther’s fourth Number One on the Hot Black Singles Chart.  

But if I were forced to choose only one Luther track for my virtual playlist, it would be “Stop to Love.” Released in 1986, it topped the R&B charts and crossed over to the pop charts, peaking at Number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Luther wrote “Stop To Love” with Nat Adderly Jr. Written in the early days of MIDI, when computer related timing issues were still being resolved, this track was programmed by synth whiz Jason Miles, who also contributed his talents to the Vandross/Adderly collaboration, “Give Me The Reason,” released on the same album.

I interviewed Nat several years ago, and he was surprised when I mentioned the difference in feel between the two tracks. Take a listen: “Give Me the Reason” has a more mechanical quantization-less groove, right? Nat told me the production team wasn’t satisfied with the feel on that track and made some technical adjustments that allowed “Stop to Love” to swing more naturally.

Ah, Luther... RIP dude, you had the gift.