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Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton were present, as were the women who had been so significant in Vandross's career: Dionne Warwick read the obituary, while Patti LaBelle, Cissy Houston and Aretha Franklin all took their turns at the microphone and sang. It quickly became clear that this was no ordinary service. He had no idea just how special - none of us did - but 22 years later, earlier this month, Vandross died at the age of 54, and we can now look back at an extraordinary body of work by a man who is undoubtedly the most influential American male vocalist of the past quarter century.Ī few weeks ago, I lined up for two hours in the driving rain outside Riverside Church in upper Manhattan in order to pay my respects at Vandross's memorial service.
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His sold-out concert was electrifying, and one critic declared that Luther Vandross "represents something very special indeed". His first recordings were not easy to find, but bootlegged tapes of his music were being freely passed from hand to hand.Ī friend dubbed a tape for me and I was hooked, but I had to wait until 1983 when he made his long-awaited debut in Britain to see him live. There was no reckless talk of his replacing the ruling triumvirate of Marvin Gaye, Teddy Pendergrass and Barry White, but he was being spoken of as somebody who perhaps belonged in their company. I n the early 1980s the word on the street was that there was "a new guy" on the music scene.