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Luther Prefers Not To Be Labeled
08/20/1998 2:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Billy Johnson Jr
The lyrics from Johnny Gill's "My, My, My" are enough to make veteran soul singer Luther Vandross blush. All the talk of putting on a red dress, high heels, sweet perfume and rubbing hot oil over a lover's body is a bit too sexually explicit, Vandross admits via telephone.
The singer who spent time in math class doodling images of the Supremes and the Temptations performing on The Ed Sullivan Show wants to be remembered for his versatility. So instead of giving play-by-play details of lovemaking, Vandross's lyrics offer a sense of mystique. "You know, 'Superstar' is a metaphorical song about the heartbreak of falling in love with someone who you'll never actually be able to connect with, and you can't shake the hope, and after a while you get weak from the whole thing," Vandross says about the song which he performs on his 1989 video Live At Wembley. "That's very different than taking a shower together, and 'you rub oil on my body and I'll rub oil on yours.'"
The singer/ producer/ songwriter makes it clear that his comparison is not meant to discredit the work of Johnny Gill and Barry White; he likes their music. Vandross's songwriting style is simply a reflection of his personality. "It's the way I speak," he explains. "I speak in metaphor. If you get me talking long enough, I will explain myself by way of metaphors and similes. I won't just start explaining [things] in vivid terms."
Elaborating on why he's not quick to settle down with being classified as a balladeer, Vandross says that tag clumps his songwriting style with the aforementioned, more explicit style, ultimately erasing the lines that separate each artist's individuality. Plus, he doesn't want anyone to forget that his foundation in the professional music scene is built upon performing uptempo songs with '70s groups, including Chic and Change.
Still, ballads "If Only For One Night," "If This World Were Mine" and "A House Is Not A Home"--the latter of which originally appeared on Vandross's demo tape--are loved by all. On his newest album, I Know, his first for Virgin Records, most of the songs are romantic descriptions of relationships, but the styles vary from soulful R&B, adult-contemporary, jazz, pop, even some dance and hip-hop. In fact, Virgin is making sure Vandross's music will reach everyone. They're releasing two kick-off singles: the retro, R&B-sounding "Night To Remember" and the more pop-styled title track, which features Vandross's good friend Stevie Wonder playing harmonica.
One song that Vandross is particularly proud of is "I'm Only Human," a jazz-influenced collaboration with Cassandra Wilson and Bob James which is sure to win Vandross additional credibility in the jazz community. Prior to the recording the song, Vandross had not met Wilson, the Grammy-winning jazz artist whose alto pitch is exactly what he had in mind for the song. Wilson, who had not heard the song before meeting with Vandross, immediately grasped a feel for the record and, in less than an hour, was ready to lay down her vocals. "There's something about learning something at 2:30 and being at the mic at 3:30 singing it. That turns me on," Vandross explains. "I love to go to the studio not knowing how something is going [to turn out] and then by the end of the evening, you've got this piece of work that's new to everybody, and everybody can enjoy it."
Vandross might be quick to clarify that he is more than just a balladeer, but he is not in a rush to embark on a career as a jazz vocalist. He knows just how versatile he wants to make his music. "I'm not about to do anything that somebody else does better," he says. "There are people who live and breathe and abide by jazz, and that's who I want to hear jazz from, not from me."
Abandoning his soul base is something Vandross would never do, which is evident in the direction his career has taken. This is why he doesn't understand why some have criticized his music for appealing to pop audiences. "The thing about it is, what appeals to my core audience is the same way that I approach music," explains the singer with 12 platinum and multi-platinum albums to his credit. "I approach music the way that I do, and what appeals to them doesn't change just because the record sells to an additional audience. It's like Garth Brooks may have great success on the pop chart, but everyone knows that his core audience is a country & western audience, and the same thing with me. Everyone knows that my audience is an R&B/ soul music audience, that's where it all starts from, but there's an additional amount of people out there to play for and to be listened to by, and it enhances an artist's general career. When they write those books about the success of artists, I don't understand why it's such a bad thing for a black artist to be among the artists who sold the most in a given year or who had the most success in touring in a giving year or period of time. There's nothing wrong with that."
In fact, Vandross's 1991 Power Of Love tour was his most successful tour, and it was the happiest time of his career, the singer says. That was the first time Vandross felt executives at his former label, Epic Records, made it clear to him that they were willing to go all out to make him as successful as possible.
This is one reason why Vandross is unhappy with the music business's recent lack of support for original artists. In this day and age of remakes and copycat songs, most new artists either sound like those who influenced them or like their chart-topping contemporaries. But Vandross remembers a time when originality was an important part of being an artist. "When I grew up and everybody was new," Vandross reflects, "there was the Temptations and Dionne Warwick and Aretha Franklin and the Staple Singers, and all their talent was so different from each other. It was a very rich, rich soil that the musical plants were growing in. Now if you sound like whoever is popular, you can get a record deal. If you don't, you can't. Let alone, if you look like whoever's popular, you can get a record deal even if you sound like nothing. I think the marketing part of it has taken too much importance in some cases."
Vandross's point is incredibly valid and his promotion of his individuality is important. If he could just convince record label executives and radio station programmers to adopt his philosophy, we might discover new artists who don't leave us with feelings of deja vu.
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