Bowie took Vandross’s “Funky Music (Is A Part Of Me)” and reworked it as his own “Fascination.” Vandross also toured with Bowie as backup vocalist. Carlos Alomar invited Vandross to the recording sessions for Bowie’s “Young Americans” album, and Bowie hired Vandross on the spot. One of the hottest acts in the early 1970s was David Bowie’s androgynous, sci-fi inspired performances. That ambition, coupled with the growing acclaim he was receiving for his gifted voice, began to help Vandross move beyond his shyness and feelings of inadequacy, and gave him enough confidence to keep advancing forward professionally. Friends of Vandross still thought of him as shy, but ambitious. He also composed “Brand New Day” and “Everybody Rejoice” for “The Wiz,” and appeared as a choir member in the movie. In 1972, Luther Vandross founded the first-ever Patti LaBelle fan club, and was featured as a backup singer for Roberta Flack. Nevertheless, Vandross shook it off, and continued to pursue his dream of a career in music. Vandross attended Western Michigan University for a year before dropping out after a white choir director told him he couldn’t sing. Vandross also was a member of a theater workshop, “Listen My Brother Revue,” which released the singles “Only Love Can Make a Better World” and “Listen My Brother.” They appeared in the second and fifth episodes of “Sesame Street” in November of 1969. While there, he formed a group, Shades of Jade, with other participants, and they made four appearances at Harlem’s Apollo Theater in its Amateur Night competition. Vandross attended William Howard Taft High School, and participated in a summer program for gifted high school students at Fordham University called Upward Bound. His sister, Patricia Vandross, sang with the vocal group The Crests, who had a hit in the fifties with “16 Candles.” When Vandross was eight years old, his father died suddenly of diabetes the family moved to the Bronx when he was 13. Smith Houses, a public housing development which is part of the New York City Housing Authority. The younger Vandross was raised on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in the Alfred E. He was the fourth child and second son of Mary Ida Vandross and Luther Vandross, Sr. was born at Bellevue Hospital in the New York City borough of Manhattan.

During his career, Vandross sold more than thirty million albums and won eight Grammy Awards. He was an immensely popular singer-songwriter and record producer. Luther Vandross was born on Ap(to July 1, 2005).

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