Franklin took Luther’s ‘demos’ to Larkin Arnold, then in charge of black music at CBS who heard the magic it was hardly surprising since Larkin had been the man who had jump-started the first black music department at Capitol Records, responsible for launching the recording careers of Natalie Cole, Tavares and Maze among others.
Luther was disappointed when I returned without having sealed a deal but he soldiered on regardless, continuing to do jingles and of course, being one of New York’s premier session singers.įinally, a change of management and an introduction to attorney David Franklin via Roberta Flack brought Luther the break he had been seeking. Dave McAleer listened intently, loved the production work on what were essentially master recordings posing as demos on songs such as “Bad Boy” and “You Stopped Loving Me” and his verdict at the time was that they were simply ‘too American’ for the U.K. I can recall playing his music to someone I had known for years who worked at now-long-gone Pye Records. We had talked about the passion and love that us Brits had for soul music and I was hopeful that some foreward-thinking record exec would ‘get’ Luther’s sound. in hopes of getting him a record deal in Britain. In fact, at one stage around the turn of the ‘70s, I took demos Luther had done with me to the U.K. Having success with Change (via “The Glow of Love” and “Searchin’) was great but Luther himself was deal-searching, encouraged by Roberta Flack, with whom he had toured as a background singer: no longer with Atlantic’s Cotillion label, he was ready for a solo career and I still recall vividly conversations with him about possible deals that looked like they would materialize with labels like 20th Century (then home to Barry White) but never did. Luther was always in fine form, making jokes, bring humor to the sessions while displaying an amazing ‘ear’ for harmonies that was clearly one of his greatest gifts. Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards were working diligently on perfecting Chic’s ‘sound’ in preparation for hitting the road, circa early ’78. My good friend Josh Pridgen (a former member of the group The Reflections and a die-hard Aretha Franklin fan, a passion we clearly shared) worked there in the evenings so I’d often stop by to chat about music and stop in to see who was around. 52nd St., four blocks from where Luther and I lived. I got a chance to see Luther in action in the studio around this time: I fondly recall stopping in at Chic rehearsals at a studio on W. As if it were yesterday, I can remember sitting in his living room, listening to old Dionne and Aretha albums, playing cards (gin rummy, which I always always lost!), yes, back then, munching on some Kentucky Fried Chicken! Luther would share with me his dreams of being in the studio with Dionne, Aretha and Diana Ross – and of showing audiences how much he loved to perform by going on the road. We quickly discovered our mutual love for the divas – especially Aretha and Dionne, my longtime favorites and clearly among Luther’s primary musical influences.
Quite naturally, being neighbors, we would run into each other a lot. A year later, it would become a trio and after we discovered we lived in adjoining buildings, one of my fondest memories was seeing the group open for Marvin Gaye at Radio City Music Hall. We were there in publicist Simo Doe’s office at Atlantic Records in the 75 Rockefeller Plaza building, me, Luther, Anthony, Diane, Christine and Theresa – for at the time, the group Luther was a quintet. publication! Not that he hadn’t had any dealings with us Brits: a few years earlier, he had worked with David Bowie and no doubt that association that opened quite a few doors for him. It was for Britain’s “Blues & Soul” magazine and Luther was just enthralled that he was actually being interviewed for a U.K. That was the year we did our very first interview. Someone of my generation, someone with whom I must have spoken dozens of times ever since we discovered we were neighbors on W. But nonetheless, it’s just tough realizing that someone who was a part of my life for almost 30 years is gone. I dealt with that when I first learned that Luther had a stroke in April 2003 just weeks after we spoke for the last time when I was writing his bio for the “Dance To My Father” album. I can’t say that I was completely surprised or shocked. (An edited version of a feature that was originally published on a previous iteration of in 2005). On July 1, the 15th anniversary of the passing of the legendary LUTHER VANDROSS, founder David Nathan shares his personal reflections and reminiscences of the iconic singer/songwriter and producer who he first met in 1976….
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