Luther Vandross

Luther Vandross (born April 20, 1951 in New York, New York) is an African-American soul singer. He started his singing career in 1980. The first instant hit from him was "Searching." Diabetes runs in his family, according to his mother Mary Vandross. His father Luther Sr. died of complications of diabetes when he was five years old. In 2003, Vandross released the album Dance With My Father in memory of his father. The title track was dedicated to the memory of Luther Vandross, Sr. Vandross has a close musical companion named Marcus Miller. He was inspired by Aretha Franklin. He did many remakes of old songs, such as "Since I Lost My Baby" (originally recorded by The Temptations), "Until You Come Back to Me" (originally recorded by The Carpenters), "Always and Forever" (originally recorded by Heatwave), "Knocks Me Off My Feet" (originally recorded by Stevie Wonder), and "Lovely Day" (originally recorded by Bill Withers). He later inspired his J Records labelmate Ruben Studdard, the American Idol of 2002 who later updated the song "Until You Come Back to Me."