IM Luther Vandross, died July 1, 2005

[SteveMR200]

"I asked him, just before he took sick, 'What are
you trying to do? Why are you working so hard?'"
his mother, Mary Ida Vandross, recalled last year
after the Grammy show. "I warned him, 'You're going
to kill yourself.' He said, 'I want to give them
the best that's in me. I want them to hear it and
see it.'"

[...]

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a friend of Vandross, on
Friday described him as "a boy so mellow, so
powerful; a boy of rare, rare vintage. We lost
Luther very early because of his medical condition,
but his legacy will be a powerful legacy."

[...]

"I think Luther is like Frank Sinatra, in that he's
got this 18-karat gold depression in his voice,"
said author and music historian David Ritz.

"A haunting loneliness. He's an archetypal soul
balladeer. The very top. He had this kind of cry
in his voice which is penetrating.

"Very few people had it. Marvin [Gaye] had it, Sam
Cooke had it," Ritz said.
--Lynell George
_Los Angeles Times_ [July 2, 2005]
"Luther Vandross, 54; 'Soul Balladeer' Sang
With Eloquence and Restraint"

--
Steve