Co workers independent of each other, approached me and asked me if I were a Luther Vandross fan. They've also been cranking it in their offices.

Luther Vandross I've always thought of one of the "blackest" singers in that he is adored by all black people and yet he barely registers on white folks radar. Can you think of another act outside of gospel that has close to 100% black recognition and very low white recognition?

Is there something in pop culture zeitgeist that I miss that has white folks discovering Luther Vandross?

Did someone cover one his songs recently or something. Major white act name his as an influence (I am getting a Rolling Stones big up'ing Muddy Waters type of feeling)?


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

but I failed.

So... no comment.

music, let alone casual white listeners.

>Can you think of
>another act outside of gospel that has close to 100% black
>recognition and very low white recognition?



j/k.. sorta

or did he die, and that got released posthumously?
but anyway... he also had a Christmas album that sold a gazillion copies.

white folks know about him, to a degree.





>Co workers independent of each other, approached me and asked
>me if I were a Luther Vandross fan. They've also been
>cranking it in their offices.
>
>Luther Vandross I've always thought of one of the "blackest"
>singers in that he is adored by all black people and yet he
>barely registers on white folks radar. Can you think of
>another act outside of gospel that has close to 100% black
>recognition and very low white recognition?
>
>Is there something in pop culture zeitgeist that I miss that
>has white folks discovering Luther Vandross?
>
>Did someone cover one his songs recently or something. Major
>white act name his as an influence (I am getting a Rolling
>Stones big up'ing Muddy Waters type of feeling)?
>
>
>**********
>"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then
>they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

It seems that Richard Marx recently mentioned in concert that he co-wrote that song with his Vandross and has been reluctant to perform it but has added it to his set on his recent tour. This actually explains one of my co-workers new found interest.

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/15825817-richard-marx-hangsout-at-the-bears-den


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

that was a spooky time because Clive Davis was at the hospital handing him awards and grinning while Luther was on the verge of death. that album went double platinum and that song was a huge hit, though it was a corny weeper and i thought man, what he went through to just cross over?

he was alive while the album was out,however he was in the hospital.

that was my senior year in college.
and i remember that awards show when that happened.

they had him accept it via Skype and he tried to sing to show
he was alright but he sounded fucked up still, you could tell.

that made me sad.

>that was a spooky time because Clive Davis was at the
>hospital handing him awards and grinning while Luther was on
>the verge of death. that album went double platinum and
>that song was a huge hit, though it was a corny weeper and i
>thought man, what he went through to just cross over?
>
>he was alive while the album was out,however he was in the
>hospital.

i mean Clive was in the Hospital handing Luther those awards and it felt so fake and staged. Luther was all drugged up and out of it.

just sad

also Pandora and Spotify. if they were listening to some 80s R&B station (or something similar) they would've come across his stuff.

as for anything RECENT and specific - i'm not aware.

Maze (f. Frankie Beverly)
George Clinton (Parliament/Funkadelic)

those come to mind as acts pretty much famous in Black folks context

i considered Chaka Khan also but wasn't too sure

i dunno how it happened but the band is big w/white college kids.

they've become one of those jam bands that stoners are into. like a black version of Phish or the Grateful Dead. probably in the wake of 80s/90s Hip-Hop samples - particularly Dre's which came along w/all of that weed imagery.

i've seen P-Funk play shows here in Chicago at venues that don't book black acts and would book an act like Phish (when they played smaller venues) or Medeski Martin & Wood. LOL

put on "flashlight" at a predominantly Black event (where there is dancing) and what happens

do the same at a white party...what happens

i will concede that certain college-age whitefolks might be an exception because of the coolness factor (similar to why/how they get into Bob Marley)

I think P-Funk crossed over to the point where enough non-blacks are familiar that appreciating their music isn't an exclusively black thing. Primarily, yes. But not on the level of other acts mentioned in the post.

and it has not stopped.

...not that I would know but my impression based on talking to older, white rock-guys is that EW&F was the funk/soul-band that crossed over then and more to the Toto/Foreigner-type crowds.

The P-funk thing must have happened sometimes in the 80's-early 90's originally because I remember that it was SO easy to find the records cheap in cut-out bins (admittedly, I'm talking sweden here; maybe white americans were different) and then all of a sudden, they were expensive and treated like rock-rarities. My guess is that it initially started with RHCP as well as-for more underground audiences-all the punk-funk act that name-dropped them. The whole "Sun Ra/Lee Perry/cutting-edge/spacey" Wire-reading audience followed when the Funkadelic-albums got reissued in the early 90's and then the Dre/Snoop (and Ice Cube earlier I guess) crossover put it over the top; it's like Hip-Hop beats... but they were jamming!!!

I really don't know though, interesting if someone has some detailed imput on this...

the band didn't cross over in the 70s - it happened in the 90s.

i mean even Automic Dog which back in 82/83 was arugably the 2nd most important R&B hit to MJ's Billie Jean and that was a Mainly a Black thing until Hip Hop took over.

New Jack Swing and Hip Hop got P Funk there long overdue. Digital Underground, De La SOul, Snoop, Dr Dre, and others got on board the Mothership and it took off once the albums got brought back into Print/

however Clinton and Crew were always huge in Black Households, white folks loved We Want the Funk, and Flashlight and some other hits, however it was seen as either too Black or a Novelty.

because the Imagery of P Funk had some folks thinking they were on that Black version of kiss tip which is wrong/

Clinton had a true dream team of musical talent. i mean as far as instrumentalists and versatility go P Funk is the baddest band of Musicians from One Band bar none IMO. however their albums to me were hit and miss.

but if we strickly talking about musicianship then they are the cream of the croup

>i dunno how it happened but the band is big w/white college
>kids.
>


there is a movie about some frat house slackers
and they all go to this concert and George Clinton is there performing.
I've never seen the movie, but a few prior frat boys told me that's when they got up on George Clinton. It's a cult classic, i think.


>they've become one of those jam bands that stoners are into.
>like a black version of Phish or the Grateful Dead. probably
>in the wake of 80s/90s Hip-Hop samples - particularly Dre's
>which came along w/all of that weed imagery.
>
>i've seen P-Funk play shows here in Chicago at venues that
>don't book black acts and would book an act like Phish (when
>they played smaller venues) or Medeski Martin & Wood. LOL
>

"Never Too Much" during the Marvel/Iron Man panel

white folks (popular media, not just comic con nerds) ate that up at the time

and that very successful 'songs' album of covers. all very MOR, but people loved it.

when he got skinny and had the conservative top then he crossed over with hit and miss results.

Luther covered alot of pop songs and know tracks and yet it took dance with my father to truly cross him over because here and now didn't fully do it nor that weak cover of endless love with him and Mariah carey or the best things in life are free with Janet Jackson and BBD.

Luther had the voice and the approach, however it never fully got over. Never too much been sampled and used. also if you got a good pair of ears Justin timberlake's "bring back the night" the opening part on the chorus clearly jacks Never too much.

Richard marx been had been working with Luther since back in 91. the title song to marx's album keep coming back had luther on backgrond vocals.

Luther had a bunch of platinum albums and hits so he wasn't a blank.

Dude played the Vandross track and I thought it was the JT track he was listening to.

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

Leon Sylvers era and I dissagree because I hear Never too much in that song off the word jump.

and i think an older set of ears catches that ASAP as well

Steve Arrington, Bar Kays,

he said he was shocked when he gt the concert
b/c he didn't know they didn't have white fans, somehow.

he said he was the only white guy there.
i would not be surprised if he wasn't exaggerating.

\
>Is there something in pop culture zeitgeist that I miss that
>has white folks discovering Luther Vandross?


There's a new documentary out on David Bowie that features Luther. I actually didn't know that Luther's first big break into the industry came from Bowie. So my guess is they saw the doc which shows them working out vocal arrangements together.

or being on the Apollo. truth is association with ROberta Flack who crossed over big time had arguably a big hand in Luther's solo career. i mean Roberta had a hand in peabo Bryson's solo thing taking off and Donny Hatahway benefited from those duets IMO.

Vandross though got labeled too Black and took for granted, however if you paid close attention to Luther's album making Process the cat remade classic songs, he also was very successful and was a Black Pop cross over mantle to Teddy Pendergrass and don't act like Boyz 11 Men, Mariah Carey, and some other 90's acts didn't read off the Vandross playbook either.

however his sound and vibe was very black though when you cover a House is not a home, superstar and until you come back to me,etc... that is very cross over.

i know Marcus Miller and Nat Adderly Jr kept the music with pop and subtle stank, still Luther wasn't exactly making ZZ Hill R&B records either. he was accessible IMO.

I'd put Luther in the same boat as Mary J. Blige.

They're demi-gods among mainstream black listeners yet only an occasional presence with the white masses. General white listeners know them, sure, but aside from an occasional crossover hit (Power of Love for LV in the early '90s; Family Affair or Be Without You for MJB in the early to mid '00s), they're not on their radar like that.

But they still know who they are.

Now, Frankie Beverly & Maze, on the other hand. VERY FEW whites will know who they are even though they're legends for many Black Americans of various generations.

White out messs he made from the early 90's through 00's. brother man was chasing cross over like TIger Woods chasing a Blonde.

This us the album thst got him into the pop market. The title song was big in a Danny Devito movie.

Check out NEW Soul music at: www.myspace.com/starbeing

Bumpin in the STEREO:
Gladys Knight&The Pips
Janelle Monae-E.L.
George Duke-Feel
E.W.F.-NT&F
La La-Self titled

when we was grinding on chicks in basement parties to Superstar and A House Is Not a Home --- white folks ain't know shit about that.

but he went poppoppop w/ the shit that started getting him grammy nods. he got soundtracks, and bank.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
** i move away from the mic to breathe in

give me the reason had a wink and a nod, however he still was TK Carter not Byron Allen black