Born in The Bronx in '51, Luther's adherence to the female vocalists of the sixties drew him to the Apollo Theatre at every opportunity, sometimes to watch those on stage, but mostly to indulge in his favourite hobby of diva spotting in the guest boxes. Since he loved Aretha, Dionne and Diana the most, the fact that he subsequently oversaw albums by each of his heroines is undoubtedly a source of enormous pride. In the mid-70's Vandross worked as an adjingle singer, but by '76 he'd formed his own group, Luther, and released two albums for Cotillion. Between the trio's demise and his first solo album in '81, Vandross returned to the session circuit, singing lead and backgrounds for, amongst others, Change, Quincy Jones, Peabo Bryson, Roberta Flack. In the 13 years and 10 albums since, Luther has traversed the board from fashionable, cult-ish soulman to twinkly-jacketed megastar, in all but a few cases justifying his status as the leading mainstream black male vocalist. The 18th of June 2001 meant a new release on a new record label for Luther. Danceclassic.com was sadley informed that Luther Vandross passed away, aged 54, on July 1st 2005 following a stroke two years ago from which he never really recovered.