Luther had some occasional ‘moments’ with other divas. His ‘feud’ with Anita Baker was well known and I went to some lengths to detail it in my chapter on her in “The Soulful Divas,“ omitting some information out of my concern for maintaining a relationship with both parties. Of course, I was thrilled that Luther chose to write the foreword for the book but as he wrote, ‘for the record,’ he wanted it known that my ‘version’ of what had happened during their famous “The Heat” tour still differed from his own interpretation of what had gone down. What I didn’t reveal in that chapter was the background to a relationship that had not gotten off to a good start after the two had rehearsed for a duet to be performed at the Grammys: after working on a Marvin Gaye-Tammi Terrell song at Luther’s palatial Beverly Hills mansion, they were ready to go – until Anita, for whatever reason, changed her mind the day before or the day of the show. Even earlier, when the two had first been on a Budweiser show together in ’87, Anita had sung Luther’s “Stop To Love” in her set as she had done for months prior and had not taken it out when on the same bill with Luther. When he found out, he was understandably not happy, thus setting the foundation for a relationship that truly had its share of peaks and valleys. A few years after the famous tour, when Luther was getting ready to record the song “I (Who Have Nothing”), he and Anita had made up and she was due to do it as a duet with him for the 1991 album “The Power Of Love.” For reasons best left unsaid, it didn’t happen and Luther expressed his displeasure to me during a phone conversation, just happy that Martha Wash had stepped in to complete the recording with him. Subsequently, Anita and Luther did get a chance to speak and after his stroke, she reached out to him ensuring that whatever healing was needed between them had taken place.

There were likely others who had their own ‘moments’ with Luther, notably members of the group En Vogue who left a tour with him amidst much turmoil. Luther and I never spoke about what happened with the group and indeed the only recollection I have of a disappointment he shared with me was that, although he had written and produced one song for Diana Ross (the beautiful “It’s Hard For Me To Say” which he personally revived for the 1996 “Your Secret Love” album), he had wanted to do a whole album with his third childhood favorite diva. I can’t recall the specific song but I remember that me in 1992, Luther did work on the backgrounds for a track on one of Diana’s Motown albums and I went to the session to drop off a “Sweet Inspirations” album I had compiled for the Ambassador Soul Classics. It was probably one of two or three times when Luther was actually a little ‘snippy’ with me; he was clearly frustrated that the session was not going well and the singers had to go over one line over and over again. Sensing that our dialogue was a little tense, I chose to leave and my friend Johnny – who had accompanied me to the session – commented on Luther’s attitude. I put it down to his being a perfectionist and his irritation at not getting what he wanted in the studio but I was also well aware that there were times in my conversations with Luther that I did have to ‘maneuver’ since his biggest ‘complaint’ was that I would always take everything he said ’literally’. I can still remember Luther sly berating me with a hint of humor in his voice: ‘David, why do you have to take things SO literally?’ The comment didn’t warrant a response so we’d just move on to the next subject!

- Aretha wasn't getting along w/ him the best when they were in the studio

He got into it with the Debarges as well

He got along with Janet!

I heard about that too. Aretha was always known for getting the first take just right (first take Aretha) when recording a song. That all changed when she worked with Luther, he supposedly didn't like the first take.

midiscover said:

Lawd, what he do to the Debarges an nem?

En Vouge were abit disrespective to him though(calling him 'Lucifer'),,,,and you guys already know about Ms.Baker

Luther worshiped his female singers, thats where he drew his inspiration from,,,,,you guys should've mentioned Dionne Warwick, she was the one who really inspired him to sing.

En Vouge were abit disrespective to him though(calling him 'Lucifer'),,,,and you guys already know about Ms.Baker

Luther worshiped his female singers, thats where he drew his inspiration from,,,,,you guys should've mentioned Dionne Warwick, she was the one who really inspired him to sing.

Anita is nasty? since when?

Mstrustme said:

I heard about that too. Aretha was always known for getting the first take just right (first take Aretha) when recording a song. That all changed when she worked with Luther, he supposedly didn't like the first take.
[Edited 10/10/09 11:14am]

I heard he had issues with Toni Braxton too

What do you mean, the "Sparkle" era?