Lothan said:

Agreed.His sexuality shouldn't even be an issue.Either you like the music or you don't.

SexyBeautifulOne said:

Luther stole his style from Freddie Jackson. Luther is a poor man's freddie Jackson!

jaimestarr79 said:

luther first cropped on the scene in 1976...freddie's first album came out in 1985. next time you wanna make claims n'shit, at least do yer homework first before you put fingers to keyboard.

BSK3478 said:

Freddie Jackson started singing in the White Rock Baptist Church back in 1968. His church would tour the country the early seventies and perform at bible retreats. Luther first seen Freddie perform at the Apollo theater back in 1973. Luther was already doing some studio work at the time. But after seeing Freddie Jackson before Luther started immitating his style.

This thread is a mess.

From the original post to the indictment of the black community.

psychodelicide said:

I heard a song by him called "Nights In Harlem" that was funky. But I don't know what album it was on.

jaimestarr79 said:

jaimestarr79 said:

Is this really true? If so,that is pretty ironic considering luther made it
big before freddie.

vainandy said:

Vain, please inform me about his BB&Q Band connection?

ThePunisher said:

Never heard that song, I need to find it.

jaimestarr79 said:

Bullshit.In fact,Freddie was always considered a second-rate Luther clone.

SoulAlive said:

SoulAlive said:

Well, I personally wouldn't call him second rate. In fact, I think there was something to be said for the fact that his lack of crossover success kept him strictly R&B. I like "Do Me Again" more than any of Luther's '90s material.

jaimestarr79 said:

So in other words,you didn't like Luther because he didn't act gay? Newsflash: there are ALOT of gay people in the world who don't "act gay" (whatver that means,lol).Not everyone chooses to be defined by their sexuality.What was Luther supposed to do....kiss a guy onstage at the BET Awards? Go onstage wearing booty shorts? That's what you wanted him to do?!

The BB&Q Band stuff must be very rare. I remember hearing them a lot in either 1979 or 1980 and they sound very "Luther Vandrossish" except more uptempo and funky, a little discoish.. They sound like they could be the same lady background singers that Luther kept in his own solo work.

The only thing I've been able to find or heard from the group in years is a song called "On The Beat".

BB&Q stands for "Bronx, Brooklyn, & Queens".....I think.

vainandy said:

i think your making this all up or imagined it.

sosgemini said:

The Brooklyn Bronx & Queens Band were a great group back in the day. I just misunderstood Vains post. I thought he was stating that Luther had something to do with the band. But now I see what he was gettin' at. I never thought they had a Luther'ish sound until he just mentioned it, I can kinda see his point. My fav song from the BB&Q Band was I'm Your Genie & Dreamin'

Takin myself outta the damn quote edit
[Edited 7/17/07 8:12am]

nammie said:

per one of vainandy's post he did have something to do with them.

pjh1972 said:

I like that song too, but it is more of a "dance" cut and not a "funk" cut.

I had always heard that Luther either started or produced the group. I can't even remember where I heard it, whether word of mouth, magazine articles, or maybe hearing DJs comments. The group is very blurry to me.....it's been a lot of years.

AlexdeParis said:

I LOVE the "Do Me Again" cd. It is Freddie's best cd...hands down.

Who said freddie Jackson was straight??

All I was saying is that luther was biting his style!

Just because luther got a record contract first, does not mean luther wasn't biting his style. Freddie just has a stronger voice with much more range.

vainandy said:

http://justanotherfunk.bl...-band.html
The Brooklyn, Bronx and Queens band, or B. B. & Q. band as they were called, was a studio concept created 1981 by businessman Jacques Fred Petrus. After the success with Change in 1980 but also with Macho and Pe-ter Jacques band in the late 70s Petrus and his close co-worker, Italian Mauro Malavasi decided to launch a new project named after the three boroughs in NYC that the band "members" came from. One of the key figures was Pee Wee Ford (aka Paris Ford) that was appointed by Petrus to assemble a band. The band was more of an informal nature giving the album a face and loosely kept to-gether under Petrus firm command with his inner core of Italian musicians and hired American musicians and vocalists playing the main role.

The self-titled debut on Capitol produced several catchy melodies of which Malavasi wrote all except one. The biggest hit when it comes to the charts was the hypnotic "On the Beat" that reached the #8 spot on Billboards Black Single chart. Also the majestic "Time for Love" (#72 on Billboards Black Singe chart) mixed an infectious melody with a sensitive vocals by the excellent singer Ike Floyd. After the success Paris Ford left for other engagements and Petrus ap-pointed Kevin Robinson, an ex. Kinky Foxx member to lead the band that from now on had a more band like status.

The successful sound from 1981 lived on and was re-used with a good result on the second release in 1982 "All Night Long" (#32 on Billboard's Black Albums list)including several irresistible melodies like "All night long (she's got the moves I like)" (#32 on Billboard's Club Play Singles list), "Imagination" (#21 on Bill-board's Black Singles list) and "Children of the night" (uncharted).

In 1983 "Six Million Times" hit the market with clear influences from The Time and Prince. Petrus faced serious economical problems in 1983 affecting every-thing around him including "Six Million Times" that was produced with a tiny budget and during five hasty weeks in Bologna. The album didn't become a commercial success either and Capitol dropped the band.

Petrus decided to put B. B. & Q. band aside in 1984 after the miserable 1983 album and put all his efforts and money on the new album by Change. But in 1985 Petrus had fixed a contract with Elekra and B. B. & Q. band was back on track with their last album "Genie", including minor hits like the title track and "Dreamer". Kae Williams that was a former Breakwater member hired by Petrus wrote all (!) tracks and co-produced the LP in conjunction with Petrus. The al-bum also showed examples of Curtis Hairston's brilliant and way to early silenced voice when Petrus invited him to be the lead singer. The album sold rather well, especially in Europe, but not enough and in 1986 B. B. & Q. band disappeared due to the fact that Petrus was murdered. That eventually not only became the end for all his musicial projects but also of the production company he and Malavasi had build together in the mid 70s and that had produced so many god acts.

[quote]

sosgemini said:

Thanks SOS. Since Petrus was involved with Change (which Luther did some early work with), I guess that's where so many people connected Luther with the BB&Q Band. I swear, those girls in the band sound just like the Luther Vandross backup singers. Then again, so do the girls in Change.

sosgemini said:

Kudos SOS, that is an interesting read and a good bit of trivia right there.