Luther Vandross Suffers Stroke


LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - R&B singer/songwriter Luther Vandross, known as "The Love Doctor" for sultry, romantic hits like "Here and Now," has suffered a stroke, his record label said on Thursday.

J Records, a unit of Bertelsmann AG (news - web sites), issued a statement saying the New York-born Vandross was undergoing medical treatment after suffering a stroke on Wednesday.

"Vandross is under medical care and his family and friends are hopeful for a speedy recovery," Carmen Romano, Luther Vandross' business manager, said in the statement.

Vandross, a five-time Grammy winner who turns 52 on Sunday, is considered by music critics to be one of the most successful singer/songwriters and producers of R&B music of the 1980s.

His first break in show business was in 1972 when his composition "Everybody Rejoice (A Brand New Day)" was included in the hit Broadway musical "The Wiz." Two years later, David Bowie (news) asked Vandross to arrange and sing backgrounds on his "Young Americans" album, which also included the Vandross song "Fascination."

Vandross also toured with Bette Midler (news) as a back-up vocalist. In 1981, he signed with Sony Corp (news - web sites)'s Epic label and released his debut album, "Never Too Much," which topped the R&B charts and sold two million copies.

Vandross produced several million-unit selling albums throughout the 1980s, including "Busy Body" in 1983 and "The Night I Fell in Love" in 1985.

The gifted tenor finally crossed over into pop success in 1989, when Epic released "The Best of Luther Vandross...The Best of Love," a greatest-hits album containing the new track "Here and Now." That song became Vandross' first Top Ten pop hit and something of a classic wedding ballad.

During an interview with Reuters in 1996, Vandross said he got mad when people referred to him as the "Love Doctor." "I've never once sung about making love. I don't do it. I sing about being in love," he told Reuters. "I want to be remembered as one of the premier singers of our time, not as the 'Love Doctor' or the 'Master of Bedroom Music,"' he said during the interview.

poor lutha...hope he makes it out awright

This is so sad, i hope he recovers real soon.

I hadn't heard anything about this.

Hope all is well.

Too bad, he's a great talent...

Damn, are you serious? I haven't heard anything about this at all. Thinking about it though I guess anything is possible. I have a 39 yeard old year that had a stroke. Poor Luther. God Bless him.

Horrible news about Der Loofah - now I wanna see footage of him as a hot young thing dancing with David Bowie on the Dick Cavett show, back in the Young American days way before he became Luther with a capital "L"...

Anxiety said:

It's on Bowie's 2 DVD set, get it!

I sure wish him a speedy recovery. I wonder if the fact that he's had such frequent huge fluctuations in weight contributed to this stroke?

UnFreakinBelievable! My prayers are with him!

Hope it didn't cause too much damage & he can bounce back somewhat...

This saddens me!

I hope he is alright! My prayers are with him

and his family along with lotsa get well soon

wishes!!

We love ya Luther!!

Luther lost his brother and both his sisters in death already.
He was/is taking care of several nieces and nephews.
He is the only surviving child of his Mom.
My prayers are with the entire family.

My prayers are with him and his family. I hope he recovers real soon. I'm listening to Here and Now right now, what a beautiful song.

I hope he makes a full recovery and I'll say a prayer for him.

Here's more... God Bless Him...

Luther Vandross Suffers Stroke
Thu Apr 17, 8:40 PM ET By Joal Ryan

The "Here and Now" must be especially precious for Luther Vandross, felled by a stroke Wednesday.

"Vandross is under medical care and his family and friends are hopeful for a speedy recovery," Carmen Romano, the singer's business manager, said in a statement.


The three-time Grammy-winning R&B star turns 52 on Sunday.


News of Vandross' attack came from his label, J Records. There was no word on his condition, or details on where he was being treated.


The singer's latest album, Dance With My Father, is due out June 17.


The album is the 15th of Vandross' solo career, and features contributions by Beyoncé Knowles, Queen Latifah and Stevie Wonder, among others.


He was scheduled to perform April 30 in Memphis at grand-opening ceremonies for the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, dedicated to the legendary R&B label Stax Records (home to the likes of Otis Redding (news) and Sam and Dave).


Vandross' health has been the subject of speculation for years due to his very public battles with the bulge. The sultry-voiced, six-foot-three soul man has weighed as much as 340 pounds, as little as 200. In recent years, he's been on the svelte side.


"As a celebrity, rumors start," Vandross told the Website HealthTalk in 2001. "There were rumors that I died. There were rumors that I had AIDS (news - web sites), all because of the weight loss."


According to Vandross, he's just a yo-yo dieter, gaining and losing 120 pounds 14 separate times in his life.


"I don't function in the gray area well," he told HealthTalk. "I'm a black-and-white person. I'm either thin-thin, or I'm WWF heavy."


Vandross also copes with diabetes, a condition he was diagnosed with at age 18.


No amount of health issues, though, thwarted one of the most successful music careers ever. Beginning with his 1981 solo debut, Never Too Much, the New York-born singer-songwriter became R&B's standard-bearer of the smooth love song. In short, long before there was American Idol's Ruben Studdard, there was, and is, Luther Vandross (news).


His greatest hits could (and sometimes do) fill a wedding reception: the title cut from Never Too Much, "Give Me the Reason," "Always and Forever," "Power of Love" and his signature tune, "Here and Now."


Vandross' career dates back to the early 1970s, when as something of a prodigy (he was 20), he composed a song, "Everybody Rejoice (A Brand New Day)," for the Broadway musical The Wiz.


Throughout the 1970s, he apprenticed as a back-up vocalist for the likes of Bette Midler (news), Barbra Streisand (news) and David Bowie (news). Bowie's landmark 1975 album Young Americans even contains a track cowritten by Vandross, "Fascination."


Of his new album, Vandross said in a statement, "I have been reexamining the way I write: I don't want to say anything that was just nifty."

Pulling for Him&also Hoping He gets a Chance to get back to His Signature Style&Sound.Pulling for the Brother.

Very sad news indeed . I hope for a full recovery...