For those not in the know, legendary R&B crooner, Luther Vandross died last Friday, 1st July at the age of 54, from unknown causes.
Prior to his death, Vandross had been battling diabetes, obesity and hypertension for years before suffering a stroke in 2003. The latter left him wheelchair-bound and since then, he stopped making public appearances. However, this did not stop him from continuing with his successful recording career. As testament to his amazing talent, Vandross won four Grammys last year, including one for Best Song.
Truthfully, I've never really been a fan of Mr Vandross. He belonged to that generation of artistes who were huge in the early eighties but whose popularity waned drastically in the late eighties and nineties, especially here in Asia. Think Roberta Flack, Dionne Warwick, Lionel Richie, James Ingram et al.
It was only after I heard his single, Dance With My Father, which was a bittersweet piece about his dad (like duh, who else rite?), that I begun to take notice of Luther Vandross and his vast body of work. As the narrator in Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events had put so succinctly,
If you have ever lost someone very important to you, then you already know how it feels; and if you haven't, you cannot possibly imagine it.Needless to say, this is a song that is dear to my heart and the only one by Vandross that truly haunts me. And like all individuals who abstain from things that may cause unnecessary dolefulness, I often try not to listen to it lest it makes me think too much about the past. Nonetheless, I've decided to put it up (sung by Tamyra Gray from a scene in Boston Public) for the time being, as an elegy to Vandross and to a Father's Day which passed by with nary a mention on my blog. Also, here's to you, Dad. May you rest in peace.
