He was a mean gin rummy player and took great pride in having me lose every single game. And we would sit and play cards and I always lost. NATHAN: We used to sit and play cards in his living room on West 56th Street, and I would walk from my apartment to his. GORDON: That's music writer and historian David Nathan. DAVID NATHAN (Music Writer and Historian): The passion, the absolute passion Luther had for singing-like, he loved his voice. GORDON: The more you talk with people who knew Luther, the more you get a sense of his work ethic and his dedication to craftsmanship. VANDROSS: (Singing) My temperature's rising.
I just want to make sure Luther's not going to do it around the same time because I don't want Luther stealing the song from me.' So he absolutely would make a song his own. I can't tell you how many artists contacted me and said, `Look, I'm getting ready to do a cover song. So he had a healthy respect and a healthy disrespect at the same time. If he needed to add a new section at the end of the song so he could really, you know, tell this girl that he needed her to come back home, he had no problem adding that to the song. And what I mean by that is he wasn't afraid to change a song around to make it suit him, you know? If this phrase had to be repeated a couple of times to make-to milk it, he'd do that. MILLER: Well, you know, he had a healthy respect for the classic songs. And he said, `I can forget about that.' What was it about remakes that made this man really steal them and make it his own? GORDON: And I can recall Isaac Hayes saying to me once, `Man, I blew it.' And I said, `What do you mean, Isaac?' He said, `Man, I put "Love Won't Let Me Wait" on my album,' and it was the same time that Luther had done his. VANDROSS: (Singing) And it's because of you that love won't let me wait. GORDON: You and Luther collaborated on some of his biggest hits: "Any Love," "Here and Now," one of the remakes that he did, a favorite of mine, "Love Won't Let Me Wait." VANDROSS: (Singing) Don't you remember you told me you loved me, baby? You said you'd be coming back this way again, baby. So, I mean, you didn't have any other black R&B singers singing Carpenter songs at that time, you know? He sang "Superstar" and he made it his own, you know? He had a sense of what his music should sound like, not just what his voice should sound like, and I think that's what made him special. And, you know, he chose material that suited his taste. He would take you to the highest highs and the lowest lows, and you'd be crying and by the end of it you'd be completely worn out. MILLER: I would watch the audience, man, and watch them go through the range of emotions that he would take them to every time he sang that song. VANDROSS: (Singing) Now I remember spending all my time on a dream that kept me wishing that you could be mine. Miller co-wrote, co-produced and played bass on many of the singer's most celebrated songs, including this one, "Wait for Love." GORDON: Marcus Miller was a major collaborator on what became known as the Vandross sound. MARCUS MILLER (Songwriter, Producer and Musician): It's not just his voice, you know? It's his sense of drama.
VANDROSS: (Singing) And you're gonna get the chance to love me. He was a master of the contemporary love song, a crooner who developed a reputation as the balladeer's balladeer. His trademark was his soulful, sophisticated and unmistakably silky voice. When Vandross died last week, he left an extraordinary musical legacy. Many consider him the greatest R&B singer of our time. GORDON: A memorial service is scheduled in New York City today for the late Luther Vandross. LUTHER VANDROSS (R&B Vocalist): (Singing) I remember not to long ago, I was just a lonely person with a lonely heart.
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