Sadly, it was the last album he’d be able to fully promote. After a somewhat acrimonious departure from his longtime label home Epic Records, Luther regained his footing, creatively and then commercially in 2001 with his self-titled debut for J Records. Luther occasionally tried to adjust his music to appeal to a crossover audience, but more often, he relied on the same old formula, which had already begun to result in diminishing returns.

The second half of Luther’s career is much more inconsistent than the first. His 1989 greatest hits album, The Best of Luther Vandross…The Best of Love, had somewhat unexpectedly turned out a smash hit in “Here and Now.” By early summer, the song had become Luther’s first ever top 10 pop hit, and early the following year, it won Luther the first of his eight Grammys. Luther Vandross accepting one of his eight Grammy Awards.Īs the Nineties dawned, Luther Vandross found himself suddenly more successful than he’d ever been.