THE JOB INTERVIEW and LUTHER VANDROSS

The Time was now about Late October of 1988, I had a Job Interview with the Local County Council to Work as a Cook in an Old People's Day Centre, about 2 Miles from Home!

I Remember going to the Interview, as Clear as Anything, this is because, there Must have been about 6 People in the Interview Plus Me!

They had the Day Centre Manager and her Deputy, they had the County Council Area Manager and his Deputy, there was the Cook who was Leaving and a Couple of Others, I Thought I was going for a Job as a Brain Surgeon Not a Cook!

One of my Main Worries about going to the Job Interview was, Do I Tell them about my Bankruptcy, that had Just gone through, or Not!  

I had Decided to Tell them, as they would Probably find out anyway, if not now, but Later.

So after I had about an Hours worth of Grilling, I told them what had Happened with my Previous Employment, i.e having my Own Takeaway and Going Bankrupt as a Result of Failure, I didn't Know at the Time, if this went Down Well or Not!

The Previous Cook, who had the Job was on Maternity Leave and had Decided Not to come back to Work, so she was in the Interview, but there was also another Cook who they had Working there on a Temporary Basis, now I Knew this other Cook, she was the Older Sister of one of my Aunts (although I Never got on with this Aunt).

She had given me a bit of Useful Advice on Getting the Job, but when I left the Interview, it seemed my Only Worry about getting the Job was, I was a Male and they had Never had a Male Working there, Apart from 1 Male Van Driver (although he Never Worked inside the Centre, Just on the Vans), Nowadays that would Never Happen with All this Equality and PC Crap!

There was Something else I Learned from the Interview, if I did get the Job, I would Not be your Normal Run of the Mill Cook, I would be Called "Cook-In-Charge" 

I Don't Know who I would have been In Charge of, Because I was the Only Person Working in the Kitchen, and I had to do My Own Washing Up as Well!

So I Left the Interview and was Told, they would Contact me Either Way in a Couple of Days Time, so I went Home and had to Wait while they went through All the Usual Cr@p, what them Sort of Manager's go through!

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Now for Some Music, Back in July of 1981, Luther Vandross Released his Debut Solo Single, which was Taken from his Debut Album to be Released on August 12, 1981, they were Both Entitled "Never Too Much"

The Song was Written and Produced by Luther Vandross and on the "Epic Record Label"

It Features the Great "Marcus Miller" on Bass and Cissy Houston and Tawatha Agee (Mtume) on Backing Vocals!

The Track Reached Number 1 on the US R&B Chart and Number 33 on the US Billboard Hot 100, it also Charted in the UK at Number 13, this Turned out to be his Highest Ever Chart Position in UK for one of his Solo Singles!  

           

                    The "Never Too Much Album" in Full

                                

                    

THE GREATEST SOUL SINGER OF ALL TIME....LUTHER VANDROSS

In this Series of Posts, I will writing about the Artist's who are in My "Greatest Ever Soul Singer of All-Time" Poll. 

The Poll is over to the Right of the Blog, it has been Running for a Couple of Weeks now, so if You haven't already Voted, Please do so!

In these Post's, I will write a few Facts, Figures, Stats and Interesting Stuff on the Artist in Question, I will also include a Playlist of their 20 Greatest Songs.

I will Write a Post on each Artist in Order of "Top to Bottom" of the Poll!


ARTIST NUMBER 1..................LUTHER VANDROSS

Luther Ronzoni Vandross was Born in New York City on the 13th April 1951, He was a Songwriter, Singer & Producer!


During his Career He Sold Over 25 Million Records and Won 8 Grammy Awards.


His Solo Album & Singles Career was as Follows: 14 Studio Albums, 1 Live Album, 1 Christmas Album and 17 Compilation Albums, a Total of 33 Albums  and He Released a Total of 59 Singles!

Of course He was also Featured on Many other Artist's Albums, and Singing Lead with Other Acts including Change and Greg Diamond's Bionic Boogie, He also had a Couple of Early Album Releases in the Late 1970's, under His Own Name, See Album Link at end of Post!

A Brief History of Luther Vandross Follows: 


His Father had Died from Diabetes when he was 8 Years Old, also in later Life LV's Brother and Sister were to Die from the same Illness, this was to Plague LV through his life, He and his family Moved to "The Bronx" when He was 13 Year's old.


In 1969 when He was 18, LV Appeared in a Couple of Episodes of "Sesame Street"


In 1970 He Attended the "Western Michigan University" but after 1 Year He Dropped out to Pursue a Career in Music.


During the Early 70's to Mid 70's LV had Writing Credits on Albums by Several Artist's including Roberta Flack and David Bowie.

By 1974 He was Singing Backing Vocals to David Bowie on His "Young Americans" Tour!


In 1975 Luther Vandross Wrote a Song that was Featured in the Broadway Musical "The Wiz"


During the Mid 70's LV had Sung Backing Vocals to Many of the Top Artist's of the Day including Diana Ross, Roberta Flack, Carly Simon, Chaka Khan, Donna Summer, Barbra Streisand and Chic.


During the late 70's LV Recorded a Couple Albums with a Couple of other Performer's under his own name "Luther" These as Mentioned before are Linked below.

In 1978 LV sung Lead Vocal's on an Album by Greg Diamonds Bionic Boogie, it was Called "Hot Butterfly" this Track is still Played Today, some 32 Year's later!


Then in 1980 Luther Vandross made His Big Breakthrough with the Band "Change"

He was Lead Singer on "Change's" Debut Album "The Glow of Love" which this was a Single Release and Hit as was
the Track "Searching"


But by 1981 after Arguments over Money, LV Left Change, but During that Year He had Signed a Solo Deal with Epic Records and Released His first Solo Album "Never Too Much" by August of '81, it Reached Number 1 on the US R&B Chart and was Certified Double Platinum and the Rest is History!

Checkout Luther Vandross Full Discography and Here!


Luther Vandross Suffered from Diabetes, He also Suffered from Hypertension, He also had a Weight Problems throughout His Life, I Believe He lost over 150 lbs at Least on 6 ocassions in his lifetime!


I can Remember back in the Early 90's seeing LV on the Oprah Winfrey Show, when they Wheeled out a Barrow Full of Lard, which Represented How much Weight He hast Lost, this type of Weight Loss and that amount of Times, could not have been Beneficial to Him!

By 2003 LV had just Finished Recording, what turned out to be His Last Studio Album "Dance With My Father" when on April 16th He Suffered a Massive Stroke, He was in a Coma for 6 Weeks.


He made His only and Final Public Appearance on the "Oprah" Show in 2004, He was Really Bloated and un- recognizable, Check this out, the Sound and Picture are not Great, (but it's not bad) and it's Very Sad!


The Album went on to be His Best Selling Album in the US Selling Over 3 Million Copies there Alone and the Single "Dance With My Father" gave LV his First Number 1 Pop Hit in US!


On the 1st of July 2005 at the Age of 54, Luther Vandross Died of a Heart Attack.


There have been many Theories on his Life and his Lifestyle, but whatever you me or anybody else says or thinks, He was and Still is a Great Soul Singer! 


Checkout and Download some of Luther Vandross Music, including the Earlier Stuff as Mentioned!


A Selection of 20 of The Finest Luther Vandross Track's.