As anyone who ever had the opportunity to work with him will attest, Luther Vandross was a complete craftsman. Luther had that special gift possessed by so few: he could invest real and honest emotion into the songs he sang. Of course, he had some of the best musical ‘teachers’ around. A devoted student by the time his teen years hit, Luther didn’t just listen to the pure magic of voices like those of Aretha Franklin, Patti Labelle and Dionne Warwick, the woman he said first inspired him to want to be a performer after he saw her sing “Anyone Who Had A Heart” at the age of twelve during a Brooklyn Fox show in 1964 – he absorbed, he learned. Within a short time of our first meeting (me, as a scribe for Britain’s “Blues & Soul” magazine; he, as the founder of his own group Luther, recording for Cotillion Records in 1976), one of my fondest memories was sitting in his apartment, playing gin rummy (and me always losing!), eating some Kentucky Fried Chicken (yes, we really did!) and listening intently to Dionne’s classic ‘60s albums. It was the same with the recordings of Aretha, Patti, Baby Washington, his early female favorite groups The Bluebelles, The Shirelles and The Sweet Inspirations (the group whose line-up included Cissy Houston).

Fast forward to the summer of 1981 - you couldn’t turn on New York radio without hearing the familiar sound of “Never Too Much,” an in-the-pocket groove with an unforgettable hook from Luther debut Epic Records release, as ‘The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul,’ Mary J. Blige notes in her preface to the rousing revival of the song. Exercising a level of creative control seldom accorded ‘new’ artists at that time, Luther had worked meticulously on the “Never Too Much” LP and I can still recall the pride he felt after completing “A House Is Not A Home.” When Luther first mentioned he was tackling the Bacharach-David song immortalized by Dionne Warwick, he didn’t know that, millions of record sales and thousands of shows later, his emotionally-moving rendition of a song he had transformed into an opus of loneliness - would be the absolute requirement of any Vandross performance. It would be the moment in every Luther show when the audience would sit, enraptured, invited - if only for one night - into the private world of this equally private entertainer. In commenting on Luther’s impact, super hitmaker Babyface recalled when he was on his first national tour opening for Luther as a member of the group The Deele, “Luther would start a song like “A House Is Not A Home” or “Superstar” and people in the audience would say, “Oh my God!” Luther had that ‘Oh my God!’ factor.”

That ‘factor’ was at work when he produced Aretha’s “Jump To It” album in the spring of ’82, it would be the first of a number of occasions when the two would work together both in the studio and on the road. For Aretha, Luther was more than just an ‘industry’ friend. “His legacy is priceless and I am so glad to say that I knew him and that we loved and appreciated each other and we were REAL friends,” was one of the comments she made reflecting on her participation on this tribute album with an unbelievable performance of “A House Is Not A Home.”

Luther’s love for Aretha’s music was evident when he used a portion of her 1974 Stevie Wonder-penned hit “Until You Come Back To Me” as segue into another song he would turn into a classic, The Carpenters’ “Superstar,” the star cut on his 1983 set “Busy Body.” On this tribute album it’s contemporary superstar Usher who signals his own vocal maturity with a stunningly beautiful rendition of the song. While generations may have separated them, clearly Usher sang in 2005 with the same kind of conviction that Luther had invested in the tune.

Luther’s penchant for romantic lyricism was ever-evident in his song choices: his remodeling of the Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell “If This World Were Mine” with powerhouse vocalist Cheryl Lynn (of “Got To Be Real” fame) for her 1982 “Instant Love” set (one of a handful of albums – along with records with Dionne Warwick and Gregory Hines – that Luther would produce in their entirety) was nothing short of exquisite. No surprise that it’s Alicia Keys who brings her own magical touch to the song for this all-star tribute: “I felt his truth, passion and genuine clarity in every note he sang. It seemed like every song he sang, he meant it for me.”

While Luther may have been drawn to the idealism of romance, he also knew about the down-to-earth everyday realities of relationships. Songs from his very first double-platinum album, 1985’s “The Night I Fell In Love” epitomized his understanding that love had its share of ups, downs, ins and outs. “Till My Baby Comes Home” (heard here via a lively and energetic rendition by Fantasia) reflected a constant Vandross theme of managing a partnership while living a busy life. But oftentimes, as he would reveal in conversations he had with those closest to him, Luther would find himself – in the words of Stevie Wonder, ‘too shy to say’. No surprise then that he would choose to record Wonder’s “Creepin’” (interpreted here by Jamie Foxx) to expose in song his own vulnerability as a man in search of love. One of contemporary music’s most brilliant writers, Brenda Russell put into words a situation that more than a few folks – including Luther – had encountered: “If Only For One Night” (reprised here by Babyface) became another of those ‘must-do’ songs in the Vandross live repertoire.

Remarkably, Luther was able to create songs that showed all sides of love. In 1983, then Arista-head Clive Davis hired him to produce Dionne Warwick’s album “How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye.” While it didn’t achieve the kind of sales everyone had envisioned, one song emerged that would become a Luther standard: the gorgeous “So Amazing” (the all-time favorite Luther composition of Luther’s mother, Mary Ida Vandross) which was given new life by the singer himself on his 1986 “Give Me The Reason” multi-platinum best-selling album and is again powerfully revived by superstar Beyonce and Stevie Wonder for this project.

“Give Me The Reason” also included another Warwick remake, the Bacharach-David standard “Anyone Who Had A Heart.” Given the song’s popularity in Britain back in the ‘60s, it’s fitting that Sir Elton John would choose to offer his take on it, noting, “[Luther] will always be one of the greatest true soul artists and as I knew him personally I hoped that my performance on this track would be a suitable tribute to him. I tried to imagine that he was in the room with me and that we were actually singing the track together.”

In his stride as an artist who had finally gained international recognition and was selling out venues like London’s Wembley Arena for several consecutive nights, Luther’s creativity continued to shine through the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. His 1988 critically-acclaimed “Any Love” album was filled with Vandross compositions with the exception of a revival of Major Harris’ 1975 smash “Love Won’t Let Me Wait,” given a new ‘look’ by current hitmaker John Legend for this star-studded tribute.

After a much-needed break of three years from recording, Luther returned to the studios in 1991 and the release of “The Power Of Love/Love Power” gave him his biggest-ever pop hit. Who better to revive “The Power Of Love” than all-time great dance and pop diva Donna Summer, with whom Luther worked as vocal arranger on Donna’s famed 1979 duet with Barbra Streisand, “No More Tears (Enough Is Enough).” Remembering Luther, Donna says, “His was a unique blend of heart and soul. He never finished a song until he gave 100% of himself to it and he was proud of his work because he knew he had given his best. I learned a lot from him, his amazing tenacity and incredible talent.”

By 1994, Luther’s relationship with Epic Records was drawing to a close. He would record three more albums for the label, one of which was “Songs,” entirely composed of Luther’s interpretation of a spectrum of pop and soul tunes. In among them was Heatwave’s enduring “Always And Forever” which emerged truly ‘Luther-ized,” given that special treatment only he could bring to virtually any material he chose to record. In an interesting turnabout, it’s Wyclef Jean who delivers a completely different take on the song for the label that would become Luther’s finally recording home in 2001.

We were completing our interview for the J Records bio for his then-about to be released album “Dance With My Father” and Luther was insistent that the title track, which he admitted was ‘deeply personal’ had all the makings of a ‘career’ song. The song’s enduring place in the Vandross legacy is clear when listening to superstar Celine Dion’s tender yet powerful take on it. As the singer herself noted, “When I was asked to sing “Dance With My Father,” it got to be hard, very hard for me because I lost my father not too long ago…. Now I know what it means and I can feel the song probably much more now because I can lift every word.”

Each in their own way, the artists on this tribute to Luther bring their unique talent to songs associated with him and Luther would have loved every minute of it. As we’re all moved to dance alone in our living room as Donna Summer lays it out with “The Power Of Love” or left with a haunting melancholy for a time gone by as Patti LaBelle demands my attention with a stirring and stunning rendition of “Here and Now,” we are reminded once again of the beauty and soulful elegance that was Luther Vandross and how he touched and influenced so many with his sound, his style and his boundless creativity.

Always, forever, for love…