“Luther: Never Too Much,” though fitting securely into the category of R&B singer Luther Vandross self-portraits, delivers far more than the usual biographical content of a music star’s rise and fall. The filmmaker shows both the manufactured side of the music industry and one which we assume is self evident by now but would have been hard to comprehend at the time that image marketing was paramount to all others, and the singer’s output was secondary. Still, in the 21st century, it is fascinating to watch Vandross’s interview and performance archival video from almost 40 years ago, listening to him recounting recurrent themes in retrospective talks when he had constant collaborators and confidantes.
Among the many audience members, white people in particular, were really the ones who had a lot to learn about him a fact one suggests much to genre segregation during the days of radio and discrimination against black singers who were not skinny or fair skinned enough to appeal to pop audiences. However, he started his career in early childhood and quickly reached adulthood with a broad talent that was restricted only later: He performed on Sesame Street, appeared on David Bowie’s Young Americans album, and produced commercials for Miller High Life and Juicy Fruit gum.
Simply referring to himself as one of the first “real singers” to come out of disco, It was this orientation that led him to write, arrange, and produce songs for singers that inspired him, including Dionne Warwick, Barbra Streisand, and Aretha Franklin, until he became a soloist in 1980. (And even those who know a good deal about the journey of a singer will be left spellbound with wonder as to how wide Vandross’ footprint was and what all artists he worked with.)
Across the board, the documentary features not only Vandross’s supple and muscular versatile voice or his years long dominance of songs and hits such as the 80’s song Never Too Much but also ensures a growth of listening to Eisenberg’s work in the future. What does, however, stand out more as time goes on and the storyline of his life unfolds, is the extensive emphasis in the media on Vandross’ weight and the outrageous ‘causes’ for its changes, that include speculations around his sexuality. For all the media has known even as to some of its extent, it has performed some lessons regarding respect on public figures (and indeed health, body image). However, such facts are commonly discerned in Porter’s movie, that because of the surrounding world’s ideas, there was ferocious need for silence over what they were about to witness.
You can feel the pain of former personal assistant Max Zedek as he reminisces about how he came to understand that “Any Love” is the song which for Vandross was most personal to him, but, in fact, exposes the deep longing of the singer for someone special. The picture handles in a calm way his often discussed but less analyzed sexual orientation which is definitely one of the bombshells the audience would want to hear about as well as the reminiscences of those who worked with him, such as Valerie Simpson and bass player Marcus Miller focused mainly on the essay, Richard Marx directional collaboration managed to escape scandalous conclusions, but outraged more delicate ones.
That this addiction helped launch his popular moniker ‘Dr. Love’ as he was affectionate by a multitude of admirers for his special skills of turning people ‘on’ himself seems to be somewhat ironical that with so many warm friends and partners around him, and all of them adored him, he never got the chance to express the type of love that he himself wanted, and even pursued, and more, was able to achieve.
Luther Vandross’s relentless ambition as an entertainer has also been a recoiling point in his career progress owing to the music industry’s push and pull. At a time when Black communities looked down on ‘crossing over’ and pop charts were entirely white dominated, Vandross boldly and continuously sought to create a break out single strong enough to position him along superstars such as Michael Jackson and Prince. As a result, it took him the nine tries to earn his first Grammy, being 30 years into the career before he finally got the chance to work with Clive Davis at J Records that allowed him to leave the stereotypical image that was placed on him of being an R&B singer, as well as five more to record a Billboard No. 1 pop single (“Dance With My Father”).
In this regard, Porter masterfully draws attention to the amount of material he left out, and provides enough such portions that her film is both, a documentary about the person and an anthology of different songs a summary and a teaser to go and research more about him. Unfortunately, Vandross was one of far too many iconic soul musicians that had to leave the world at an age that’s considered too early, including Otis Redding, Donny Hathaway, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye and Teddy Pendergrass. All died for different reasons however their bright passions and singular niches were always impactful and noticeable, which this documentary also proves as Vandross’s legacy is certainly comparable to theirs irrespective of his career being closer to what we called the contemporary era of R&B. He not only foretold the romantic and sexual desire of New Jack Swing and its successive musical offshoots, he also explored the aforementioned scale climbing on the microphone that allowed Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Beyonce to go on and champion their full range on the pop charts.
The journey into his music began with watching how Aretha Franklin performed on stage. It is emphasized that A. Franklin had a natural beauty even when she was performing which makes her audience awe over her. This explains the parallel objects that Franklins style shares with his own. Christ “Never Too Much” may be interpreted as Vandross’s effort onto efforts, in this particular case being the trimming back of his incredible talent, making it appear completely natural and effortless. There are quite a number including the notion that it was the cultural currents in society that prevented him achieving what he wanted as fast as he wished to. Nevertheless, the one that may ring round into the heads of the audience will be how clarion the title of the documentary is, as Jewel Roberts narratively tells his piece: You can’t stop listening after you hear the phenomenal voice sing.
For more movies like Luther: Never Too Much on 123Movies.