Welcome to my Bowie blog. Hope you like it and visit more often!

David Bowie had established himself as a major star by the early 70’s. Somewhat for his music, and somewhat for his bizarre asexual personna. He took glam about as far as it could go.

In the early 70’s Luther Vandross was not really going anywhere. He had the talent, but it takes a lot more than that to be a star. It just wasn’t happening. He took some time off.

Somewhere around 1974 or so, Bowie had disbanded the Spiders, finally completing the break with Mick Ronson, and was looking for a new sound. He happened upon Carlos Alomar. Bowie was trying a new sound in concert, and Alomar was his man for guitars in the studio. Alomar introduced Bowie to Vandross. Vandross wound up not only singing backup, but arranging the backing vocals as well. IMO, that was what made “Young Americans” click (”Ahhhhhhh–lllllllll right! ). The combination of Alomar and Vandross was enough to get Bowie on Soul Train. Which I guess proved to Bowie he was as “soulful” as he would ever get. He ditched the plastic soul sound and went into areas that were much more appropriate for his talents. It was the last collaboration for Bowie and Vandross. It however, was all Vandross needed to kick his career into high gear. For the next 20 years, Vandross would release many excellent cd’s. He would arrange vocals and sing backup for many, many more. He held onto his soul roots long after soul lost it’s coolness due to grunge and other trends. Whereas Bowie changed his skin every other year or so, Vandross was a lot more than skin deep. I admired him. I loved to hear him sing. There are very few people left that could sing soul as it’s supposed to be.

Luther Vandross died yesterday of natural causes. He was way too young.

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