Bringing to life the story of singer Luther Vandross, “Luther Never Too Much” takes us through Luther’s life as it touches on many topics related to race, class, fame, and the music-making process. The film is notable for its critical view of the American media and the stereotypes that often manage to overshadow artistic talent in the industry, showing how these prejudices were faced not only by Vandross himself but also by many other black performers over time.
To the film’s director Dawn Porter, there is hardly a doubt that his struggles with recognition are closely connected to race, with a sharp division in the radio industry leading to black musicians being ghettoized. Unfortunately, the NBC media narrative that directed Vandross’ career choices focused on the so-called popular music often led to stifling the creative freedom of artists and their true self-expression.
Attributing himself as one of the first ‘real singers’ who emerged from disco, Vandross Wrote arranged and produced songs for a host of artists that inspired him, from Dionne Warwick to Barbra Streisand to Aretha Franklin before elevating his solo career in 1980 as one of the same singers. (Even those who know a lot about his professional life will be astonished at the magnitude of his footprints and the numerous names of artists connected with him)
As is to be expected, the documentary does not only portray his sound supple but also his supportive, muscular, versatile voice and the fury of hit songs he composed in the 1980s and 90s starting with ‘Never Too Much’ which is also the title of the documentary confirms that streaming of his content is bound to explode in the future. As the plot of his life develops, though, what is gained in strength is the attention of the press to the figure of Vandross and the unproven insinuations surrounding any dynamics of his body weight related to unasked questions about his gender preference. While the Media has to some degree taken some of the lessons from the limitations of decency in shredding the lives of public figures (and indeed health and body), it becomes apparent in Porter’s film that what he could make the world see fueled fierceness about what the world should not see.
As former personal assistant Max Szadek states, any perfect memories of the song Vandross believed to be “Any Love” fade when he learns that the singer was just trying really hard to find love, how much one seeks for it. Your heart accumulates pain as well as love with such realization, as the fans of Vandross went to see the film hoping for a happy ending. The male protagonist of the film composed many controversial songs related to his sex life, which is touched upon, but does not occupy much screen time as expected by many of its viewers. Moreover, there are quite a few interviews in the documentary with his colleagues such as Valerie Simpson, Marcus Miller and Richard Marx and they do not convey anything new, only ordinary things.
Another theme that transpired in the film is also his ambition as a performer and how the music industry as a whole held him back from becoming a proper pop star. At the time, when there was resentment by the white-dominated pop charts and the Black community towards the practice of “crossing over,” Vandross believed in “crossing over” and did so, time and time again to try and get himself a hit that would place him alongside Michael Jackson and Prince. Therefore, it was after nine tries that he was awarded his first Grammy, about three decades into his career (and a new deal with Clive Davis’ J Records) that he got the assistance he craved in breaking the mold of being an R&B artist, and another five after that to score a number one pop hit (for “Dance With My Father”).
Porter in that context describes how much material he left and gives excerpts that are sizable enough to ensure that her film is at the same time a biography and musical criticism, a thesis, and a call to action to get to know the composer more. Vandross unfortunately was one more of the many legends of soul music who died at an age that is way below what they should have died at in their prime, such as Otis Redding, Donny Hathaway, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, and Teddy Pendergrass. They all departed due to different reasons but their talents were distinctive, original, and influential, and this documentary proves why Vandross should be regarded in the same rank as them regardless of the time his career went through what we would now consider as the golden age of R&B. He did so much more than simply anticipate the sexual and romantic appeal that would follow with New Jack Swing and other genres inspired by it he invented the basic techniques of the classical mic scale which allowed Whitney, Mariah, Beyonce and others dominate the charts with their full range.
In the clip he recalls how he thought so highly of Aretha Franklin that he would study her in awe, noting that she was able to perform effortlessly a very relevant point considering the strength and style that became his trademark. To put it another way, “Never Too Much” illustrates even better how hard it was for Luther Vandross to make it look easy when he was managing his natural, and quite irresistible, abilities. It’s one of many lessons learned that the results took longer for him than he’d have liked, not because he had weaknesses, but due to subtle cultural currents of the age. However, for many, the best will be just how prophetic is the title of the Dawn Porter film, because after the first time one actually hears Vandross he will be impossible to lose interest in.
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