Throwback In Honor Of Black History Month: Luther Vandross And The Excellence Of “Never Too Much”

For black history month we shall be looking at some of the all time staples within the history of African American music and first up is the groundbreaking single “Never Too Much” from one of the greatest musicians ever Luther Vandross.

You hear this song everywhere from cookouts to shopping for clothing but for some reason it just never gets old. Luther’s legendary powerful vocals blend in with a cheery up-tempo beats that curated on of the most successful singles that ever has graced music.

“Never Too Much,” which is also the name of his debut album from 1981 and written by him, reached number-one on the R&B charts. This period also marked the beginning of songwriting collaboration with bassist Marcus Miller, who played on many of the tracks and would also produce or co-produce a number of tracks for Vandross. The Never Too Much album was arranged by Vandross’s high school classmate, Nat Adderley, Jr., a collaboration that would last through Vandross’s career.

Vandross received a nomination for “Never Too Much” at the 24th Grammy Awards that occurred in1982 for the category, ‘Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male.’ “Never Too Much” was ranked number 466 on Rolling Stone’s list of top 500 songs of all time in September 2021. In my honest opinion it should be top ten but I digress.

The single helped catapult the Vandross in music superstardom and obviously he never looked back.