Imagine, if you will, that a friend of yours is throwing a dinner party in your honor. Well, yours, and Vanessa Williams’s and Rosie O’Donnell’s. He invites you over early to his new home to chat for a bit. The rest is Social Media History.
In his lifetime, Luther Vandross was nominated for 31 Grammy awards, winning eight. He dominated the R&B charts and wedding videos of the ’80s and ’90s. He sang backup for David Bowie and duets with Dionne Warwick and Mariah Carey. An electric performer, Vandross was meticulous about his image. His taste was lush and flamboyant; silks in deep hues, patterned sweaters, and most notably, embellished suits. He designed many of the costumes that he and his background singers wore.
But for all of the over-the-top looks, he was rigorously private about his personal life. Vandross’s sexuality was tabloid fodder, with one particularly harsh interview with gossip writer Rona Barrett asking the singer if his notable weight loss was due to AIDS (which he vehemently denied). A new documentary explores the push and pull between Vandross’s public and private selves.
It’s fitting that a person whose private life was under the microscope would have a particular relationship to their home. It is also fitting that someone with such maximalist taste, who was also a Taurus (a sign known for its love of the best of the best), would have a home that was nothing short of decadent. “Luther’s homes always focused on elegance. Everything was high-end and immaculately displayed,” says Richard Marx, singer, host of the upcoming podcast Stories To Tell, and cowriter of multiple Vandross songs. “He loved beautiful things and enjoyed collecting pieces that showed off his taste.
Vandross decorated his homes himself. In Craig Seymour’s book, Luther: The Life and Longing of Luther Vandross, the singer was quoted as saying he was “cursed with good taste” and would have become an interior designer were he not a singer. It goes on to describe his Beverly Hills home (which he purchased from Barrett, the reporter) which was replete with modern art, a lambskin sofa, and a kitchen full of crystal.
