Luther Vandross

Luther Vandross (born Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr.) (April 20, 1951 ? July 1, 2005) was an African-American R&B singer. During his career, Vandross sold 25 million albums and won eight Grammy awards including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance four times. He won four Grammy awards in 2004 including the Grammy Award for Song of the Year for the track "Dance With My Father", co-written with Richard Marx.

Sexuality

There have been many questions regarding Vandross' sexuality, mainly due to the fact that he remained a bachelor all of his life. The "lifelong bachelor" never had any children, but doted on his nieces and nephews. The entertainer said his "busy lifestyle" made marriage difficult; and indicated that "it was not what he wanted". Vandross said this many years ago.

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He was as famous for keeping his personal life private. In 2002, BET put the question to Vandross in an interview televised on its show, "Journeys in Black." Vandross refused to address questions of his sexuality. Instead,he told BET it was none of their business and rightly separated his personal life from his professional one. In the United States, black men who feel deeply are an endangered species, for the country loves and embraces its black males if they are tough like Mike Tyson or crude like 50 Cent. Classically poised, sensitive and smart is not an image that is always rewarded, but Luther persevered and embraced contradiction.

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