Luther Vandross’ Response to an Eddie Murphy KFC Joke — Plus More Revelations from the Star’s New Documentary

Luther Vandross was unique.

IN Luther: Never too muchwhich premiered Sunday at the Sundance Film Festival, viewers get an inside look at the R&B star’s life and career like never before.

The documentary, directed by David Porter, explores the Grammy winner’s passion for music, global rise and sheds light on his personal struggles.

Vandross, who sold more than 40 million records worldwide and released 13 platinum albums during his career, died in 2005 at the age of 54 as a result of a 2003 stroke.

From his first meetings with David Bowie and Bette Midler to his long search for love, here are the biggest revelations from the documentary.

David Bowie was blown away by Vandross’s voice

David Bowie and Luther Vandross.

David Parker/Alamy

In 1974, Bowie was working on his Young Americans album when he met Vandross in the studio — and hired him to sing backing vocals.

“I love this guy,” Ava Cherry, the backing singer, recalls Bowie’s reaction when he first heard Vandross sing.

It was during the session for the song “Young Americans” that Vandross started doing commercials and Bowie liked what he heard.

“What a breath of fresh air. He had such a fantastic voice that I asked him if he wanted to join the session and start playing backing vocals,” Bowie said in the recorded interview.

In addition to backing vocals, Vandross participated in the arrangement of the album. “Fascination” — which ended on Young Americans — was a Vandross song originally called “Funky Music.”

Bette Midler inspired his stage style

During the time that Bowie — who died in 2016 — and Vandross were working together, the “Heroes” singer introduced Vandross to none other than Midler.

They ended up touring together for several years – and she was influential in his stage style.

“She was big on production. So some of my early impressions of what to do on stage was that you should have big, elaborate productions,” he said in the clip.

Eddie Murphy’s joke lit a fire inside him

Luther Vandross.

Scott Harrison/Getty

When Eddie Murphy joked that he was a “Kentucky fried chicken eating mother,” in standup — Vandross had an epic response.

In an archive clip of the interview, Vandross told a reporter about the joke: “Yeah, I like it, I think it’s great. You’ve got to know how to play the game.”

Then, during one of his shows not long after, he brought a giant bucket of KFC on stage.

“I didn’t want to let Eddie Murphy down,” he joked onstage.

“The reason I did this is because I looked at the guest list to see who was coming and I saw Eddie’s name. That’s when I got the idea. I said, ‘We’ve got to go with this. This is going to be so funny,'” he said in interview recordings.

Jamie Foxx used Vandross’s music to lure women

Jamie Foxx, who is producing the documentary, would use Vandross’s music to score with women.

“Back in the day, if you wanted to fall in love, you let Luther do the work for you,” he says. “So I’d put the phone on the radio – and the crazy thing is you had to wait for it to come on the radio.”

He continues: “So I would put the phone up to the radio and say, ‘This is what I want to tell you.'”

Turns out it worked every time.

After a drastic weight loss, Vandross gained it all back due to a traumatic car accident

Throughout his life, Vandross’ weight fluctuated. His lifelong friend Robin Clark says “it was hard for him.”

In the documentary, fans get a glimpse of Vandross’ drastic weight loss (he lost 126 lbs.), which he attributes to self-control.

“If the music didn’t sound right, I ate to deal with it. Any little excuse I could use, I would use to eat. I just decided not to do it. I decided it wasn’t good for me,” he said. in the interview clip. “I feel better. I move more on stage. It hasn’t affected my voice or singing at all.”

Luther Vandross in London in January 1987.

David Corio/Michael Ochs Archive/Getty

However, in 1986 he was involved in a car accident that killed his good friend Lawrence Salvemini in Los Angeles and left him with three broken ribs. After that he regained all the weight.

“It took its toll on him. Food was his medicine, he thought,” says Clark.

Later in the documentary, Vandross reveals that he hated the fixation on his weight, which was brought up in every interview he gave.

“It’s a personal struggle,” he said.

Executives prevented his music from crossing over

Although Vandross had a successful career, he always struggled to be treated equally with the white musicians on his label.

“Luther would only be played on black radio,” says Jon Plat, president and CEO of Sony Music Publishing. “So the challenge became when he wanted to cross over because Luther wasn’t necessarily accepted or given the same freedom as other artists who don’t look like Luther.”

In a clip of the interview, Vandross was asked about his thoughts on being involved in R&B music.

“There’s nothing wrong with adding new fans,” he replied. “When you label an artist and make them an R&B singer, you’re doing them a disservice in a way. The point is, I want to add new listeners and reach as many and as diverse a group of people as possible — that’s something we’ve been working on forever.”

Richard Marx, one of Vandross’s co-authors, says that “he knew what was going on.”

“He felt very strongly that the managers were treating him in a racist way,” he adds.

However, when he finally won a Grammy, he made his colleagues call him Luther “Grammy Winner” Vandross all day.

Vandross searched for love without success

Despite his ability to make people fall in love with his smooth vocals, Vandross never got the romance he sang about.

“I’m still waiting,” Vandross said in a taped interview. “Time spent in love was unfortunately always unrequited.”

The song Any Love was his favorite because it was the only one written completely autobiographically.

“I think because of the stigma at the time, if he was gay, the thought of ‘coming out,’ he couldn’t handle it. He would rather be alone than have that stigma attached to him,” Deborah McDuffie, a commercial producer, said.

When asked about his sexuality in an interview, he replied simply: “I’m not going to deny it or confirm it… Mind your own fucking business.”

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Source: HIS Education