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2, 3 and 4 as part of a four-month nationwide tour, is one of the more curious chapters of pop music history in the 80's, because when his first album, "Never Too Much," came out in 1981, there was a vacancy for a romantic leading man. THE CROSSOVER DELAY of Luther Vandross, who will appear at Madison Square Garden Oct. That's the high note he has been waiting his whole career to hit. A local promotion man promises Vandross that the team will take "Power of Love/Love Power" to No. "I can hear myself in Luther at times," Warwick says, on line to offer superlatives amid a consortium of agents, publicists, managers and personal assistants, all of whom have "worked" Vandross's records and claimed part of their success for themselves. On hand for the day's second taping are Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle, and their presence is particularly gratifying to Vandross, who grew up idolizing soul divas and now has three of the mightiest basking in his spotlight. He sings both the lilting "Here and Now" - which Winfrey reminds everyone was the most-played song at weddings in 1990 - and the gospel-inflected "Power of Love/Love Power." The low notes rumble, the high notes soar.īackstage, Vandross's coup is complete. But the black designer suit that drapes his four-lane frame gives him a portly elegance, much to the delight of the mostly female, mostly shrieking crowd. As he prepares to go on, he is worried about his high notes and his weight, which has ballooned lately. In Chicago, Vandross is appearing on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," and a good performance might finally make him a permanent fixture in the living rooms of middle America. "It seemed as though every time I turned around James Ingram was having a No. It isn't the money, Vandross says - he's already a millionaire several times over. Hammer to soul crooners like Lionel Richie and James Ingram. A crossover hit can mean the difference between one million and three million in album sales, and Vandross is openly despondent about how long it took him to get one, especially since other black artists have routinely crossed over, from rappers like M. These events are particularly redemptive for Vandross, because for the first nine years of his solo career he was the victim of a peculiar phenomenon: his records would get heavy airplay on black-music radio but wouldn't "cross over" to mainstream stations directed mostly at whites. The week before, the video for the song became his first to be played on MTV. Moreover, the record still has its "bullet," a designation that means that sales and radio airplay are increasing, and that the record might go even higher. 4 on the Billboard pop charts, a career high.

That song went on to win him his first Grammy - for best rhythm and blues vocal performance, male - after nine prior nominations, and the roll continued with his single "Power of Love/Love Power." On this day in Chicago, the song, a combination of a Vandross original ("Power of Love") and a 1967 hit by the Sandpebbles ("Love Power") is perched at No. He didn't even hit the top 10 until April 1990, when "Here and Now," his 17th single, finally did the trick. Indeed, for a decade critics have been proclaiming the 40-year-old singer the "Voice of his Generation," a balladeer exemplar who doesn't have to sacrifice his musicality - his consistently accurate pitch, his substantial range - for the vocal passion and commitment that were hallmarks of what came to be known in the 60's as soul.īut it is only recently that Vandross has been able to count himself among today's commercial elite. Vandross doesn't bother to distinguish the good from the merely popular, but his point is clear: when pop music historians do just that 20 or 30 years hence, he himself will come out on the long end. It's a groove set by a younger group of people who want to dance and not really listen very hard." "It's just a time when mediocrity is very hip. It's a painful thing to realize sometimes." Though Tiny Tim was primarily a novelty act, Vandross sees a connection between him and many of today's chart-toppers. And then a record like 'Tip-Toe Thru the Tulips With Me' would come along. It would be the Beatles, the Supremes, Aretha Franklin, Elvis and Dionne Warwick. "You had fabulous acts in the top five on the charts. Suddenly, he conjures the image of Tiny Tim - not the Dickens character from "A Christmas Carol," but rather the ukulele-strumming androgyne who made a blip on the pop music scene in the 1960's. IT IS A SUMMER MONDAY IN CHICAGO, AND Luther Vandross, in town to promote his latest album, "Power of Love," has been staring at the sun-bathed skyline from his 20th-floor hotel room.