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It’s going to be a happy new year for Luther Vandross fans. CNN has announced that Luther: Never Too Much, the documentary about his life and legacy will be aired on New Year’s Day.
The long-awaited documentary covers the soul crooner’s life from his early years as a background singer and the lead singer for the 80s dance group Change, through to his solo success. Vandross had eleven consecutive platinum albums and won eight Grammys en route to becoming one of the most beloved R&B balladeers of all time.
The doc premiered at Sundance earlier this year to mostly rave reviews. Director Dawn Porter, who also directed civil rights icon and congressman John Lewis’ 2020 documentary Good Trouble, said, “We combed through hundreds of hours of interviews, concert footage and images to develop this one-of-a-kind portrait.”
Among the people interviewed for the project are Mariah Carey, Dionne Warwick, Roberta Flack and Valerie Simpson. CNN says that the Vandross doc scheduling falls in line with others that dropped on the network on New Year’s Day including ones about Warwick, Linda Ronstadt and Carole King and James Taylor. Jamie Foxx is both a producer on the documentary and one of the musicians interviewed.
While Vandross was obviously successful and a household name in the African American community, he was also, like Frankie Beverly, “Black famous.”
Porter says she considered that in how she shaped the documentary.
“I was very much aware that not all, but a lot of white audiences would not be familiar with him at all. Then a lot of Black audiences would have favorite songs. As a filmmaker, you’re thinking, ‘How do I serve everybody?’ The idea is in the first 35 minutes, we introduce you again. So by the time you get to ‘Never Too Much,’ which is a third into the movie, everybody’s caught up. Everybody’s like, ‘This is just a really talented person,” Porter told Indiewire.
She added, “I don’t really think of it so much as a profile, as an exploration of this artist in this period of time, dropping into that period of time. What was he facing, and what are some of the surprises? Then also, why are we surprised?”
Porter also treads lightly over the much-speculated issue of Vandross’s sexuality. In his lifetime, he never publicly revealed a partner or relationship.
“We don’t do a good job with giving people who are famous any kind of space, and particularly in our social media world,” Porter says. “What Luther said, which really resonated with me, is, ‘What I owe my fans is my talent, my best effort in music, and I’m going to keep my personal life personal.’”
Luther: Never Too Much will debut at 8 p.m. on New Year’s Day on CNN. Watch the trailer below:
