Is luther vandross gay

Dawn Porter, director of Luther: Never Too Much, is speaking out about his life, legacy, and the struggle to get his story right in the upcoming documentary about the pioneering crooner.

“I really wanted him to be able to tell you his story as much as possible, so how do you do that with someone who’s not with us?” she told The Hollywood Reporter in a recent interview.

I’m going to let him have the last word."

Confusion and misinformation around Luther's death still exist today, especially after Madonna added him to an in-memoriam video at one of her recent concerts, with the Vandross estate requesting he be removed.

'He was thrown up there, as far as I’m told, as a person who had passed away from AIDS," says Williams.

Luther: Never Too Much will premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 21. “A lot of that was thinking about the lyrics. Of the latter, Porter agrees that outing someone is wrong. Was that something you talked about, at all?" the talk show host asked.

Continuing, “On the other hand, I’m not homophobic; I wouldn’t want to be homophobic, so what we tried to do was have the people who loved him and knew him talk about his desire to be private and then say, ‘We’re going to respect how he wanted to live his life and what he wanted to say.’” 

Porter did receive Sony and Vandross’ family’s blessing to create the film, granting her access to 80 hours of rehearsal footage, 150 hours of archival footage, and over 2,000 exclusive images.

She revealed, “The family is sensitive about some things, and I had a lot of respect for that, but they also had a lot of respect for me as a filmmaker and knew that all the aspects of his story should be told, so everybody’s happy.”

The famed director later noted that “he didn’t have a perfect life by any means, so we addressed all of that.

He passed away from a combination of stroke, diabetes and hypertension."

Seveda also revealed that her uncle never stopped what he loved doing in spite of his health issues.

"He was singing up to the last minute. But, he never officially came out. Everything isn’t everybody’s business all of the time."

It's an entirely justifiable stance, especially given that coming out as gay to the world throughout the eighties and nineties would've no doubt damaged his career.

So through his lyrics, I think you get to know a little bit more about him.”

Two of the most sensitive topics when it comes to discussing Luther Vandross are his weight and his sexuality. I hope people see him as human, a man who had a great career, but a man who lived a life."

When Vandross was alive, there was speculation that he was gay.

LaBelle then nodded and replied: "Yeah, we talked about it.

After being discovered by and recruited as a backing singer by David Bowie on his 1975 album Young Americans, Luther went on to sing with Chaka Khan, Barbra Streisand, Carly Simon, Bette Midler, Donna Summer, and even Roxy Music.

Of course, we know him for the Grammy Award-winning voice he evolved into, with songs like 'Never Too Much' and 'Endless Love' becoming major chart successes.

"I know that he wanted to be known as a premier singer of his time and he accomplished that no question," his niece Seveda Williams told People magazine, who know him better than most.

But I think for all of us, your struggles and how you respond to those struggles, that’s the story.” Most of all, Porter shared that her goal with the documentary was to celebrate his talent.

"They don’t make them like him anymore. “He’s the soundtrack to America, not just the soundtrack for Black people,” she gushed.