Description

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"Seymour's brilliant book is like a great Luther song: elegantly written, effortlessly executed and eloquently delivered." - Michael Eric Dyson"Craig Seymour paints an intimate portrait of the man behind some of the most beautiful love songs of our time...Full of juicy anecdotes, fast-paced writing, and interesting analysis, the book reveals surprising new dimensions of this much-beloved balladeer." - E. Lynn Harris"...a sympathetic look at the most popular soul singer of his generation" - New York Daily News On July 1, 2005, the world lost one of the greatest R&B vocalists of all time, Luther Vandross. He left a legacy of some of the most enduring love songs of our age: "Here and Now," "Superstar," "If Only For One Night," and "A House Is Not A Home."The notoriously secretive star also left behind many questions such as the real-life inspiration behind all of those yearning love songs. The newly updated and expanded edition of Luther: The Life and Longing of Luther Vandross takes you deep inside the singer's private world. It chronicles his underdog journey from the projects of New York City's Lower East Side to the top of the charts, selling more than 20 million albums along the way. The book details Luther's triumphs, as well as his struggles: his battle with weight; his feuds with Aretha Franklin, Anita Baker, and En Vogue; the 1986 car accident that killed his best friend and nearly destroyed his career; and the rumors about his sexuality that followed him throughout his life. The book offers specific new details about Luther's love life that will help illuminate the private pain of the man who brought the world so much joy.

About the Author

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Craig Seymour is an accomplished writer, photographer, and writing coach. He is the author of the novel, Who's Your Daddy?, the memoir All I Could Bare: My Life in the Strip Clubs of Gay Washington, D.C., and the biography, Luther: The Life & Longing of Luther Vandross. He has also written for The Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, Vibe, and Spin magazine, among others. He holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Maryland at College Park.