Why Luther Vandross Was The Catalyst for Frank Sinatra’s Duets Album

This success of Frank Sinatra’s highly acclaimed Duets album, released in 1993, would not have been possible without the remarkable vocal talents of Luther Vandross.

The Making of a Multi Platinum Album…

Billed as “The Recording Event of the Decade,” Duets brought together an array of global superstars including Tony Bennett, Natalie Cole, Gloria Estefan, Barbra Streisand and Aretha Franklin, for an album of standards that featured many songs instantly associated with Ol’ Blues Eyes.

Music insiders referred to it as groundbreaking because it showcased Sinatra alongside his peers in the hitmaking royalty category.

Luther Vandross was reluctant to participate in the project when he was approached by the album’s producer, Phil Ramone. “Why do you want me, Phil? Frank Sinatra’s never heard of me.”

When Luther finally agreed, he requested the Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart classic “The Lady Is A Tramp.” This songwriting duet created it for their Broadway show, Babes in Arms, and it was sung by the show’s star Mitzi Green in 1939.

Sinatra performed the song in the movie version of the play in 1957 and it quickly became one of his signature songs.

Although Luther and Sinatra recorded their parts at Capitol Records Studio A in Los Angeles, a familiar studio for Sinatra, they did not sing together, nor did any of the others. The album was engineered with such utter precision, most listeners never knew that Sinatra hadn’t actually performed beside his duet partners.

Luther Vandross Was The Catalyst for The Album’s Creations

Luther and Sinatra’s song was the first to be brought to Sinatra for his approval. The entire project’s completion hung on whether Frank Sinatra liked what he heard.  The verdict was, “That’s wonderful,” and it’s Luther’s voice, not Sinatra’s, that kicks off the album. Pretty wonderful indeed!

https://youtu.be/1WdgZmwgfK8

Duets is a marvelous and nostalgic comeback from a singer who has been absent from the recording scene for many years,” reported The Christian Science Monitor.

Frank Sinatra’s Duets album is the only Sinatra album to date to achieve triple platinum certification. It is also the biggest worldwide selling duets album in history.

For Luther Vandross, it’s just another example of his musical genius. 

We’re celebrating the musical legacy of Luther Vandross and raising awareness for diabetes health-related complications (such as vision loss) on Divabetic’s Annual Luther Vandross Tribute podcast.

Diabetic eye disease, caused by diabetes, is a leading cause of blindness and vision loss. Because of the high risk for eye disease, all people with type 2 diabetes should receive an annual dilated eye exam..

Guests include Andre “Doctor Dre” Brown, Nat Adderley Jr.,  Dr. Khoshnevis, Danny Clay, and Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDE.  Throughout this podcast we will be featuring music from Luther Vandross’s album, ‘The Night I Fell In Love’ courtesy of SONY Music

Quiet Tropical Storm Week: Natalie Cole en Español’

Quiet Storm Fans invites you to kick back, relax and enjoy Quiet Tropical Storm Week, an audio feast celebrating the timeless and influential sounds of Latino musicians, vocalists and producers in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month.
Hispanic and Latino Americans make up a diverse group that includes people of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South and Central American, and other Spanish cultures, and all races. Each has its own history and traditions, but all are more likely to have type 2 diabetes (17%) than non-Hispanic whites (8%). And over their lifetime, they have higher rates of kidney failure caused by diabetes as well as diabetes-related vision loss and blindness.
The Center of Disease Control’s National Diabetes Prevention Program (National DPP) can help you prevent or delay type 2 diabetes and improve your overall health. You’ll learn the skills needed to lose a modest amount of weight through healthy eating and being more physically active. (Classes are available in Spanish and English.) Learn more about the National Disease Prevention Program (DPP) lifestyle change program, and find a class near you (or online).
‘Natalie Cole en Español’ is the twenty-third and final studio album by Natalie Cole, released in 2013. Produced by the Cuban American composer Rudy Pérez, it is her first and only Spanish album and her first record released following her kidney transplant in 2009. “I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe everything happens for a reason. That this was a Latin family, I feel like I’m part Latino now. That (made) the desire to make this record became even stronger,” Natalie Cole said.
Her donor was a young woman from El Salvador who died while giving birth to a baby boy, Lucas, said Cole. The Grammy-winner received the donation after suffering from hepatitis C, a liver disease spread through contact with infected blood.
A new study on risk factors of new-onset diabetes mellitus (NODM) following liver transplant found that a history of obesity, impaired fasting glucose and hepatitis C infection (HCV) paired with the use of a particular immunosuppressant are associated with an increased risk of NODM.

Both Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole recorded their Spanish albums learning the lyrics phonetically; neither of them spoke the language.

“Black people and Hispanic people have the same kind of feel for passion, for music, for fun, for heart,” Cole said. “We are very similar in that way, and that to me is the next language. I love French … I love Portuguese, I love Italiano, but for me right now is Espanol.”

We’re talking about different ways to ‘SPICE UP’ your diabetes life with musical inspiration from the “Queen of Salsa”, Celia Cruz.

Celia Cruz was one of the most accomplished singers of the 20th century. She was known for her powerful voice and her rhythm-centric musical style. Hailing from humble beginnings in the poor neighborhood of Santos Suarez in Havana, Cuba, her mother knew immediately that she was destined to be a singer.

Celia Cruz’s late husband, Pedro Knight, a former lead trumpet player for Cuba’s legendary band La Sonora Matancera, suffered from complications of type 2 diabetes and had a series of strokes before his death.

Guests include Best-Selling Cookbook Author (Eating Well Through Cancer Cookbook – Spanish Edition), Holly Clegg, Constance Brown-Riggs MSEd, RD, CDE, CDN, and the Charlie’s Angels of Outreach.

Throughout the podcast we will be playing music from Celia Cruz’s The Absolute Collection courtesy of SONY Music. Beautifully and wonderfully designed, The Absolute Collection contains her all time classic hits remastered, extensive liner notes, and brand-new commentary from prominent artists of today. All of the songs were carefully selected and represent every transcendent era of her career. The majority of the tracks are from the great and vast catalog of the legendary Fania Records label where Celia Cruz recorded the majority of her historic recordings.