Luther Vandross was the one of the best vocalists to ever pick up the mic. The late singer, who died in 2005 at age 54, sold over 40 million records worldwide, won eight Grammy Awards, and released 11 consecutive platinum albums in his lifetime, according to Variety.
Now, his niece Seveda Williams opens up about his career and personal life in a new interview with People. Williams told the publication that Vandross’ iconic love songs were inspired by his own life, but not necessarily his romantic attachments. The “Never Too Much” singer was notoriously private about his personal relationships during his time in the public eye.
“I think his depth of love came from his own situations and when you’re young, he was writing before he was even in any type of relationship or anything,” Williams revealed in an interview published on June 30. “So he was not always singing about romantic love.”
“Most people assume it, but if you look at the lyrics of his songs, everything is not romantic,” she continued. “So it’s about loving yourself, loving your mom, loving a situation that you’re in. Everything’s not autobiographical.”
Williams added that Vandross rarely spoke about his romantic relationships with anyone who was not his close friend. “He had his friends in his crew and nobody else needed to be a part of that,” she explains. “If you are not my friend, why are we talking about certain things? Everything isn’t everybody’s business all of the time.”
Williams is the head of Fandross, Luther Vandross’ fan club. She is excited about the new re-release on vinyl, CD and digital of Vandross’ second album “This Close To You,” which was recorded with his former group Luther. Williams said that Vandross was “a consummate professional, a man about his business and about making sure his audiences were satisfied and delighted.”
“I know that he wanted to be known as a premier singer of his time and he accomplished that no question,” she shared. “They don’t make them like him anymore. He was the last, in my opinion, true king of romance. He had a magnificent voice, but he also wrote the lyrics, these heartfelt lyrics.”
Williams is also celebrating the upcoming release of “Never Too Much,” a documentary that will dive deeper into Vandross’ life and career. The film will be released in January 2025, 20 years after his death, according to People.
“I recently viewed it again and I enjoyed it a lot. I’m willing to stand behind it,” says Williams. “It’s not going to be for everybody. I think it is very inclusive of everything and you’ll get to see it and come up with your opinion. It doesn’t hide anything. It hits many layers of who he is or was and how he got there and what happened for or to him.”
Dawn Porter, the film’s director, spoke about how she chose to tackle the conversation around Vandross’ sexuality in an interview with IndieWire.
“What we tried to do was balance, here’s how Luther handled those questions in his life,” she explained. “But it was really, really important to me and I hope the viewer senses, I’m trying to honor how he lived, because it’s important to not out people when they do not want to be outed and when they did not choose that…I’m going to let him have the last word.”