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NEW YORK (ENTERTAINMENT WIRE) - Grammy-winning R&B icon Luther Vandross, whose career boasts 14 platinum albums, will release his first J Records album entitled Luther Vandross on June 19th. The first single, "Take You Out" is fast becoming a major hit, having debuted on the charts within a record-breaking five days of its release. The "Take You Out" video, co-starring actress Garcelle Beauvais, can now be seen playing on BET. Alongside the release of his brand new album, Luther will sing his heart out for his longtime friend Whitney Houston at the BET Awards in Las Vegas. In her honor, Luther will sing "All The Woman I Need," a twist on the original Houston song "All the Man I Need." Houston will be awarded the BET Lifetime Achievement Award; Christina Aguilera is also part of the Whitney Tribute. The BET Awards take place at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas on June 19th and airs live. "I am thrilled to be singing in honor of Whitney Houston. She and I have been friends for years - we both started out singing background for her mother Cissy Houston," comments Luther Vandross. "In fact, Whitney and I have been dying to record a duet together so we hope to make this happen soon." For the new album, Luther Vandross enlisted the aid of Clive Davis to assemble an all-star team of hot producers and songwriters including; Warryn Campbell; Ron Lawrence; R.L. of Next; Shep Crawford; Harvey Mason Jr. & Damon Thomas; and Soulshock & Karlin. "This is the first album I've ever done like this - working with a lot of the current producers and songwriters," says Vandross. Luther - who has enjoyed six No. 1 R&B singles and four Top 10 pop hits (including the Grammy-winning "Here And Now," "Power of Love/Love Power," "Don't Wanna Be A Fool" and the pop smash "Endless Love" a duet with Mariah Carey). While delivering a record that brings out a whole new dimension of his talents through his work with some of today's freshest young producers, Luther has also been busy in the studio creating future Vandross classics. In addition to some newly-written material including "Hearts Get Broken All The Time (But The Problem Is, This Time It's Mine)" which he describes as "a very moody hypnotic song" and the mid-tempo "Love Forgot," Luther is planning to cover two '60s songs from the songbook of legendary composer Burt Bacharach. "I produced a couple of songs by myself and as always, I worked with my longtime musical associates Nat Adderly Jr. and Marcus Miller," he notes. "The balance between ballads and uptempo tracks is always important and on this album, we accomplished that..." For more information on Luther Vandross, please call Lois Najarian at J Records, 646-840-5670. NEWSFILE: 17 JUNE 2001 |