Luther Vandross - Never Too Much (35th anniversary)

Today (August 12th) marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of Never Too Much, the 1981 debut record from Luther Vandross. It spent thirty-six weeks on the US Billboard Album chart, peaking at number 19.

For my complete review, click here.

For more from Luther Vandross, click here.

Stevie Wonder - In Square Circle

Today (September 13th) marks the thirtieth anniversary of In Square Circle, the twentieth studio album from Motown legend Stevie Wonder. This multi-Platinum 1985 release rose to number 16 in the Netherlands, number 12 in Austria, number 11 in France, number 8 in Australia and Germany, number 7 in Canada and New Zealand, number 5 on the US Billboard Album chart (with a fifty week total chart run) and in the UK, number 4 in Switzerland, number 3 in Italy, Norway and Japan, number 2 in Sweden, and number 1 on the US Billboard R&B chart.

The Goonies (soundtrack) (30th anniversary)

Welcome to another edition of "Soundtrack Sunday".

Today (June 7th) marks the thirtieth anniversary of the release of the soundtrack from The Goonies. Featuring an all-star line-up of artists, the record spent ten weeks on the US Billboard Album chart with a peak spot of number 73.

For my full album review, click here.

Luther Vandross - Busy Body

Today (December 6th) is the thirtieth anniversary of Busy Body, the third studio album from R&B singer-songwriter-producer Luther Vandross. It continued the successful run from his first two albums Never Too Much and Forever, For Always, For Love (click here and here respectively) by going Platinum in the US. Chart-wise, it hit number 42 in the UK, number 32 on the US Billboard Album chart and number 1 on the US Billboard R&B chart.

Dionne Warwick - How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye

This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye, the twenty-fourth studio album from Dionne Warwick. Following on the heels of her 1982 smash Heartbreaker (click here for that review), this 1983 release went to number 60 in the UK, number 57 on the US Billboard Album chart, and number 19 on the US Billboard R&B chart. Luther Vandross was the record’s producer and writer of half of the tracks as well.

Stephanie Mills - Merciless

Today (August 12th) marks the thirtieth anniversary of Merciless, the seventh studio album from Stephanie Mills. Following her 1982 album Tantalizingly Hot (click here for that review), this 1983 release on the Casablanca label charted at number 104 on the US Billboard Hot 200 and number 12 on the US Billboard R&B chart.

Aretha Franklin - Get It Right

This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of Get It Right, the twenty-ninth album from the legendary R&B singer Aretha Franklin. Following on the heels of her smash hit Jump To It from the previous year (click here for that review), this 1983 album went to number 36 on the US Billboard Hot 200 and number 4 on the US Billboard R&B charts. Once again, she worked with producer Luther Vandross.

Luther Vandross - Forever, For Always, For Love

Just shy of a year after the release of his debut album Never Too Much (click here for my review of that one), R&B singer-songwriter-producer Luther Vandross released his second studio album Forever, For Always, For Love. This week (September 21st) marks the thirtieth anniversary of that record.

Diana Ross - Silk Electric

Today (September 10th) marks the thirtieth anniversary of the release of Silk Electric, the thirteenth solo album from Diana Ross. Following on the heels of two Platinum selling records, this one held its own fairly well on the charts. It went to number 44 in Canada, number 33 in the UK, number 27 on the US Billboard Hot 200 and number 5 on the US Billboard R&B charts.

Aretha Franklin - Jump To It

This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of the release of Jump To It, the twenty-eighth studio album from the legendary Queen of Soul herself, Aretha Franklin.

Co-produced by Franklin and Luther Vandross, this Gold-certified record from July of 1982 went to number 23 on the US Billboard Hot 200 and number 1 (for seven weeks) on the US Billboard R&B charts. Vandross was involved with the writing of four of the eight tracks.

Cheryl Lynn - Instant Love

Today (June 11th) marks the thirtieth anniversary of the release of Instant Love, the fourth studio album from American R&B singer Cheryl Lynn. Produced by Luther Vandross, the record went to number 133 on the US Billboard Hot 200 and number 7 on the Billboard R&B charts. It also generated a pair of singles that did very well on the R&B charts.

Luther Vandross - Never Too Much

Today (April 20th) would have been the sixty-first birthday of American R&B singer, songwriter and producer Luther Vandross. The multi-Grammy award winning artist passed away on July 1st, 2005, from a heart attack. In 2008, he was ranked at number 54 on Rolling Stone magazine’s List of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.

After nearly a decade of singing back-up on records of such performers like Roberta Flack, Diana Ross, Carly Simon, Chaka Khan, Donna Summer, Bette Midler and more, Vandross finally was able to cut an album of his own. In August 12th, 1981, his debut album Never Too Much was released on the Epic Records label. It went all the way to number 19 on the US Billboard Album chart and number 1 on the US Billboard R&B charts. It also earned him his first two Grammy Award nominations in the categories of Best New Artist and Best R&B Vocal Performance Male.

The Goonies (soundtrack)

Welcome to another edition of "Soundtrack Sunday".

It was the summer of 1985 and I was living in Dover, NJ, while working a college co-op job for an information processing company. Since I knew very few people outside of work, I spent a lot of my free time on the weekend at the movies - often seeing two to four new films each weekend. One film that came out during that time was the Goonies, an action-comedy written by Chris Columbus, directed by Richard Donner and executive-produced by Steven Spielberg.