‘Luther: Never Too Much’ Review: Doc Explores the Thick and Thin of a Soul Legend’s Legacy
variety.comTodd Gilchrist editor Although it isn’t structured any differently from dozens of other cradle-to-grave documentaries about artistic luminaries, “Luther: Never Too Much” sheds light on much more than just the life and career of R&B singer Luther Vandross.
Drawn largely from interview and performance footage of Vandross over his almost 40 years in entertainment, and bolstered and contextualized by retrospective talks will collaborators and confidantes, director Dawn Porter’s film exposes some uneasy truths about the music industry and the media we may now know, but whose seeming ubiquitousness at the time he was alive may be difficult to fully comprehend.
White audience members in particular may stand to learn the most about him — a fact Porter pointedly attributes to the genre siloes of radio’s heyday and cultural prejudices against black singers who weren’t thin or light-skinned enough to receive the opportunity to cross over from R&B to pop.
Yet he began his career on projects with exactly the kind of broad appeal to which he wasn’t later granted access: performing on “Sesame Street,” singing and arranging vocals on David Bowie’s “Young Americans” album and crafting advertising jingles for products such as Miller High Life and Juicy Fruit gum.
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