Luther Vandross Condition ‘Critical’
Award winning singer Luther Vandross remains hospitalized after a stroke that has rendered him in critical condition.
Weill Cornell Medical Center of New York-Presbyterian Hospital released a public statement that revealed further details about the singer’s condition.
“Mr. Luther Vandross suffered a stroke on April 16 and is hospitalized at the Weill Cornell Medical Center of New York-Presbyterian Hospital. He is in critical but stable condition,” the hospital said.
Like the singer’s label J Records, the hospice has refused to reveal any other details about Vandross’ condition. Insiders speculate that his future in entertainment may be in jeopardy, because he may have lasting effects from the stroke.
A stroke happens when blockage, normally a blood clot, prevents flow to a blood vessel or artery or when a blood vessel breaks, which can also interrupt blood flow to the brain. Often the brain cells are rendered dead, which hampers motor skills.
Additional information on Vandross has been extremely difficult to obtain, since the hospital and J Records are very tight-lipped about the matter. Despite the critical condition, the singer is reportedly conscious and stable.
On Sunday, the Grammy-award winner turned 52.
At the time of the stroke, Vandross was preparing to release his next J Records album, Dance With My Father, in June. There has been no firm confirmation whether or not Father will drop as scheduled.
To date the singer has won four Grammys and sold roughly 20 million records.
Simone dies at 70
Nina Simone, a commanding, soulful singer who defied the structures of genre and memorably infused her music with the heartbreak and protest of the civil rights movement, died Monday at her home in southern France, where she lived the last decade as an U.S. expatriate. She was 70.
Simone, dubbed the “high priestess of soul” and hailed as an elemental voice in 20th-century American music, and was a fiery maverick—she dismissed the title “jazz singer” as racial pigeonholing—and her tempestuous life was as difficult to catalog as her music. She recorded jazz, standards, soul, hymns, show tunes, African folk and, perhaps most inspired, her own songs of the African-American struggle, such as “To Be Young Gifted and Black” and “Mississippi Goddam.”
The independent Simone bitterly dismissed the categories imposed on popular music and described her work as “black classical music.” Through the years she interpreted the work of songwriters as varied as Kurt Weill, Leonard Cohen, Jacques Brel, Hoyt Axton and the Bee Gees, and she not only refused to cater to the whims of a mainstream audience, she often eyed her loyal fans with a suspicion of their desires.
Her signature interpretation of the George and Ira Gershwin song “I Loves You Porgy” in 1959 put her on the map in the jazz world, and her varied resume would go on to include hits such as “I Put a Spell on You,” “My Baby Just Cares for Me,” “Gin House Blues,” “Forbidden Fruit” and “Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood.’’ Simone’s piano style—understated, elegant and challenging—added a power to her voice and made many of her cover songs more potent than the originals.
