DIANA ROSS & LUTHER VANDROSS - Could Have Been A Match Made In Heaven!

**Philles/Motown Gary** · 10-25-2014, 08:11 AM

For the benefit of those who haven't seen this video, here's a live-performance video of Diana & Luther singing Diana's "The Best Years Of My Life". We were treated to Diana & Marvin's 1973 duet album. Had he lived, can you imagine a whole album of duets between Diana & Luther? I can.

Here's the YouTube video, posted by ross61m:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy6jJ9GLly4

Here's hoping you enjoyed this performance as much as I did. - Gary

**milven** · 10-25-2014, 10:01 AM

That was very enjoyable to watch. Luther was a huge Diana fan, and from this video, it is apparent that Diana also liked Luther a lot. Considering that this was spontaneous, and Luther did not know THE BEST YEARS OF MY LIFE, he did pretty good. How great it would have been if they did get to do an arranged duet singing this to each other. It could have been another Endless Love.

Lulu · 10-25-2014, 12:55 PM

Allegedly, Luther was going to write a song for Diana, Scherrie and Lynda called "Return To Love" named after the concert but with MSG being the final night of the show, the song [[along with the taping of the Vegas show) were scrapped. This is a very sweet performance. I hadn't seen it in a while so thank you for sharing!

**florence** · 10-25-2014, 01:26 PM

Brilliant find.

Highly enjoyable - Luther and Diana obviously have a great deal of respect and affection for each other.

This was a single in the UK however it didn't hit as big as was expected although Diana performed it on an afternoon TV chat show and it propelled her multi-platinum Ultimate Collection album on which it first surfaced back to #1.

I'm not sure whether Best Years and another track on the album Your Love were ever released in the US?

Your Love was a hit here for Diana at Christmas 1993 and Luther is supposed to be singing backing vocals on it. I have never been able to hear any trace of him on it at all!

**Philles/Motown Gary** · 10-25-2014, 05:25 PM

Thanks, Florence! And, yes, we here in the U.S. got both "Best Years Of My Life" and "My Love" as previously-unreleased tracks on Diana's 4-disc CD boxed set which was released back in the early 1990's, along with her corresponding book, "Secrets Of A Sparrow", which utilized the same cover photo as the CD boxed-set.

**Philles/Motown Gary** · 10-25-2014, 05:31 PM

Originally Posted by Lulu

Allegedly, Luther was going to write a song for Diana, Scherrie and Lynda called "Return To Love" named after the concert but with MSG being the final night of the show, the song [[along with the taping of the Vegas show) were scrapped. This is a very sweet performance. I hadn't seen it in a while so thank you for sharing!

Lulu, I wasn't aware of that. Such a composition by Luther, performed by Diana and Scherrie, would have been magnificent, especially if Luther produced Diana's studio recording of it.

**jobeterob** · 10-25-2014, 05:34 PM

**Philles/Motown Gary** · 10-25-2014, 05:39 PM

Originally Posted by milven

That was very enjoyable to watch. Luther was a huge Diana fan, and from this video, it is apparent that Diana also liked Luther a lot. Considering that this was spontaneous, and Luther did not know THE BEST YEARS OF MY LIFE, he did pretty good. How great it would have been if they did get to do an arranged duet singing this to each other. It could have been another Endless Love.

Glad you enjoyed it, Milven. You're so right -- Diana and Luther radiate mutal admiration and respect for one another. A duet album would have been incredible.

**reese** · 10-26-2014, 12:23 AM

Originally Posted by florence

Brilliant find.

Highly enjoyable - Luther and Diana obviously have a great deal of respect and affection for each other.

This was a single in the UK however it didn't hit as big as was expected although Diana performed it on an afternoon TV chat show and it propelled her multi-platinum Ultimate Collection album on which it first surfaced back to #1.

I'm not sure whether Best Years and another track on the album Your Love were ever released in the US?

Your Love was a hit here for Diana at Christmas 1993 and Luther is supposed to be singing backing vocals on it. I have never been able to hear any trace of him on it at all!

BEST YEARS was released as a single in the US about a month after the boxed set was released.

In an interview with the producer of YOUR LOVE, he mentioned that the Luther background vocals were mixed in a way that he became a part of the instrumentation. But I can't hear him at all. At first, I thought his being listed was a misprint and that he actually sang backup on IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, but that wasn't the case.

**Methuselah2** · 10-26-2014, 12:35 AM

Pure, effortless charm. And they sounded wonderful together. Beautiful posting Gary. Thank you. Had not seen this before.

**no_place_like_motown** · 10-26-2014, 06:20 AM

Luther had always said that he was a big fan of Diana, Aretha and Dionne. He did get to work with all three ladies which if I recall was one of his wishes. He wrote and produced "It's Hard For Me To Say" for Diana, a beautiful ballad with Luther on background vocals.

Studio Version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg7nOnRF4Tg

Live Version from Atlantic City, 2010:

**reese** · 10-26-2014, 10:32 AM

I think somewhere around 1983 or 1984, Luther had the opportunity to produce Diana. But she only wanted him to do a few songs, and he held out for an entire album, as he had done with Aretha and Dionne.

**Philles/Motown Gary** · 10-26-2014, 04:23 PM

Yeah, no_place_like_Motown - I've always loved Diana's "It's Hard For Me To Say". That's why a duet album of Diana & Luther -- produced by Luther -- would have been dynamite. I have to wonder, though -- who would have gotten top billing? Would the album have been titled "Diana & Luther" or "Luther & Diana"?