I believe it was Mr. Stevie Wonder who once said that you don’t want Luther Vandross to remake your song. This is because when Luther Vandross remakes your song, he takes that remake and turns into his own song and improves upon it. No Luther remake is more well known than his rendition of The Carpenter’s “Superstar”.
A little known fact is that The Carpenters actually remade the track themselves. The very first version of the song was recorded by the duo Delaney and Bonnie. The song was written by Leon Russell, and was originally called “Groupie (Superstar)” in reference to the lives of the fans who follow musicians on the road. “Superstar” is the closing track of Luther’s 1983 album Busy Body, and it is definite proof of saving the best for last.
If you’re curious, here’s the original, more uptempo version:
Of course, you can count on Amazon.com to have the original Busy Body cd still available. For a retrospective of Luther’s hits, “Superstar” is also part of the 2 cd “Best of Luther” set.
