Luther: Never Too Much

Dawn Porter's 2024 documentary is about the singer Luther Vandross. He began his career singing backing vocals for other artists; the albums under his own name sold heavily, but for a long time he could not move beyond one category of music. The argument concerns the reason for that limit. Vandross wanted to reach a wide audience and the industry kept him in a fixed place; the narrative shows this not simply as a commercial matter but as a structure tied to the racial division of the period. Archive recordings and Vandross's own interviews are used, with Mariah Carey and Dionne Warwick among those who speak. The documentary touches briefly on questions about his private life and keeps largely to the music. Who it's for: those who like American popular music and music documentary. Who it's not for: viewers wanting detail about the private life; the documentary keeps its distance there.