Luther Vandross was one the greatest to have ever done it, hands down. But before we came to know him as LUTHER, those in the music industry knew him as the highly sought-after background vocalist, music producer, vocal arranger, and songwriter. Everyone from Chaka Khan, to Barbra Streisand, David Bowie, Donna Summer, and more requested Luther to contribute to their music. He was in-demand.

The only thing many couldn’t figure out was why Luther wasn’t eagerly jumping all over the deals that several record labels were throwing his way back in the day. The reason is because from the very beginning of his career, Luther had great business sense and was so much more than just a crooner. Labels learned real quick that they couldn’t wool over his eyes. How so? Because the “Superman” singer continuously held out on signing hefty record contract offers for a long time, until his two non-negotiable demands were met:
(1) That he can contractually maintain 100% creative control over his art.

(2) That he own ALL rights to his music publishing.

In the ’80s, and even today, an artist maintaining full creative control, and owning 100% publishing rights are oftentimes a big ‘no-no’ in the music industry. So, record labels were not trying to hear what Luther was demanding. His contractual demands were not standard practice, especially for an African American R&B artist back then (unfortunately). In return, Luther wasn’t trying to hear what those record label execs had to say either.

Eventually, Luther got what he felt was rightfully his and we’re glad he did. As a result, he was able to express himself, creatively, exactly the way he wanted to, while gracing us with timeless music in the process. And an additional benefit is that Luther’s business decision allowed him and his loved ones to be financially set. It’s been said that at one point, Luther made so much money from his publishing and songwriting, that he was able to buy his home for $6 million in cash, which was a lot for many artists back then. Most Black R&B artists of Luther’s era  just didn’t have a cool six mil’ resting in their bank accounts like that…not to the capacity that they wouldn’t flinch over it after spending it in one lump sum.

Luther’s family allegedly still owns all of his publishing rights. After Luther passed, his Mother inherited the rights to his song catalogue, and after she passed, a male relative reportedly inherited it.

A List Of Other Music Legends Who Fought Tooth And Nail For Their Song Publishing Rights

We all know it’s been a long fought, public battle for Prince, who in 1993 had the word ‘slave’ carved onto his face to protest the ‘slave-like’ control that Warner Bros. had over his music, his creativity, and his name. So he left the mainstream scene for 18 years and did his own thing independently somehow. He eventually regained control of his name and in August of 2014, he resigned with Warner Bros. after they agreed to give him full ownership of his publishing for all of his 80’s music. Hand clap for Prince for standing up to the corporate music machine.

Y’all know MJ didn’t play when it came to his publishing rights. Many didn’t know that Michael was one of the best businessmen in the entire music industry- from the soul genre, to pop, to hip hop- MJ owned a piece of it all and a lot of music execs didn’t like it.They apparently felt like MJ was ‘overstepping his boundaries.’ I never understood that by the way, was it because “his place” should have been just in an artist’s box? Did they think that an artist should not be allowed to have the same rights as their often cut throat head honchos of these corporations do? MJ never backed down from the intimidation tactics that were often used against him in the industry and to this day his estate also owns the Beatles catalogue (which included many other high selling artists). He purchased it for $47.5 million and it’s now worth an estimated $2 billion. Ten years after buying that catalogue, he agreed to let Sony buy half of it for $90 million, so to this day the Jackson estate owns the other half.

George Clinton was one of the few artists who actually owned the rights to his publishing, but due to a few financial set backs and hard times personally, his rights were sold of during him filing bankruptcy many years ago. The problem is that allegedly after a certain amount of years had passed, he was supposed to be given back his publishing, but he says that hasn’t happened yet, so he’s spent 3 million dollars in recent years battling it out in court with his former labels and publishing house. George says he will continue to fight until his last breathe, because he knows his family and the families of all of his former band mates deserve it.