His hit songs include "Never Too Much", "Here and Now", "Any Love", "Power of Love/Love Power", "I Can Make It Better" and "For You to Love". Many of his songs were covers of original music by other artists such as "If This World Were Mine" (duet with Cheryl Lynn), "Since I Lost My Baby", "Superstar" and "Always and Forever". Duets such as "The Closer I Get to You" with Beyoncé, "Endless Love" with Mariah Carey and "The Best Things in Life Are Free" with Janet Jackson were all hit songs in his career.
During his career, Vandross sold over 35 million records worldwide, and received eight Grammy Awards including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance four different times. He won a total of four Grammy Awards in 2004 including the Grammy Award for Song of the Year for a song recorded not long before his death, "Dance with My Father".
Possessing a tenor vocal range, Vandross was commonly referred to as "The Velvet Voice" in reference to his exceptional vocal talent, and was sometimes called "The Best Voice of a Generation". He was also regarded as the "Pavarotti of Pop" by many critics.
In 2008, Vandross was ranked No. 54 on Rolling Stone Magazine's List of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. Mariah Carey stated several times in interviews that standing next to Vandross while recording their duet "Endless Love" was intimidating.
By popular vote, Vandross was inducted into The SoulMusic Hall of Fame at SoulMusic.com in December 2012.
Reflections
Luther Vandross Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Time after time
I see reflections of you and me
Reflections of
The way life used to be
Reflections of
The love you took from me
Oh, I'm all alone now
No love to shield me
Trapped in a world
That's a distorted reality
Happiness you took from me
And left me all alone
With only memories
Through the mirror of my mind
Through all these tears that I'm crying
Reflects a hurt I can't control
Although you're gone
I keep holding on
To those happy times
Oh, girl when you were mine
As I peer through the windows
Of lost time
Keeping looking over my yesterdays
And all the love I gave all in vain
(All the love) All the love
That I've wasted
(All the tears) All the tears
That I've tasted
All in vain
Through the hollow of my tears
I see a dream that's lost
From the hurt baby
That you have caused
Everywhere I turn
Seems like everything I see
Reflects a hurt I can't control
In you I put
All my hope and trust
Right before my eyes
My whole world has turned to dust
Reflections of
The love you took from
Reflections of
The way life used to be
In you I put
All my hope and trust
Right before my eyes
My whole world has turned to dust
Now baby, why did you do it?
Reflections
in this song refer to the reflection of the past in the singer's mind. As he looks into the mirror of his mind, he sees the reflection of himself and his former lover. He is lost in old memories and is unable to recover from the heartbreak caused by the loss of this love. The song has a melancholic tone as the singer tries to get over the love that was taken away from him.
He is alone, trapped in a distorted reality with no love to shield him. Reminiscing on the happy times, he holds on to the memories of when he was with her. The singer feels as though he has wasted all the love and tears he invested in the relationship. He is unable to control the hurt caused by her departure.
Through the hollow of his tears, he sees a dream that is lost, and everything he sees reflects the pain he feels. The singer put all his hope and trust in the lost love, and his world has turned to dust. He is left to question why she did it, reflecting on the pain and memories of what could have been.
Line by Line Meaning
Through the mirror of my mind
Looking back on memories in the mind's eye
Time after time
A repetitive action of reminiscing
I see reflections of you and me
The past reflected upon involving the singer and another person
Reflections of
More thoughts on
The way life used to be
What life was like in the past
Reflections of
More thoughts on
The love you took from me
Reminiscing on the loss of a past love
Oh, I'm all alone now
The artist feels lonely in the present
No love to shield me
The artist does not have love to protect them from hurt in their current state
Trapped in a world
Feeling stuck in life
That's a distorted reality
Feeling like things are not real or are not how they should be
Happiness you took from me
The loss of happiness caused by the past love leaving
And left me all alone
Feeling isolated and lonely
With only memories
All that is left to hold onto are memories
Through all these tears that I'm crying
Continually crying over the loss of the past love
Reflects a hurt I can't control
The hurt and pain caused by the past love leaving is overwhelming
Although you're gone
Even though the past love has left
I keep holding on
The singer is still holding onto memories of the happy times shared with the past love
To those happy times
The memories of happy past times
Oh, girl when you were mine
When the past love was with the artist
As I peer through the windows
Looking back through time
Of lost time
Looking back on time that is past
Keeping looking over my yesterdays
Continuing to remember the past
And all the love I gave all in vain
The love given to the past love was not returned
(All the love) All the love
All of the love given that was not returned
(All the tears) All the tears
All the tears shed over the lost love
That I've tasted
The tears that the singer has experienced
All in vain
All of the hurt and pain endured was for nothing
Through the hollow of my tears
Crying constantly over the past love
I see a dream that's lost
A dream of being with the past love again
From the hurt baby
The hurt caused by the past love leaving
That you have caused
The artist is blaming the past love for the hurt they are experiencing
Everywhere I turn
Feeling like there is no escape from the hurt
Seems like everything I see
Everything reminds the artist of the past love
In you I put
The singer put all of their trust in the past love
All my hope and trust
Hoping that the past love would not leave
Right before my eyes
The past love was right in front of the singer
My whole world has turned to dust
The singer feels like their entire world has been destroyed by the loss of the past love
Now baby, why did you do it?
The singer is asking why the past love left them and caused so much hurt
Lyrics © Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Edward Jr. Holland, Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
WAYNE BELL
That’s why they named this album Songs because this man could sing anybodys music. This man could sing the Alphabet song and turn it into a top ten hit!! Incredible artist!!!
james harvey
Luther made me start to sing whether people like me or not. Thanks Luther.
Denise Fields
Reflections by Luther Vandross sing it Luther his vocals are very nice music in the background suits the song enjoyable to the ear
Denise Fields
Reflections by Luther Vandross he's so lost and he's wasted because the woman he loves doesn't love him anymore but he continuously sees reflections of her in his mind he feels like he's the one that's causing so much hurt and now he's down and out because he no longer has his love
Denise Fields
Reflection Luther Vandross nice song nice music and Nice lyrics
Denise Fields
Very nice song by Luther Vandross reflections
Charles Burden
I miss you lived this song two month ago rest in peace
Denise Fields
So after all the things that he's done for her he feels like she just completely abandon him of his love that he had for her very nice lyrics and I think that this man need to sit down and reflect I get itself together because no one is work all these changes
Denise Fields
Reflections by Luther Vandross
gerald deyounge
It nevers see's to amaze me the gIft you are giving. The ladies sound likes birds taken flight.