A Heartbreaking Childhood Tragedy Inspired Luther Vandross’ Final Top 10 Single in 2003

In 2003, Luther Vandross released “Dance With My Father”, a song that would become his final Top 10 single. “Dance With My Father” is the title track of Vandross’s last studio album before he passed away in 2005.

“Dance With My Father” was written by Vandross and Richard Marx. The song says in part, “If I could get another chance / Another walk, another dance with him / I’d play a song that would never, ever end / How I’d love, love, love / To dance with my father again.“

Vandross was inspired by his own childhood tragedy to write “Dance With My Father”.  Vandross was just eight years old when his father died from complications from diabetes.

When Vandross and Marx wrote “Dance With My Father”, they had already been friends for a few years, as well as occasional collaborators. Still, “Dance With My Father” became the first emotionally charged song the two wrote together.

The Story Behind “Dance With My Father” by Luther Vandross

Years later, Marx still vividly recalled how he and Vandross wrote “Dance With My Father”.

“In 2003, he rang me up one day,” Marx tells Smooth Radio. “He said, ‘I’ve got an idea for a song, and only you can write it for me. And it’s called ‘Dance With My Father’.’ All he had was the title.

“He told me kind of what he wanted it to be about,” Marx continues. “I went off and wrote some music, and sent it to him. He loved it. He had so many lyrics. My original melody was not a lot of notes. There were longer notes. To hear Luther’s voice hold a note was just heaven.”

Marx remembers how easy the two friends were able to complete “Dance With My Father”, one of Vandross’s biggest hits. Sadly, Vandross was never fully able to promote “Dance With My Father”, due to his own health struggles.

“He changed the verse melody a little bit, but it was, again, effortless,” Marx reveals. “And he went into the studio and recorded it ten days before he had the stroke that ultimately took him from us. It was the last song he ever recorded, and I think the last song he ever wrote.

“Luther really felt like ‘Dance With My Father’ would be a hit,” he adds. “But more importantly, he said, ‘This is the most important song of my life.’”

In fact, Vandross said “Dance With My Father” would be similar to him as “Piano Man”, one of Billy Joel’s biggest hits.

“This is my signature song; this is what I’m going to sing for the rest of my life,” Vandross claimed. “This is how I’m going to be associated.”

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