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Newark’s The Star-Ledger newspaper has chosen Luther Vandross’ rendition of “A House Is Not A Home” as its Song of the Day. The newspaper specifically cites Luther’s performance of the song at the NAACP Image Awards in 1988:

“A House Is Not a Home” was, of course, one of the standards of Luther Vandross’ repertoire, and in this performance, at the 1988 NAACP Image Awards,he really nails it, casually building a warm connection with the audience and somehow dazzling with his technique without ever seeming to show off. This should be required viewing for all “American Idol” contestants.

You can read more at The Star-Ledger website.

CBS is reinstating Luther Vandross as the voice of “One Shining Moment” as the network’s NCAA Tournament tradition celebrates its 25th anniversary next Monday night. Harold Bryant, CBS Sports’ vice president for production, said network executives elected to go back to Luther’s version, which was used for seven years before CBS rolled out a new version by Jennifer Hudson in 2010. “Both versions are great,” he said. “She (Hudson) did a great job. We just felt like we wanted to go back to Luther.” You can read more at The Houston Chronicle website.

Send a special message straight from the heart to the loved ones in your life! Click here to customize a special Luther Vandross E-card and spread the love for Valentine’s Day and all year-round!

More than 200 authentic artifacts and memorabilia representing many facets of African American culture, including items from the slavery era; stage outfits of prominent entertainers such as Luther Vandross, Jimi Hendrix and Bootsy Collins, and notable items from innovators and visionaries such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, have been included in “America I Am,” a traveling museum exhibit currently running through May 1st at the National Geographic Museum in Washington, D.C., and moving to other locations later this year. You can find more information about the exhibit at AmericaIAm.org and The Washington Informer.

The Black Ensemble Theater is producing a new play called All In Love Is Fair, featuring the music of Luther Vandross as well as songs made popular by Brook Benton, James Ingram, Gladys Knight and Roberta Flack. The play will run at the ensemble’s theater in Chicago from March 12th to May 8th. The show tells a story of how the people that live in a fictitious multi-cultural town of Love, Illinois, move in and out of love. For more information and tickets, visit TheaterMania.com.

With just three days left until Christmas, ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) today reported that Luther Vandross’ recording of “Every Year, Every Christmas” was one of 2010’s most-played holiday songs on Urban radio! The song ranked at #5 on ASCAP’s list, based on airplay tracked from October 1st through December 19th this year. The song, released on Luther’s album “This Is Christmas,” was played 3,294 times. Read more at ASCAP.com.

Luther Vandross recorded with many famous friends during his career, and one of them was Darlene Love, with whom he sang “I Listen To The Bells” on the album “This Is Christmas.” You can get into the holiday spirit by listening to the song below!

LutherVandross.com also congratulates the incomparable Ms. Love on her upcoming induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! She also will be appearing on the “Late Show With David Letterman” for her annual Christmas performance this Thursday, December 23rd. Happy holidays to you and yours!

NPR’s “All Things Considered” has featured Luther Vandross in its series of “50 Great Voices,” noting that Luther’s “vocal instrument was supremely fine-tuned, controlled and yet effortless.” Their report also includes comments about Luther from friends and collaborators like Dionne Warwick and Marcus Miller. Dionne said, “When I heard Luther’s voice, I heard peace. It made me feel good.” You can listen to the broadcast below and read the accompanying article at NPR.org.

Billboard magazine has tallied the Top 50 R&B / Hip-Hop artists of the past 25 years, and Luther Vandross is at #7! The rankings were based on performance on the weekly Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts from Jan. 5, 1985 to Nov. 6, 2010. Billboard wrote:

The silky-voiced singer placed 36 hits on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, including 20 top 10s and six No. 1s, between 1985 and 2007. Sadly, his last two appearances followed his passing in 2005 at age 54. The key to Luther Vandross’ staying power was his ability to connect with younger audiences, courtesy of duets with Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey in the ’90s and Beyonce in 2004. Before he suffered a debilitating stroke in 2003, he recorded “Dance With My Father,” which he co-wrote with pop singer/songwriter Richard Marx. The touching ballad won the 2004 song of the year Grammy Award and Vandross’ album of the same name became his first to top the Billboard 200.

You can read the complete list at Billboard.com.

The Legacy team has been doing their daily posts of songs from various artists. Today, Luther Vandross gets the nod for “Never Too Much” and added a little copy to accompany the track. Feel free to visit LegacyRecordings.com to listen to the track, but we are going to post the video here, on Luther’s site.

Enjoy!