One of this year's documentary darlings at the Sundance Film Festival, a look at the life and career of Luther Vandross, makes its theatrical debut in select cities this week. Ahead of its wider, planned streaming release in 2025, Legacy Recordings will issue a new double-disc anthology of his work, accompanied by several rare and unreleased tracks.

Never Too Much: Greatest Hits, available December 13, offers 20 tracks on two CDs that represent the cream of Vandross' solo career. In addition to unforgettable hits across the three decades he released albums - including "Never Too Much," "Here and Now," "Power of Love/Love Power," "I'd Rather" and "Dance with My Father" - fans will delight at four rare and unreleased recordings. The first, a cover of The Beatles' "Michelle," was released this past Friday and highlighted in The Weekend Stream. It was discovered by Vandross' longtime friend and collaborator, vocalist Fonzi Thornton, on a cassette in the late singer's archive, marked only with his name, the title, and a date of June 1, 1989. (A radio edit is exclusive to the 2CD set; the full version will feature on both the CD and double vinyl pressings.) Additional extras include the unissued outtake "Speak Your Love," a new mix of "Never Too Much" by Belgian DJ Lost Frequencies, and a rare radio mix of the song "Get Myself Together," recorded during the Never Too Much sessions in 1979 and released in 2016 on an album by Bronx producer Louie Vega, one half of the Masters At Work remix/production duo.

Known for his velvety smooth voice, at home equally on disco tracks and impassioned ballads, Luther Vandross' music was part of the cultural fabric for much of the '80s and '90s, but today it feels like he never quite got his due, even after his death in 2005 due to complications from a stroke he suffered two years prior. He was one of the most tireless workers in soul and pop music: for more than a decade before he signed a deal with Epic Records, he'd gone from amateur nights at The Apollo in Harlem to a Black theatre troupe called Listen My Brother - who appeared at the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival (documented in Questlove's Oscar-winning Summer of Soul documentary) and in the pilot episode of Sesame Street - and spent the '70s as one of the first-call backing vocalists of the Northeast, appearing on Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway, David Bowie's Young Americans, CHIC's self-titled debut and countless others.

He sang commercial jingles, wrote "Everybody Rejoice/A Brand New Day" for the Broadway musical The Wiz, formed a vocal group that stiffed so bad that he bought the masters to keep the records out of public consumption (they were released on CD by Legacy earlier this year), and served as a voice to the European disco project Change, whose "The Glow of Love" was a dance chart-topper. All but one of his studio albums went platinum or multiplatinum in America (as well as three compilations and three singles), and he added eight Grammys and eight American Music Awards to his shelf, along with a posthumous induction into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 2021. Notoriously private on personal matters, from his sexuality to his occasionally fluctuating weight, Luther: Never Too Much aims to finally paint a whole picture of the man behind the music - and Never Too Much: Greatest Hits introduces fans of all stripes to the music that made the man.

Never Too Much: Greatest Hits hits stores on December 13, with a slew of new merch bundles available on the singer's official webstore. A streaming release of the documentary, titled Luther: Never Too Much is expected on Max in 2025. Pre-order your copies below; as an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Never Too Much: Greatest Hits (Epic/Legacy, 2024)

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

* previously unreleased
+ CD bonus track

CD 1

1. Never Too Much
2. Power of Love/Love Power
3. Give Me the Reason
4. Stop to Love
5. Take You Out
6. Any Love
7. Michelle *
8. Here and Now
9. I'd Rather (Radio Version)
10. So Amazing

CD 2

1. Dance with My Father
2. Speak Your Love *
3. The Closer I Get to You (Duet with Beyoncé)
4. Endless Love (Duet with Mariah Carey)
5. Always and Forever
6. A House is Not a Home
7. Superstar/Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)
8. Never Too Much (Lost Frequencies Edit) *
9. Get Myself Together (Louie Vega Radio Remix)
10. Michelle (Radio Edit) * +

CD 1, Track 1 and CD 2, Track 6 from Never Too Much - Epic FE 37451, 1981
CD 1, Track 2 from Power of Love - Epic EK 46789, 1991
CD 1, Tracks 3-4 and 10 from Give Me the Reason - Epic FE 40415, 1986
CD 1, Track 5 and original version of Disc 1, Track 9 from Luther Vandross - J 80813 20007-2, 2001
CD 1, Track 6 from Any Love - Epic OE 44308, 1988
CD 1, Track 8 from The Best of Luther Vandross...The Best of Love - Epic E2K 45320, 1989
CD 2, Tracks 1 and 3 from Dance with My Father - J 82876 51885-2, 2003
CD 2, Tracks 4-5 from Songs - Epic/LV EK 57775, 1994
CD 2, Track 7 from Busy Body - Epic FE 39196, 1983
Original version of CD 2, Track 9 from NYC Disco - Nervous NER24000, 2016