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🔌 The "background" work that builds your brand

🔌 The "background" work that builds your brand

Take it from Luther Vandross himself 🎙

Shaunda Head
January 04, 2025

In partnership with

👋🏾 Happy New Year everybody 🎉 Here’s what I’ve got for you today:

How Luther Vandross always knew the brand he’d eventually build 📓
My new attitude going into 2025 🔥
Luther’s first (double platinum!) contribution to 🎵

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📣 THE MANIFESTO 📣

These are the House Rules! Get into it.
And when you’re ready…memorize it so you know its real!

I AM A STRAIGHT UP ORIGINAL™.

I am unapologetic in my beliefs and obedient to my gifts.

I do everything with intention because I am passionate about my assignment.

I cannot stand cookie cutter…I value MY story.

And I do not ask permission.

I control my own narrative.

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📓 THE LUTHER VANDROSS PLAYBOOK 📓

Luther Vandross: Never Too Much, CNN and OWN Network

Sometimes we gotta look backwards for the guidance that will change our brand.

This week the Luther Vandross doc, Luther: Never Too Much, debuted on CNN and girlfriend!! It was SO good.

Here are just a couple brand takeaways that came to me that I wanna share…

When your brand pops off, it will be a culmination of all the work you did before.
So what are you working towards?

In brand building, we’re always working towards the brand. Much like the concept that we should always be list building…

The “brand” doesn’t begin with the launch of a project or offer.

We’ve talked before about how your brand is folks’ perception of you when you’re not in the room. That perception comes from everything they know about you.

They are perceiving the sum total of you — the culmination of all that you’ve done.

While watching the new Luther doc, I was so surprised at the amount of work he’d done before his first album, Never Too Much, was released.

In fact, his commercial jingles alone paid him enough money to buy his mama a house 🤯 I never knewwwwwww *Tony Baker voice*

Because to me, his brand is not his jingles.

His brand is Mr. Love Doctor lol. Those smooth vocals. The everlasting songs.

But that prior work allowed him to create the brand.

Singing background for David Bowie led him to the opportunity to open for him, and hone his craft in front of large audiences. Singing background for Roberta Flack empowered him to produce his own album and trademark vocal style.

And it all came together at the exact time it needed to, to allow him (and his brand) to take off.

A brand centered around YOU allows you to show up and just exist.

Yes, Luther was a creative genius who was also responsible for the vocal direction, costuming and set design of his own tours. So don’t get me wrong, the man did a lot of work.

But as his childhood friends can attest, he was living in the dreams of his teenaged self.

He was always this guy. He always had the vision.

His performances were full of sparkles and sequins, yes. But he just let the songs flow through him. He didn’t have to do much, but show up and let the gift shine.

Someone in the doc even called him a “film director for the ears”.

Working in music and entertainment for all those years prior to the “Luther Vandross” brand, allowed him to learn exactly how he wanted to express himself when the time came.

He told band members that he heard a sound in his head; then he sounded it out so the band could replicate it.

The result was his first single, “Never Too Much”.

His sound was already living in his head, y’all. And so too, apparently, were all of his costumes and stages.

You got something that’s been tumbling around in your head, rent-free? Something so different and so unique that it only exists in your head, and will never be born until the day you decide to birth it?

Well imagine you’ve got a whole Never Too Much up there…as in a whole double platinum, Grammy award-nominated, #1 on the Billboard charts project.

It’s a delicate balance, deciding when that baby is due.

Too soon, and your brand may be missing some vital pieces from the background work (pun intended!) it took to get there.

Too long, and you’re just doubting the gift but calling it growth 😬

Luther decided all along that he wouldn’t have a plan B. So much so that he dropped out of college after one year so he wouldn’t lose sight of his path.

If there’s no plan B, then you gotta birth the thing, friends.

You have to give life to what’s living in your head, if you ever want it to exist outside of you.

It has to be you. It has to be.

❝

I did not want a plan B. It’s gonna be this or I’ll be 80 trying to do it.

Luther Vandross

🔥 YOU’VE GOTTA SEE THIS 🔥

A clip that made the rounds this week that you must take with you on your journey.

Mood for 2025!!.

Press Play ▶️

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🎵 ISSA VIBE 🎵

If you’re gonna be coming up with dope ass ideas and strategies, you’re gonna need some dope ass music to inspire you! Here’s a tune that I’ve got on replay this week.

Since we’re talking about it let’s really get into it!!

The album Luther heard in his head👇🏾

Never Too Much

Luther Vandross · Album · 1981 · 7 songs