Luther Vandross, Club Tattoo, and a Glass of Ice Water
Fresh off the experience of somehow manifesting the money I needed to produce a concert, I was determined to make the evening a success.
It was the early 1990s, and I was preparing to perform my cabaret show at Club Tattoo in New York City. My sisters were in town. My closest friends were there. The room was filling up. For a struggling artist trying to carve out a place in New York, it felt like a very big night.
Club Tattoo came into my life through my Dreamgirls castmate Lauren Vélez (I Like It Like That), who was working there as a waitress at the time and introduced me to the management. They booked the show, and suddenly I had an opportunity to put my music and storytelling in front of an audience of my own.
Like so many stories from my life, this one somehow begins with Dreamgirls.
One of my friends, Michael, was helping me at the box office that night. Another friend, who happened to be close friends with Luther Vandross, had promised to bring Luther to hear me sing.
No pressure.
As showtime approached, I stopped by the box office to check on things. Michael was standing there drinking a large glass of ice water.
“Everything’s fine,” he said. “I just need to go check on something. Hold this.”
Before I could object, he handed me the glass.
A moment later, the front door opened.
In walked Luther Vandross.
We had met before, so the greeting was casual.
“Hi, Luther.”
“Hi, Lee.”
Then his eyes drifted down to the large glass of ice water in my hand.
“You’re drinking ice water before you sing?”
Time stopped.
My jaw dropped.
I felt like the wrongly accused. I felt like I needed an attorney.
The irony is that Michael was in law school at the time. Unfortunately, my attorney had abandoned me, and I was left holding the evidence.
Of all the moments for one of the greatest vocalists who ever lived to walk through the door, it had to be while I was standing there looking like a cautionary tale from a voice lesson.
Fortunately, Luther was gracious, as always.
The show went well. Afterwards, I sat at his table for a while and we talked. At the time, it felt like one of those funny New York stories performers collect along the way.
A couple of years later, Lauren and I would find ourselves acting opposite one another on New York Undercover. Neither of us could have predicted that on those Club Tattoo nights. She was waitressing while pursuing her acting career. I was working a day job while producing concerts and trying to build a life in the theatre.
Life has a way of connecting the dots long after the fact.
Years later, Luther would once again be sitting in an audience connected to my Dreamgirls journey. During the 20th Anniversary Concert of Dreamgirls, Audra McDonald played Deena Jones, Billy Porter played James “Thunder” Early, and I reprised my original Broadway role.
Looking back, what I remember most isn’t the embarrassment of the ice water.
It’s the reminder that New York is a city built on possibility.
People spend years becoming who they are going to become. Sometimes they’re waiting tables. Sometimes they’re working the box office. Sometimes they’re working a day job and singing at night.
And sometimes one of the greatest singers in the world walks through the front door.
You never know which night will become a story you’ll still be telling thirty years later.
But if you’re unlucky enough to be holding someone else’s glass of ice water when Luther Vandross arrives, trust me, you’ll remember it forever.
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