Don’t Want To Be A Fool – Luther Vandross | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning

Chart Performance: Pop (#9) and R&B (#4); 1991

Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne

Luther’s success on the R&B chart picked up steam throughout the 1980’s, yet, similar pop success eluded him. In fact, Luther’s wouldn’t crack the pop Top 10 until 1990 with Here And Now, by which time he had already placed 17 R&B top-tenners, among them four #1’s, and released six platinum selling albums.

By the spring of 1991, Luther was in the middle of a career-high run of 11 straight R&B hits. With the release of his Power Of Love album that April, the pop world finally took serious notice. First the title single stormed into the Top 5 of the pop, R&B, and Adult Contemporary charts.

Then, Don’t Want To Be A Fool – written by Luther and long-time associate Marcus Miller – followed suit, also crossing over from R&B to the pop and AC rankings. He polished off 1991 by snagging a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance.

This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.

Produced by:

Lyrics Written by:

  • Luther Vandross
  • Marcus Miller

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Ed Osborne

Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).