Song Of The Day: Cheryl Lynn and Luther Vandross “If This World Were Mine”

“If This World Were Mine” was originally written by Marvin Gaye and recorded by Gaye and Tammi Terrell in 1967 as the B-side to “If I Could Build My Whole World Around You”.

In 1982, Luther Vandross applied his soul stirring gifts of arrangement and song interpretation to Gaye’s creation and gifted it to Cheryl Lynn for her Instant Love album. At the risk of stoking debate, this is one of those situations where the cover outshines the original. Vandross and Lynn peaked at the 30 spot on the 1982-83 Billboard 100 chart with this duet, but in the hearts of R&B lovers for whom Vandross owned the ’80s, it means a lot more than that chart position. And cheers to a recent wedding client who chose this as the first dance song with her husband and reminded me to return this to my slow song rotation.

Song Of The Day: Cheryl Lynn and Luther Vandross “If This World Were Mine”