The song also peaked at 21 in the UK Singles Chart. With his death in 2005, "Dance with My Father" was the last top 40 hit for Luther Vandross in the United States, peaking at number 38. After the performance, Vandross however accepted the awards on a videotaped speech. At the same event, singer Celine Dion agreed to perform a live rendition of the song in lieu of Vandross, and Marx accompanied her on the piano as she recently lost her father.
Marx accepted the award on behalf of Vandross, who was unable to attend due to health concerns. In February 2004, "Dance with My Father" earned Vandross and Marx a Grammy Award for Song of the Year and Vandross a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. "Dance with My Father" became one of the most requested songs at the time, spawning "a number of weepy phone calls and requests". The director asked permission from the label, but it was not until after the hospitalization that J Records permitted the airplay, following the song being featured in Boston Public on April 28, 2003. Before his stroke, Vandross wrote to WLTW's program director, informing him of what he considered to be his "career song". For instance, it achieved top position in WLTW, which was one of the first stations in the United States to play the track. Reception Īlthough Vandross was unable to promote the latest project, "Dance with My Father" was able to reach number one on music stations. For Larry Flick of The Advocate, it transformed the song into "a haunting composition rife with subtext". On his review for the album, David Jeffries of AllMusic wrote that its release "makes the song's references to absent loved ones even more poignant".
This timely release of the song gained attention from critics. Īt the time of "Dance with My Father"'s release as a single on May 30, 2003, Vandross had been hospitalized due to his suffering from stroke. I was so surprised that at 7 + 1⁄ 2 years of age, he could remember what a happy household we had." Barry Walters of Rolling Stone magazine qualifies the memories invoked in the lyrics as painful and private, adding that when Vandross asks God to return his father, it "turn a potentially maudlin song into a meditative, deeply personal prayer".
Mary Ida, his mother, says, "I was amazed at how well Luther remembered his father, how we used to dance and sing in the house. On the backdrop of strings and interplay of piano and drums, Vandross recalls fond memories with his late father who used to dance with his mother. Vandross wrote "Dance with My Father" with Richard Marx.
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