Google honors Luther Vandross with a new Doodle

April 20 (UPI) — Google is celebrating late singer, songwriter and producer Luther Vandross, on what would have been his 70th birthday, with a new Doodle.

Google’s homepage features artwork of Vandross singing alongside a play button. Clicking the play button will start an animated video by Atlanta-based guest artist Sam Bass that covers the singer’s legendary career.

The video is set to Vandross’ “Never Too Much” from 1981 and includes the singer performing onstage and playing the piano on a cloud.

Vandross was born on this day in 1951. He started using coin-operated recording booths around New York City at the age of five and started writing his own songs at 13.

He performed during amateur night at the Apollo theater after high school and joined the theater’s performing arts group Listen My Brother Revue, who performed on the 1969 pilot episode of Sesame Street.

Vandross had his composition “Everybody Rejoice” appear in Broadway musical The Wiz. He then started collaborating with the likes of David Bowie, Ringo Starr, Whitney Houston and Ben. Eking.

Vandross launched his solo career in 1981 with the Never Too Much album, and went on to release 14 studio albums that went platinum or multi-platinum. He earned eight Grammy awards out of 33 nominations, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and eight Billboard Top 10 albums. Vandross also performed at the Super Bowl in 1997.

Vandross died at the age of 54 in 2005.