Luther Vandross Said He Was Bette Midler’s 4th Harlette

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People
Luther Vandross Said He Was Bette Midler’s 4th Harlette
By Meredith Wilshere
April 13, 2026

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In a resurfaced clip posted by Luther Vandross’ official TikTok account, the “Never Too Much” singer chatted with Rosie O’Donnell about his career and early days in the industry while on The Rosie O’Donnell Show in the late ’90s.

When asked about his “big break,” Vandross noted that “David Bowie discovered me.” Bowie met Vandross in a studio session while working on his Young Americans album in 1974.

“Yeah, accidentally, he discovered me singing in a studio with him,” Vandross shared. “I was on the couch — I was visiting the guitar player who I had gone to school with, Carlos Alomar, and I was on the couch singing, and David overheard me and said, ‘Oh, that sounds great, put it on the record.’ “

From there, Vandross noted that the “Heroes” singer introduced him to Bette Midler.

Vandross interrupted his story to say that he had seen Midler during a TV appearance, and she was “going through the list of the Harlettes” — the trio of backup singers who supported the “Wind Beneath My Wings” singer during her live musical performances.

“She went through the list, she went through Katey Sagal, she went through the whole — everyone who was a Harlette, and I’m like ‘Okay, come on, come on’ … and she never mentioned the fact that I was always the fourth Harlette,” he said.

O’Donnell, now 64, chimed in to say that she had seen Midler on tour, but she had “never seen” Vandross in the background.

Vandross explained that he wasn’t seen because he often hid during performances.

“You never saw me because I was really shy and I used to stand behind a curtain with a microphone and a monitor and a music stand,” he shared. “For all those years, I was the fourth Harlette.”

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In addition to Sagal and Vandross, some of the other famous Harlettes include Paulette McWilliams, Jenifer Lewis, Sharon Redd, Linda Hart, Melissa Manchester, Charlotte Crossley and Jocelyn Brown, to name a few.

Vandross died on July 1, 2005, at age 54.