There's Nothing Better Than Love

"There's Nothing Better Than Love" — Luther Vandross and Gregory Hines

Two Giants of Entertainment Meet on Record

In the spring of 1987, if you were looking for evidence that Black entertainment was operating at a particular peak of sophistication and craft, you did not need to look far. Luther Vandross had spent the early part of the decade constructing one of the most distinctive adult R&B catalogs in American music; Gregory Hines had evolved from one of the great tap dancers of his generation into a film actor and performer of considerable range. "There's Nothing Better Than Love" brought them together on a duet that felt less like a commercial pairing and more like two friends settling into something comfortable and joyful together.

Luther Vandross's Place in 1987

By the time this single charted, Vandross had already accumulated an extraordinary run of R&B success. His albums consistently reached the top of the R&B chart; his concerts were events; his voice was recognized as one of the genuinely great instruments in contemporary soul music. The song appeared on the album Give Me the Reason, released in 1986, which demonstrated his range as both a singer and a producer. Vandross's production style was lush without being overwrought, built on arrangements that gave vocalists room to breathe and audiences room to feel. On a duet with Hines, that generosity of space proved essential.

The Chart Run

The single debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on March 14, 1987, at position 96, and worked its way steadily upward through the spring. It reached its peak of number 50 on May 9, 1987, spending 14 weeks on the chart in total. On the R&B chart, its heartland, the performance was more substantial. The song captured the particular energy of the late-1980s moment in soul: polished, romantic, built for adult ears, carrying genuine warmth without tipping into sentimentality.

The Collaboration and What Made It Work

Gregory Hines brought something distinctive to the recording: a performer's quality of presence, the sense that he was fully inhabiting the moment rather than simply delivering lines on cue. Vandross, as producer as well as singer, created an arrangement that framed Hines without overshadowing him. The interplay between the two voices has a relaxed, almost conversational quality that suggests comfort with each other even if their primary professional identities were not in pop music. The result is warm in a way that purely crafted duets sometimes miss.

A Moment of Black Creative Excellence

The song stands now as a small but telling document of a particular creative moment in American entertainment. Vandross and Hines were both artists who brought technical mastery to work that prioritized feeling over technique, an unusual combination that gave their best performances their particular depth. Vandross in particular would continue building one of the great R&B catalogs of the next two decades; his voice remained a point of reference for soul singers well into the 2000s. "There's Nothing Better Than Love" achieved 47 million YouTube views across the years following its release, evidence that audiences keep returning to it not purely for nostalgia but for the genuine pleasure of the performance. The late-1980s period that produced this recording now looks, in retrospect, like a high-water mark for polished adult R&B, and Vandross was at its center. Gregory Hines, for his part, continued working prolifically in film, television, and theater until his death in 2003. The warmth of this collaboration remains as a record of two immense talents genuinely enjoying each other's company.

Find a quiet evening for this one. Let the arrangement settle around you and hear what two enormously talented people sound like when they are genuinely having a good time.

"There's Nothing Better Than Love" — Luther Vandross with Gregory Hines' singular moment on the 1980s charts.