Google has released a Luther Vandross Doodle on what would be the late singer's 70th birthday. 

The New York-born singer was born in the Bronx in 1951 on April 20 and rose to fame through his writing and performance skills. 

The 33-time Grammy nominee Vandross co-wrote David Bowie's Fascination as well as Everybody Rejoice for the 1975 Broadway musical The Wiz, before launching a solo career in 1981. 

The Google Doodle today is inspired by the debut solo album from Vandross, Never Too Much, which reached No. 1 on the R&B charts and was the first of 14 studio albums that went either platinum or multiplatinum.

He also performed the half-time show at the 1997 Super Bowl. 

Vandross suffered from diabetes and hypertension and had a severe stroke in 2003 that left him in a wheelchair. He died of a heart attack on 1 July 2005 at the age of 54.

The family of Vandross praised Google's tribute in a statement released through the social media giant.

It read: "It is a true reflection of Luther Vandross' musical legacy around the world to be honored by Google with an animated video Doodle that fittingly captures the joy Luther has brought the world.

""Luther made each of his songs about one simple, universal subject -- love; an emotion and feeling common to the human experience no matter who you are, where you're from or what you look like."