If you have missed any of the past Whitney Tribute articles, you can get caught up by checking out:

The Later Years
The Soundtrack Years
The Late ’80s/Early ’90s
and Whitney

And now the one that started it all. This album introduced us to Whitney, and she won the world’s heart. Whitney Houston was released on February 14, 1985. It topped the Billboard 200 chart for 14 weeks in 1986 and generated three number-one singles—”Saving All My Love for You”, “How Will I Know” and “Greatest Love of All”—on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making it the first debut album and the first album by a female artist to achieve that feat.

At the time that Whitney Houston was released, I was in a hard rock/heavy metal phase. But, Whitney’s incredible voice got my attention, and I loved every song I heard by her. She just had hit-after-hit-after-hit. I normally get sick of songs when I hear them too much. But that was not the case here. I loved this album when it came out, and I still listen to these songs today. So, let’s listen to some songs I selected from the album, in no particular order:

“Nobody Loves Me Like You Do”

This song was originally recorded by Anne Murray with Dave Loggins in 1984, and was a #1 country song.
Then Whitney recorded this song with Jermaine Jackson, and did an incredible job.

“You Give Good Love”

This song was released as the lead single from the album. It became a crossover hit, and peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

“Hold Me”

This is my favorite Whitney song that I never personally heard on the radio. It was a duet with legendary former Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes frontman, Teddy Pendergrass. The song actually debuted on the 1984 Pendergrass album Love Language. Then it was put on Whitney’s debut album.

“Greatest Love of All”

This song was written by Michael Masser and Linda Creed and originally recorded by George Benson for the 1977 Muhammad Ali biopic The Greatest. Clive Davis was initially against Houston recording the song for her debut album, but he eventually gave in after persuasion from Houston and Masser. Linda Creed wrote the lyrics in the midst of her struggle with breast cancer. She died from the disease in April 1986 at the age of 36. By that time, Whitney made the song a huge international hit. It was her third #1 hit, and remains her third biggest US hit, after “I Will Always Love You” and “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)”.

“All at Once”

Out of all the great ballads on this album, this one is my favorite:

“How Will I Know”

First of all, if you somehow have any doubt about Whitney’s vocal ability, check out her a cappella version of this song:

“How Will I Know” was Whitney’s third single, and second #1 hit. This was a great fun predecessor to “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)”. Originally, songwriters George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam had written the song’s demo for Janet Jackson. But, Jackson’s management team turned down the song.
Clive Davis and the gang had plenty of ballads and R&B songs for Whitney’s debut album. But they were looking for a pop crossover song. Clive heard the song, and knew it was perfect for Whitney, and the rest is history.

Here is the version we are all familiar with:

“Saving All My Love for You”

“You Give Good Love” may have been Whitney’s lead single, but we will end with “Saving All My Love for You”, which was the song that really put her on the map. It was the first #1 of her historical run of seven straight number 1’s.

Whitney won the 1986 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and the American Music Award for Favorite R&B/Soul Video for “Saving All My Love for You”.

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Now we are getting to “our” Whitney. We have already gone through her Later Years, Soundtrack Years, and Late ’80s/Early ’90s Years. Now we will take a listen to some songs from the classic 1987 album Whitney.

Whitney was Whitney Houston’s second studio album. She set all kinds of records with this album. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart the issue of June 27, 1987, becoming the first album by a female artist, and only the fifth album by a solo artist. The album remained at the top for eleven consecutive weeks, creating a record; the most cumulative weeks (25 weeks) at number one on the albums chart by a female artist during 1980s. Its first four singles—”I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)”, “Didn’t We Almost Have It All”, “So Emotional” and “Where Do Broken Hearts Go”—all peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making her the first female artist to achieve that feat. Along with three straight number one singles from the debut album, they established an unprecedented seven consecutive number one hits by a performer, surpassing the Beatles and the Bee Gees.

Here are some great songs from the album. The first two were not released as singles, but I still love them:

“I Know Him So Well” (duet with Cissy Houston)

“You’re Still My Man”

“Love Will Save the Day”

This song was the fifth single released from the album. It ended the #1 streak. However, it still made the top 10, peaking at #9 on the charts.

“Where Do Broken Hearts Go”

Wherever they go, that’s where they are right now, Whitney. We miss you!

“So Emotional”

This is still one of my favorite Whitney songs.

“Didn’t We Almost Have It All”

“I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)”

This was the first single from the album, and was one of her signature songs.

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We will continue to look back at the music that Whitney left us. We have gone over her Later Years and The Soundtrack Years. Now let’s go over her late ’80s/early ’90s work.

The Star Spangled Banner

“If you were there, you could feel the intensity. You know, we were in the Gulf War at the time. It was an intense time for a country. A lot of our daughters and sons were overseas fighting. I could see, in the stadium, I could see the fear, the hope, the intensity, the prayers going up, you know, and I just felt like this is the moment. And it was hope, we needed hope, you know, to bring our babies home and that’s what it was about for me, that what I felt when I sang that song, and the overwhelming love coming out of the stands was incredible.”

—Whitney Houston talking about how she felt at the moment when she belted out the national anthem at Super Bowl XXV.

Super Bowl XXV would go down in history as one of the greatest Super Bowls of all time, which ended with Buffalo’s Scott Norwood missing the game winning field goal at the end, giving the underdog New York Giants the victory.

However, Whitney made the Super Bowl historic before the opening kick-off. We were in the midst of the first Persian Gulf War, specifically Operation Desert Storm. The nation’s pride was high at the time.
And then Whitney delivered the greatest rendition of the National Anthem of all time. Anybody who performs the song, especially before a big event, will forever be compared to Whitney. And nobody will ever be her equal.

Here is the benchmark performance:

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I’m Your Baby Tonight

She released her third studio album, I’m Your Baby Tonight, in 1990. It would take her 8 years to release her next album. I’m Your Baby Tonight was not as successful as her first two albums, but it was still a hit. Here are some of the songs from that album:

“We Didn’t Know” (with Stevie Wonder)

“I Belong to You”

“My Name Is Not Susan”

“Miracle”

“I’m Your Baby Tonight”

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“One Moment In Time”

Whitney recorded this song for the 1988 Olympics, which were held in Seoul, South Korea. The song would be Whitney’s 10th Top 10 hit.

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At a time when I was in to hard rock, and listened to Motley Crue, Van Halen, AC/DC, and Def Leppard, a beautiful pop singer burst on to the scene, with an incredible voice. Whitney Houston brought me back to pop and R&B. She expanded my musical horizon without feeling guilty. She sang some soaring ballads, and fun dance music. Her music stands the test of time. I wasn’t one of those people that downloaded all of her music after she passed away last week. I already had it all, and still love it! As Whitney is laid today (I am writing this while the funeral is on), let us remember her for her music instead of her problems.
Since there are so many songs that I love, I will split this up over several articles. Let’s start with the more recent songs, and work our way back to her beginnings.

The Later Years

Whitney’s last studio album was 2009’s I Look To You. It was her big comeback album that we were all waiting for. She had finally dropped that dead-weight Bobby Brown, and seemed to be cleaned up. Unfortunately, her voice was a shell of its former glory when she performed live. But, her shell is better than most people at their best. Here are a couple of songs that I like from that album:

I Look to You

I Didn’t Know My Own Strength

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Whitney released her 5th studio album in 2002 called Just Whitney… This is my favorite song from that album:

“Try It On My Own”

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In 1998, Whitney released her first studio album in 8 years, My Love Is Your Love. Here are a few songs from the album. Whitney was obviously a heavy influence on Mariah Carey. They sang a duet together on this album.

Another song of note from this album is “Heartbreak Hotel” in which Whitney sang with Faith Evans and Kelly Price. On February 9, 2012, in a pre-Grammy party to celebrate Price’s nominations, the singer sang “Jesus Loves Me” with Whitney Houston in what turned out to be Houston’s last public performance two days before Whitney’s death.

And the title track, “My Love Is Your Love”, is a great song as well. Here are the songs:

“When You Believe” (with Mariah Carey)

“Heartbreak Hotel” (with Faith Evans and Kelly Price)

“My Love Is Your Love”

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