To: Fred Bronson
Your decision to put Mariah Carey's name before Whitney Houston's is perplexing to me since Whitney is so obviously the bigger star. Whitney's career has spanned 15 years. She has recorded only three studio albums and yet is the biggest-selling female artist in history. She has acted in three huge box-office movies. She has starred in the most-watched miniseries of 1997 ("Cinderella"). Mariah, although very successful in her own right, has not accomplished half of what Whitney has. Perhaps more thought should have been put into who should receive top billing for "When You Believe."
Jimmy

To: Fred Bronson
Just a little concerned. I don't know which of the artists should get top billing on the song. But what I do know is that Whitney Houston will once again prove that she has what it takes to remain on top as the No. 1 diva. This entire Whitney Houston/Mariah Carey collaboration will be quite interesting to see as I am sure it will break all chart records.
Question: Whose name will appear first on the album and single ? How did those involved in making this type of decision decide?
Matthew Henderson

Dear Jimmy and Matthew,
The billing on "When You Believe" is going to be split down the middle. The radio-only single I received this week lists Whitney Houston first, but I've been told by DreamWorks that half the albums will list Whitney first and the other half will list Mariah first. So to be fair, I'll split the credit down the middle too, listing it one way one week and the other way the following week. As for how credits are determined, who wouldn't have wanted to be a fly on the wall in the negotiations between Whitney's people and Mariah's people on this one!