Whitney's Life Story by Carole Portland

from "WHITNEY HOUSTON" by Carole Portland (published 1994)

Whitney

The opening track of Whitney, the effervescent 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody', seems to fulfill all the promise of the cover photograph, which shows the singer ion a pose very different from that on her debut album. gone is the untouchable look, to be replaced by a far more approachable, down-to-earth Whitney Houston - it could almost be the cover for a Whitney Houston aerobics workout video.
The second track, 'Just The Lonely Talking Again', slows the pace down with a slushy love ballad by Sam Dees (who wrote Larry Graham's US mega-hit 'One In Million You'). Three hit singles follow - 'Love Will Save The Day', 'Didn't We Almost Have It All' and 'So Emotional' - followed by another ballad, 'Where You Are', a somewhat over-produced song of long-distance love. 'Love Is A Contact Sport' is probably the most popular of the tracks that never made it on to a 45, with a heavy kick drum driving the beat along and s very sexy vocal: "You gotta act untamed, If you wanna play the game, So grab my hand and...SLAM!" It was an early sign that Whitney was keen to shake off her "Miss Clean" image and admit there might be more to love than romantic words.
On song that had been considered for Whitney's first album was returned to in 1987: Michael Masser and Garry Coggin's 'You're Still My Man'. It is a simple and unpretentious song, which Whitney brings to a rousing conclusion, but the lyrics are for once a little too cliched to hold much meaning. On the other hand, the Isley Brothers' song 'For The Love Of You' (a 1976 UK Top 30 hit written at the peak of their success) is a superbly laid-back soul song, which forces Whitney to restrain her passion and relax into a gorgeous three-part harmony with herself on backing vocals. Although not released as a single, it was justifiably nominated for a Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance at the March 1988 awards.

'Where Do Broken hearts Go' is followed by the closing track, 'I Know Him So Well', taken from the West End/Broadway hit musical Chess by lyricist Tim Rice and Abba stars Benny Andersson and Beorn Ulvaeus. "I love the song" said Whitney. "I thought it was a classic, actually...I was in Germany and these two young ladies who originally sang the song [Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson] were in the dressing-room next to me and I could hear them singing it...And then, two years later, we were playing through some material for the new album and someone asked me 'Do you like this song?' And there it was!"
On Whitney's version, she is joined on lead vocals by her mother, which brings the album to a very moving climax. On the sleeve notes Whitney thanks her "Mommy" warmly for her contribution: "What a joy and honour to have had the opportunity to be able to do something with you that will be a treasure for me."
Whitney was a massive success, hitting the UK Number 1 and going to the top of US album chart in the first week of release, making her the first female solo artist ever to do so. The album sold five million copies in its first six months of release. It held a fleeting joint record for most US Number 1 singles from one album (four), which was beaten by Michael Jackson a year later. It became the Number 2 best-selling US album of 1987, and Number 3 in the UK's top sellers of the year. According to Russell Ash's book The Top 10 of Music, Whitney is also the Number 10 best-selling album of all time in the Netherlands! Meanwhile, Whitney Houston was selling almost as rapidly, making Number 8 in the year's US albums and topping 13 million sales by the end of 1987.

In May, Whitney Houston, along with more than 60 other singers and bands from around the world, appeared at the Montreux Pop Festival in Switzerland. Characteristically staying out of the limelight at her hotel in Lausanne, Whitney surfaced only twice during the week, for a press conference and a single performance.
Asked at the press conference if fame was turning her head, she said: "I'm coping with it. The only way that it affects me is that I don't have as much time as I used to by myself." She reiterated that fame was no big surprise to her: "What you have to remember," she said simply, "is hat I took my time with this. I didn't just run into this and say 'I want to be a star and singer.' My mother wasn't going to go for that...So i had to finish school; that's all that matters when you're young. So I think I've had my fun in my teen years. There's not anything I particularly miss."

Whitney's 1987 summer tour of the States was her most extensive to date, comprising multiple shows in 25 cities. She opened the tour in Tampa, Florida on July 4 and wound up in Montreal, Canada, on August 28. It was a gruelling schedule - "By the end of tour you really understand the phrase 'There's no place like home'!" she said.
The setting remained "in the round", but this time the song list was far more rich with two full albums to draw on. Cissy Houston often joined Whitney to sing back-up vocals on the gospel standard 'I Believe' and then remained on stage for the big-build-up ballads 'Didn't We Almost Have It All' and 'The Greatest Love Of All'. John Pareles on the New York Times lavishly praised Whitney's sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden, calling her "an encyclopedic, restless virtuoso" whose voice incorporated "everyone from Aretha Franklin to Barbara Streisand to Diana Ross to Al Green". he continued: "She can deliver a gospel rasp, a velvety coo, a floating soprano and cheerleader's whoop," in an article titled: "Whitney Houston Can Sing Up a Storm".

'Didn't We Almost Have It All'

Described by Caroline Sullivan as "irredeemably gooey", Whitney Houston's fifth US Number 1 single is a brilliant ballad - another from the pen of Michael Masser - which Whitney performed with great passion. by final line of the third verse Whitney's voice is so loud that it is shaking the speakers as she sings: "Once you know what love is, you never let it end." It is a touching recollection of a love affair that has gone too far, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for the 1987 Song of the Year.
However, the song itself was among those noted by critics who claimed that Whitney's performance lacked the pain of the heartbreak she sang about, and that she could never truly be called a soul singer, because she did not sing from her soul. Smash Hits again demonstrated their lack of judgement by writing: "She lumbered with an incredibly bland, soulless voice. there's never any emotion in the way she sings." To this accusation, Whitney was quick to retort: "I do sing from my soul," she said. "I'm only 24, so I haven't gone through as much as Billie Holiday. I wasn't a drug addict, I've never felt dark and melancholic. I had a good childhood, no tragedies, and I can only sing from my own life experiences."

'So Emotional'

'So Emotional' was written by the hit-making team William Steinberg and Tom Kelly. It is a crossover rock/pop/dance-floor single, with a pounding rock back-beat and raunchy lead break played by Carnado Rustici on guitar synth; it takes Whitney's voice from the highest pitch to the lowest funky growl. It was her sixth US Number 1 single in a row, equalling a record previously shared only by the Beatles and the Bee Gees. The single was Whitney's first step away from the "tame" sound of love ballads into something more raw and gritty, and although she has never left the romantic songs behind, she has gone on to spread her wings wider and wider. Even heavy metal singer Zodiac Mindwarp (guest singles reviewer in Smash Hits) was impressed by the record. "This is a good record," he wrote, "and very tough for Whitney. She's got wonderful legs and she's a great singer."

A Very Special Christmas

A Very Special Christmas (1987) is an album of exclusive "Christmassy" recording by celebrated artists compiled to raise money for Special Olympics international. The beautiful red-and-gold sleeve was designed by US artist Keith Haring, and the album features tracks by Madonna, Bon Jovi, Sting, U2, the Pointer Sisters, Eurythmics, Bruce Springsteen and others. Whitney contributed the gospel song 'Do You hear What I Hear?' aided by vocal from Darlene love, a veteran of Phil Spector's Sixties pop factory. The song reappeared on CD version of 'I Will Always Love You' in 1992.

Although it is a powerfully emotional ballad 'Where Do Broken Hearts Go' is likely to be remembered not for its music and lyric but for breaking a long-standing US chart record. Seizing the top spot once more in February 1988, Whitney was the first artist in history to have seven consecutive Billboard Number 1 singles.
In March 1988 Whitney was awarded the Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody'. At the awards she cried out "I love you Clive! I love you Arista!" and later she said to reporters "I can't tell you how I feel. It's so...emotional!"

Meanwhile, Whitney had reached the UK on her latest world tour, making appearances at Birmingham's NEC (five consecutive nights) and London's Wembley Arena. The Wembley dates accounted for yet another broken record - a run of nine shows, which was the most by any solo performer at that time.
The tour was once again "in the round", and Whitney was led through the crowd to the stage to begin the set with a rousing 'Didn't We Almost Have It All', usually dressed in a long, plain coat, which she then removed to reveal a black silk halter to and knee-length pink satin skirt. In the Guardian Adam Sweeting marvelled at her pristine beauty: "Despite the occasional gleam of perspiration," he said, "she looked throughout as though she'd just stepped out of a hat box."
Reportedly inspired by a visit to Michael Jackson's extravagant Bad Tour in New York, the show had a stronger accent on movement and variety than ever before, and team of dancers took the stage for the faster numbers. A passionate version of '(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman' saw Whitney alone on stage, but for other numbers she was joined by her saxophonist, or keyboard player with portable synthesizer.

Organized by Artists Agains Apartheid, a British awareness-raising pressure group, the Nelson Mandela Tribute Concert in London in June 1988 was intended to be something of a "Live Aid 2". The world's pop stars came together for one spectacular 11-hour gig to remind the public of the long imprisonment of nelson Mandela in South Africa. Whitney Houston, normally wary of involvement with political issues, was crucially important to the credibility of the venture, as a representative of America's major black talent. Barry Marshall, promoter of Whitney's massive European tour, offered to talk to the star, and persuaded her to postpone. a gig already planned for Milan, Italy on June 11.
Whitney was joined by Phil Collins, Al green, George Michael, Peter Gabriel, Roberta Flack, Stevie Wonder, and dozen of other celebrities, and the show was transmitted live on British television and radio by BBC. On US television the Fox Network aired a controversially "edited" version which strategically removed many of the references to the concert's political motive, using the evasive title "Freedomfest".
It soon became clear that apartheid was an issue that Whitney Houston felt very strongly about. Apparently, during her brief time as a model, Whitney had refused to promote any company that had branches in South Africa, and it was even suggested that Whitney had been in communication with Nelson Mandela's wife, Winnie.

Before the show even began, Whitney was the subject of an unusual tribute from South Africa. on the afternoon of the concert, the Anti-Apartheid Movement distributed a statement from Ahmed Kathrada, who at 58 was the youngest of the ANC rebels who were sentenced to life imprisonment along with Mandela: "You lucky guys. What I wouldn't give just to listen to Whitney Houston!" said Ahmed. "I must have told you that she has long been mine and Walter's [Walter Sisulu - fellow prisoner aged 76] top favorite. In our love and admiration for Whitney we are prepared to be second to none!"
Perhaps Whitney was aware of her glowing review, because she entertained with brimming energy. it was a disappointment for some - an earlier announcement had promoted an "all gospel" set, which never materialized - but the audience were treated to a duet by Whitney and her mother, the gospel song 'I Believe', which Whitney dedicated to "Nelson Mandela and his family, and for all of my South Africa brothers and sisters".

As the new decade approached, Whitney's career was quieter than usual, though she was far from idle. In 1988 she had contributed vocals to a song called 'hold Up the Light' from BeBe (Benjamin) & CeCe(Priscilla) Winans' album Heaven. Also, while performing live in London, she recorded the title track to an Arista Records compilation album in commemoration of the 1988 Olympics in Los Angeles. The album was called One Moment In Time, and the eponymous single was yet another Number 1 hit got Whitney on both sides of the Atlantic. The single was one of the Top 20 hits of the year in the UK and Whitney was nominated for a Grammy for Best female Pop Vocal Performance. Sadly the record was deleted in 1990.
In 1989 Whitney's voice was heard on a new single by a lady she once knew as "Aunt Ree" - one of her mother's oldest friends, Aretha Franklin. her Album Through The Storm featured a funky soul groove called 'It's Isn't, It Wasn't, It Ain't never Conna be' (a kind of sequel to Aretha's collaboration with The Eurythmics on 'Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves'), which was released as a single in September 1989, reaching Number 41 in the US and 29 in the UK.
Meanwhile, Whitney was considering an even more diverse move - a career in the movies. The scripts were flooding in, with potential co-stars rumored to include Robert De Niro and Eddie Murphy (with whom was said to be romantically "connected" for a while). But the right film had not come along.

In the summer of 1989, she joined her friends the Winans on a tour of the US as a back-up singer. the tour was perfectly timed for Whitney, Not only was it an opportunity to return to her gospel roots, but it was also a chance to sing without feeling the pressure of the audience's expectations. The Winans' following was a predominantly gospel crowd, so Whitney was able to relax in the back-ground and just let go. Whitney's cousin Dionne Warwick and soul singer Luther Vandross also guested at some of the Winans' shows.

Whitney's next single, in October 1990, was the title of her forthcoming third LP, released later the same year. 'I'm Your Baby Tonight' was a clear indication that this was going to be a relentless dance album. Whitney gives the song a potent sound with throaty, soulful growls and uninhibited squeals and screams. It makes a perfect single and a perfect opening track, as Whitney wraps up the instant thrill of love at first sight with the irresistible, sexy beat of a pop song. No wonder the song was so popular - only a woman with this much class could make a song about a passionate one-night stand sound lie a love song!
`I'm Your baby Tonight' was nominated for a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal performance in 1991, but was beaten by newcomer Mariah Carey with 'Vision Of love' - one of many new artists who had surfaced in the late Eighties as pretenders to Whitney's throne. However, the competition was not something that troubled Whitney, confident in her own charisma. As she explained later: "People who go out and buy me, buy me for me. Furthermore, I came out first anyways [laughs]...anybody that's gonna come has definitely got to come after. they don't say I sound like Mariah Carey, they say Mariah Carey sounds like me, you get what I'm saying?"

To call I'm Your Baby Tonight long-awaited would be one of pop music's greatest understatements. Despite Whitney's regular appearances in the singles chart, the world had been waiting three and a half years for a new Whitney Houston album. Released in 1990, I'm Your Baby Tonight represented a major turning-point in Whitney's career as she launched herself into the Nineties with a renewed passion for pop music in all its different forms.