Voices: R.I.P. Whitney Houston (1963-2012)
She was a power house and a natural from the beginning, from the time I saw her in her mother’s act to the time I introduced her on the Merv Griffin show. You went to see the show and heard what they were doing abroad and you would hear Whitney Houston sing Home and it would send shivers through you.
This was an incredible natural, natural vocalist. She became more and more familiar in the studio. Michael Masser is a perfectionist, of all of the producers he was the perfectionist and every note and every sound — he was putting her through the paces of singing, so I’m sure she learned in the making of this album, it wasn’t that she knew how to record. She would just sing. I know on the front line, he very much was there, but he and I had become very good friends by that point. He played takes for me, rough cuts for me and I’d make some comments. She was always very willing, a workaholic. She would go back and do it and it wouldn’t be a problem.
- Arista Records producer Clive Davis, Gulf News
2. How Will I Know?
Her decision not to follow the more soulful inflections of singers like Franklin drew criticism by some who saw her as playing down her black roots to go pop and reach white audiences. The criticism would become a constant refrain through much of her career. She was even booed during the “Soul Train Awards” in 1989.
“Sometimes it gets down to that, you know?” she told Katie Couric in 1996. “You’re not black enough for them. I don’t know. You’re not R&B enough. You’re very pop. The white audience has taken you away from them.”
- Nekesa Mumbi Moody, Associated Press
3. One Moment In Time
Two years ago, Bobby spent a lot of time with me while I was on tour. And on his tour I spent a lot of time with him. We watched each other. I admire him because he makes people go where he wants them to go. Bobby’s very sensual, very sexual onstage. Women watch my husband with an intensity that I’ve never seen before. It’s like they get turned on.
I’ve learned to be freer from Bobby. I’ve learned to be a little more loose. Not so contained, you know? I like the way my husband moves – I wish I could move like him. He just naturally has this . . . [imitates Bobby's strut in her seat and laughs wildly]. And since I’ve been around him, I’ve gotten, you know, a little bit freer with my shit [laughs].
Bobby’ll listen to me sing, and we’ll work on things together. Like falsetto, different voices, things that he wants to learn how to do with his voice. And he’ll say to you today that he’s become a better vocalist by being with me. I help him with his breathing, and I help him keep his voice in shape.
- Whitney Houston, Rolling Stone, 1993
Between 1985 and 1990, Houston topped the Billboard charts nine times, including a spectacular run of seven consecutive No. 1’s. “Saving All My Love for You,” “How Will I Know,” “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” “So Emotional” — this was the friendly sound of adult contemporary music. Houston didn’t sing for the city streets or for the suburbs: She reached everybody. In so doing, she became a model for current female pop stars to emulate — post-ethnic and relentlessly positive, with a voice larger than life.
It was a role she was born to fill. Houston was born into one of Newark’s first musical families — her mother, Cissy Houston, was a member of gospel standouts the Drinkard Singers before embarking on a successful solo career. Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick were her cousins, and her godmother was the Queen of Soul herself. (“How Will I Know,” the most upbeat of Houston’s early singles, was addressed to Aretha Franklin.) The elder Houston sang, for years, at New Hope Baptist Church, and young Whitney was part of the choir — but even as a child, it was clear that nothing could keep her in the background for long.
The pop singer Darlene Love, who had known her since she was a child and remains close to her mother, described Houston’s voice as almost ethereal.
“Her gift was from God,” Love said. “She had that kind of voice that nobody else can have.”
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