Whitney Houston’s ten greatest vocal performances on record

I Will Always Love You (1992, UK #1, US #1)

The standard bearer for pop balladry. But aside from that big key change, there’s also the subtleties such as the way she sings ‘bittersweet’ bittersweetly; the way the song builds from that acapella intro; and the the final ascending ‘you’ that make this one of the most famous vocal performances in pop music history, as well as her signature song. Such is its power, it sold not only 40+ million copies of The Bodyguard soundtrack but also the film itself.

I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) (1987, UK #1, USA #1)

An incredibly busy 80s style production in no way detracts from Whitney’s powerhouse vocal. Back-up vocals also heavenly. In the hands of a lesser singer, this would have been a forgettable pop tune. In Whitney’s hands it became a an 80s pop classic.

One Moment In Time (1988, UK #1, USA #5)

The point when Whitney really began to interpret the lyrics of a song. There’s yearning aplenty in this theme to the 1988 Olympics, but there are also subtleties. In the line ‘to taste the sweet / I faced the pain’ her tone transitions from light to dark. Epic choruses and the bridge that frankly goes into orbit are are completely on point for an Olympic theme.

I Learned From The Best (1999, UK #19, USA #27)

For her 1998 album ‘My Love Is Your Love’, the squeaky clean pop princess was all but gone and in its place was a woman who had lived, and this shows in her lower voice, which has some darker tones, and for this track, an entirely appropriate venom. The lyrics and horn solo make this underrated single the coolest ballad in her catalogue.

Saving All My Love For You (1985, UK #1, USA #1)

Whitney was told to re-record this again and again to meet her mentor Clive Davis’ requirements for a crossover pop/soul sound. She nailed it, with some delicious extended ‘yous’ the perfect finish.

It’s Not Right But it’s Okay (1999, UK #3, USA #4)

Kickstarted a period where Whitney was cool. A slice of contemporary R&B sung with such bite it made you feel like the guilty party. The fact the vocal is simply on fire on R&B, dance and slow jam remixes says it all.

Memories (1982, album track)

In a similar vein to Saving All My Love – but recorded when Whitney was just 19, providing vocals for jazz-rock band Material. Lengthy Instrumental breaks with a wailing sax didn’t stop Whitney from owning this song with a largely laid-back, emotional performance

All The Man That I Need (1991, UK #13 USA #1)

On the face of it, a love song about her man. But it soon becomes clear that the man in question is God, as Whitney takes us to church. She caresses, she belts,and takes flight over the saxophone solo with some angelic coos. A gospel song masquerading as a pop ballad.

Exhale (Shoop Shoop) – (1996 UK #11 USA #1)

A song with a chorus merely consisting of ‘Shoops’ doesnt sound like a recipe for a hit, but when those shoops are twisted every which way into delightful flourishes. And there’s a moment in the final verse when she sings ‘sometimes you’ll laugh / sometimes you’ll cry’ the note on ‘laugh’ is bent into a little laugh, while ‘cry’ is twisted into a little weep. Though it has the customary big middle eight, it’s the simplicity and subtleties of this song that make it so deliciously effective.

Hold Me (duet with Teddy Pendergrass) – (1984 UK #44 USA #46)

Whitney duets only worked when her duet partner was in any way worthy of appearing on a record with her. So great results were achieved with Stevie Wonder and gospel singer CeCe Winans; Enrique Inglesias, not so much. The combination of Pendergrass’ deep rich sound and Whitney’s fresh, precise soprano is simply extraoardinary, and in one line in the final verse ‘so, won’t you HOLD me, TOUCH me’ Whitney displays the virtuoso magic she would take to even greater heights.

What Whitney Houston meant to me

I first became aware of Whitney Houston when my cousin played me the 7 inch vinyl of ‘Saving All My Love For You’, its cover depicting a beautiful black woman, the song a smoky yet soaring jazzy pop ballad. There was no inkling of the superstar she was about to become.

I pretty much forgot about Whitney Houston until the 1987 media blitz that accompanied the launch of the first single off her new album, ‘Whitney’. The song was called ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me).’ It had a heavily produced pop sound, but it was the stunning vocals that lifted it far beyond the realms of the ordinary. This was a time before Auto-tune, when the top 40 was full of records with bum notes and barely-there vocals. Churlish critics indeed criticised her for being too perfect, too polished.

But record buyers knew amazing talent when they saw it, and I bought her first album on tape and distinctly remember the first play in my dad’s car. A classmate taped the debut album for me and I quickly became obsessed, playing both albums constantly and regaling my classmates with my own renditions of her songs (sorry about that!)

I wasn’t the only person who wanted to sing like Whitney. She quickly became the standard to which all other singers were judged. Record companies wanted the next Whitney – without her, there would have been no Mariah Carey or Celine Dion, and countless other singers cite her as an inspiration. And even today, you can hear her influence in shows such as X Factor and American Idol, where hapless contestants are warned of the dangers of covering Whitney.

I can clearly remember what I was doing when I heard a new Whitney track – when Radio 1 announced the first play of ‘I Will Always Love You’, I quickly found a tape in my student digs in Leeds and recorded it off the radio, amazed. I remember my astonishment at the cool contemporary R&B of the ‘My Love Is Your Love’ tracks when they aired for the first time at my flat in Streatham. ‘that’s Whitney?’ I asked my flatmate as ‘It’s Not Right But It’s Okay’ bounced along through the speakers.

I saw her in concert three times: it’s worth noting she never sang a song live the same way twice. On the ‘I’m Your Baby Tonight’ tour in ’91 she could do anything she wanted vocally. Her ’99 tour showed a grittier, more mature but still amazingly dextrous Whitney. Finally in 2010, there was a concert at the O2 where there were a few flashes of her former brilliance, but the vocal decline was all too apparent. I was just glad she was alive and apparently well.

But there’s been miles of columns written about the causes of her decline in recent years and not nearly enough about what made Whitney great. It’s not just about her belts and extended high notes: It’s the way she tailored her gospel influenced vocals to many genres, from pure pop to gospel; from the sultriest slow jam to high-energy club mixes. It’s the way she turned humdrum material – some of which had been minor hits for other artists – into gargantuan smashes.

For examples of the masterful subtleties, listen to the second verse of “I Will Always Love You” where she actually sings the word ‘Bittersweet’ bittersweetly. In the final verse of ‘Exhale (Shoop Shoop)’ in the line ‘sometimes you’ll laugh, sometimes you’ll cry’ the note ‘laugh’ is bent into a laugh, ‘cry’ into a little weep. It’s these subtle details that were the icing on what was always a very big cake.

So while her music, influence and legacy lives on, the record labels never found ‘the new Whitney Houston’, because there will never be another Whitney Houston.