Whitney Houston’s passing at the young age of 48 has sent a huge shock through the world of music. In a way, it’s a shock proportionate to the one that greeted her arrival on the music scene, when her debut album in 1985 produced a string of hit singles that took the world by storm and left music lovers and industry insiders slack-jawed in amazement.
Unlike a lot of pre-fab stars with dubious talents, Whitney’s skill set was empirically evident from her first vocal: Her phrasing was unworldly for a 21-year-old, as she was able to softly manipulate the nuances of a song and then belt like a veteran singer far beyond her years; she was comfortable in all sorts of genres, including pop, r+b, and schmaltzy vocal songs; and that range! Five octaves and every one sung with total command. Whitney was a phenomenon, as her biggest hits will easily attest.
But there are a couple of obscure moments I’d like to highlight that even some of her longtime fans may not be familiar with. (Of course, the many hardcore Whitney fans may know exactly what I’m about to share!)
First is her very first lead vocal performance on record, appearing with the No Wave combo Material, a band led by avant-garde icon Bill Laswell. In tandem with fellow artists and future producer stars Michael Beinhorn and Fred Maher, he’d torn up New York City clubs with some artistically innovative dance tracks. By the time of their first album, Memory Serves, he’d smoothed out the sound a bit and begun to incorporate more traditionally minded singers like Nona Hendryx.
(Pictured below are Laswell and Beinhorn):
One of their collaborators on their 1982 One Down record was an 18-year-old Whitney Houston. I’d love to see photos or footage of the ingenue stepping into a studio with these pros, but all we have apparently is the music. Singing of all things a vintage Soft Machine song written by Hugh Hopper, with a gorgeously off beat solo by legendary tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp, to say Whitney owned the song is an understatement. Listen to her interpretation:
Exhilarating. And it was her first recording! With poise and technique like that at age 18, in hindsight it’s easy to see that her destiny was clear as a hit-maker.
It wouldn’t be too long after her bow with Material that her self-titled debut album, Whitney Houston, was released in 1985. It would hit #1 on the album charts and produce three #1 hit singles – “Saving All My Love”, “Greatest Love Of All”, and “How Will I Know.” I’d like to share with you the “vocals only” tracks from that song – pure Whitney pulled from the original recording tapes. It’s pretty breathtaking stuff:
Her clean vocals are immaculate: no studio wizardry, no auto-tune, no nothing’ but Whitney. It really astonishes me how gifted a singer she was, and also makes it all the more tragic how she let those gifts lapse over her last years.
Finally, I’d like to leave this reminiscence with a track just about everybody’s heard, but it will always bear repeating – Whitney’s recording of a song as old as our nation itself, in my opinion the best, most triumphant version of the US national anthem I’ve ever heard. I remember hearing it live before the Super Bowl XXV in 1991 and being blown away by it, but even then it was a surprise that the song went on to be a bona fide hit on radio. It’s just that good:
No wacky arrangement, no forgotten lyrics, no over-singing. Just the pure, unadulterated joy of singing carrying through in her voice…and written all over her face. It was a moment America felt all at once, and will forevermore as we return to this performance for the ages.
Rest in peace, Whitney…
Top Photo: Whitney Houston performing live at Wembley Arena in London, England while on “The Moment of Truth Tour” in May of 1988. Credit: George Chin / WENN
