Originally released on Valentine's Day 1985, Whitney Houston's debut album entered the Billboard 200 at No 166 the week of March 30. A year later, in April 1986, the album began its first seven-week run at No 1, then spent three weeks at No 2 before reclaiming the top slot for a jaw-dropping second seven-week stand. Whitney Houston became a fixture on the Billboard 200 for 162 weeks, including a record-breaking 46 weeks in the Top 10 and 14 non-consecutive weeks at No 1.
The strength, beauty and power of the record's music — including four chart-topping singles (You Give Good Love, Saving All My Love For You, How Will I Know, Greatest Love of All) — have made Whitney Houston one of the best-loved and most enduring albums in pop music history. The planet's top-selling debut album ever released by a solo artist, Whitney Houston has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide while earning 13 times Platinum status in the US (in recognition of domestic sales of more than 13 million pieces).
With the album earning her a Best Album Grammy nomination in 1986, Houston took home her first Grammy that year in the Best Pop Vocal, Female category for Saving All My Love For You. Her performance on the Grammys won her an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Programme. Houston, who currently holds the record for most American Music Awards held by a solo artist (21), picked up her first seven AMAs, and an MTV Video Award, that same year.
This album topped countless critics' polls and year-end lists including Rolling Stone, who named it 1986's Album of the Year. Billboard ranked Whitney Houston as the No 1 album of the year and Houston 1986's No 1 popular artist.
"I cannot believe it has been 25 years since my first album!," Houston writes in her exclusive letter to fans appearing in the packaging for the 25th anniversary release of her debut.
"I could never have done this without the support, encouragement and unconditional love from my fans all over the world. I love you all!"
Here Houston recalls the start of her recording career.
So you come from a musical family and music is in your blood. When did you decide you wanted to sing as a profession?
You know, I started singing gospel music at a very young age. I remember my mother, her family, her sisters and brothers were all singers. There has never been a time when music wasn't in my home.
I started singing in church. At the time I think I decided I wanted to really become a singer, I had to be around eight, or nine. Yeah, I was very young.
My mother and her group called Sweet Inspirations, who sang a lot of background sessions during the '60s and the '70s did most of the great sessions with Aretha Franklin and all the great singers at that time. They were the singers that they would call to sing and do background sessions and I recall being in the studio with my mother all the time, so it was just something that I innately just wanted to do, you know what I'm saying?
That's all I recall, you know, feeling in my soul and in my body that I wanted to sing.
Do you remember the first day of recording your first album?
I remember recording, starting to record, and we tried many different ways, but the first wasn't really from my album — it was a song I did with another singer, Teddy Pendergrass, who at the time had been in a car accident and was very ill. It was called Hold Me.
By that time, I had done several duets with Jermaine Jackson, who was part of the Jackson family, the Jackson Five, and I did several duets with him.
When I started my own album, I started with a song called You Give Good Love. I remember the recording studio was right up the street from my house — it wasn't that far and it was the first time digital recording had come into play.
I remember going to the studio, and I worked with a great producer called Kashif, who had a number of great songs and great hits and he had done a lot of producing with some very good singers. He was very popular at the time, and that's the first time I remember recording and actually doing a complete song from my album.
Then we got into Saving All My Love for You, which was probably the second song I did. It became my first number one song.
What are your fondest memories about recording your debut album? How was the material and choice of collaborators selected?
Clive [Davis, executive producer] and I went through a number of songs, but the one song we were sure about, that we knew we were going to do and that we knew was going to be a great standard song that would last through a lifetime of songs, was Greatest Love of All.
We knew that song was going to be the song, because I was singing that way before I even became a recording artist. I would sing it in my mother's show. And it was recorded by George Benson first for a movie, for Muhammad Ali, the boxing great.
It is the song that I remember most that I recorded for the debut album and knowing that it would be a standard that you know. Benson had done a wonderful job with it, but it had stopped somewhere on the charts for whatever reason... I recorded it and it became a No 1 song.
And I think children all over the world, even today, sing the song because it means so much... Even at the time, parents were teaching their children to sing The Greatest Love of All, because it's something inside that you, you know, you want your children to have.
I teach my daughter it, she knows it too [laughs].
Was there a moment in the recording session when you could really feel things click? When you knew it was special?
My debut album? Uhm, I have to think... Let me think, let me go back, because I have to remember it was 25 years ago. I can't believe that it was that many years ago.
The musicians that were on the album were the best musicians in the industry; the orchestration was fantastic.
I just remember singing The Greatest Love of All. That stands out in my mind. Michael Masser wrote the song with Linda Creed, who has since passed on.
I just remember recording this song and doing like 60 tracks to it. I was singing it over and over and over and over again and I remember I got very aggravated, kind of, with it [laughs].
I remember calling Clive and I remember saying to Clive, ‘I've done 60 tracks of this song, I want to stop singing it right now.' I remember that moment, because I was very frustrated and I just knew that we had the song. Michael wanted to hear it over and over and over again. I think he was enjoying hearing me sing it more than, you know... Knowing that we were just making a record, you know?
But I recorded that song so much track wise, and it's become a standard in my career that people love to hear all the time.
Your debut album is now one of the biggest selling debut albums in the history. Can you describe the initial public reaction when it was first released? Was it what you expected or beyond your anticipation?
I was 19 years old when I started singing that particular album. It didn't come out until I was 21.
It took me two years to record the album itself, and when it came out I didn't expect it to be as popular. I should say, I didn't know it would be one of the best selling debut albums of all time. I didn't — none of that. You could've told me and I would've said, ‘Yeah, yeah right, what ever,' you know.
But I was very pleased. I think I was a little overwhelmed by the response, because basically I was concerned with the fact that I was a singer who wanted to sing and who wanted to bring singing into the industry. And it was after the disco era, you know what I'm saying? Where clubs were open, people were dancing and everything, but you know the singing was... kind of like missing from the industry, I would say.
I grew up with hearing great singers and having great singers in my family. For me, it was just — are people ready to hear a good singer? A great — a good — voice, you know what I'm saying? Someone who can sing standards, someone who can sing ballads, someone who can sing dance songs, someone you know who's able to do that? That was me.
And I was kind of kind of worried about being accepted, but the part that overwhelmed me was that I was accepted. And that it became what it became.
I'm very thankful to this day to everyone - thank you for that! [laughs]
Blast from the past
.-Eduan Maggo, tabloid!
Could an album that's 25 years old still be relevant? Yes. In an age of vast computerisation, the re-release of Whitney Houston's debut serves as a reminder of what great singing is. Apart from the original tracks that really should be removed from karaoke lists, this edition's invaluable bonus tracks showcase exactly why Houston is known as "The Voice" — exceptional as both a recording artist and live performer. Her vocal artistry and control come to the fore, especially on the included a cappella and live versions. The music videos on the DVD also hint at the theatricality that would later see her carry hit movies. An amazing record, but fans would have appreciated a contemporary remix or two
