Remembering Whitney Houston: A Master at Work

Whitney Houston performed at a pre-Grammy gala on February 12, 2011, one year ago today. (Getty Images/Mark Ralston/AFP)

It was a summer afternoon in 1984 at a small radio station in Illinois. A new record hit the air called “Hold Me,” by soul singer Teddy Pendergrass, listed as a duet with somebody named Whitney Houston. “Never heard of her,” I thought.

We wouldn’t be able to say that for much longer. Within a year, and forever after, she would be one of the biggest pop stars in the world.

You can find the chart numbers that encapsulate Whitney’s career with a quick Wikipedia search. The most striking one is a Beatlesque seven straight #1 singles between the fall of 1985 and the spring of 1988, several of which rank among the iconic records of the 80s: “How Will I Know,” “Greatest Love of All,” “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” and “So Emotional.” She sang the National Anthem before Super Bowl XXV, only days after the Persian Gulf War began in 1991 — and a recording of it went to #20 on the singles chart. And in 1992, “I Will Always Love You” hit #1 around the world, including the Billboard Hot 100 for 14 weeks. At the time, it was the longest run of all time atop the singles chart.

In the early ’90s, her troubles began, and she would be a bigger tabloid star than music star for the better part of two decades. But in 2009, she released I Look to You, her first album with new material since a Christmas record in 2003. Her voice had acquired some mileage by then, but it was charming mileage. Survivor mileage, you could say. Reviews on the concert tour that followed weren’t great, however. Her career failed to recharge. Then came yesterday.

Whitney Houston possessed one of the great voices of the age, and it’s going to be a long time before we hear another one like it. Want proof? Listen to the isolated vocal track of “How Will I Know.” That’s a master at work — no Auto-Tune required.

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