From the moment she crooned onto the scene in the early 80's, the world knew it had found a superstar in Whitney Houston. On today's Pop Confidential, Jamey Giddens, Luke Kerr, Jillian Bowe, Regan Cellura and Melodie Aikels look back on the life and legacy of Whitney Elizabeth Houston, the world's most-awarded musical act of all time.
The PC gang charts the early success of Houston's self-titled debut album Whitney Houston, released on Valentine's Day in 1985, producing such unforgettable jams as "You Give Good Love," "Saving All My Love For You," "How Will I Know" and "The Greatest Love of All."
Then they reflect on Houston's second record, 1987's pop-heavy Whitney, which yielded a whopping four Number One hit singles on the Billboard Hot 100 charts ("I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)," "Didn't We Almost Have It All," "So Emotional" and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go?," making Houston the first female singer to achieve such a feat.
Next they discuss Houston's third album, the R&B-tinged I'm Your Baby Tonight from 1990, produced by uber producers L.A. Reid and Babyface. While this record didn't have the crossover appeal of Whitney, Houston's third effort produced several notable songs the gang fondly remembers, including the title track “I’m Your Baby Tonight” and Jamey's favorite kiss-off song "My Name Is Not Susan."
It was Houston's next musical collection, coupled with her big screen debut, which cemented her status as a pop culture deity. In 1992, the diva starred opposite Kevin Costner in the interracial romantic thriller The Bodyguard. It was for that hit film's soundtrack Houston recorded what would become her most popular track of all time. Her sultry version of country music legend Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" became the best-selling single by a female artist of all time.
In addition to "I Will Always Love You," cuts like "Run to You," "I Have Nothing," "Queen of the Night" and Houston's remake of Chaka Khan's "I'm Every Woman," helped The Bodyguard soundtrack become the best-selling movie soundtrack of all time. Tune in to hear Mel, Jillian and the rest of the PC gang recall what The Bodyguard phenomenon was like for them.
After the twin successes of The Bodyguard and its soundtrack, Houston continued to release music in conjunction with her work as an actress for years to come. In 1995, she starred alongside Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine and Lela Rochon in the film adaptation of Terry McMillan's New York Times’ Best-Selling novel Waiting to Exhale and performed the title track “Exhale (Shoop Shoop)” for the ultimate chick flick’s soundtrack. Tune in to hear PC’s Regan speak about how Exhale’s message of women being sick and tired of their guys’ b.s. transcended color barriers.
The next year, Houston—by this point one of Hollywood’s highest paid actresses—starred opposite Denzel Washington in The Preacher’s Wife, a remake of the classic film The Bishop’s Wife. The accompanying soundtrack became the best-selling gospel CD of all-time, and even made a fan of our generally pop culture-challenged Luke, who at the time was tucked away at boarding school, rocking out to Houston’s soul-stirring jams. You’ll want to download this podcast to hear Jillian, Jamey, Regan and Mel’s stunned reactions to that particular revelation!
Continuing on with the highly-successful music/acting combo that had been serving her in good stead since The Bodyguard, in 1997 Houston starred as the Fairy Godmother to her protégé Brandy Norwood in a Magical World of Disney remake of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella. The TV musical, which Houston also produced with Debra Martin Chase (whom she would go on to produce the mega hit Princess Diaries films and a Sparkle remake with), was watched by over 60 million people and was the Number One show on television the week it premiered.
The year 1998 saw Houston’s career reach its peak as the urban My Love is You Love, arguably Houston’s last great CD, dropped, as did her duet with Mariah Carey for the Oscar-winning “When You Believe” from the Prince of Egypt soundtrack.
After reminiscing about the amazing accomplishments Houston achieved in her legendary career, the gang takes a look back at the men in her life, from Philadelphia Eagles player Randall Cunningham, who was rumored to have inspired one of Houston’s best love ballads, “Didn’t We Almost Have It All,” to Eddie Murphy and Brandy’s little brother Ray-J and of course, to Bobby Brown — the R&B bad boy she married, and the father of their now 18-year-old daughter Bobbi Kristina.
What drew the seemingly classy singer to the troubled New Edition front man and soloist? Was Brown responsible for Houston’s history of substance abuse, or were they both culpable for how co-dependent and ugly their showbiz romance became?
What will come of Houston’s long-awaited comeback, that was to include a new CD and her return to the big screen in Sparkle and the Exhale sequel Getting to Happy? The PC’ers talk about all of that and so much more in one of the hardest podcasts they’ve ever had to tape.
