In 1998, when Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey collaborated to sing the theme song for the biblical animated feature, ‘The Prince Of Egypt,’ the result was an Oscar winning classic that somehow managed to exemplify their vocal prowess past both of their primes.
‘When You Believe’ is unarguably one of the greatest duets in Pop music history and with all that was cooking between the two ladies, as per the tabloid stories of that time, the backdrop of the song’s recording becomes equally interesting.
By 1998, Whitney Houston had already acquired her ‘legendary status’ and was constantly referred to as a benchmark to be compared to – for other female singers who came after year. Not to mention the fact, that she was only in the second decade of her career. Carey, on the other hand, was one female performer who was constantly compared with the ‘How Will I Know’ diva, due to her big voice and her astounding success in the Pop charts, much like Houston.
She was at the peak of her super-stardom and rivalled Whitney on the charts.
At the brink of this era, music producer Babyface somehow managed to do the unthinkable task of putting together the two commercial powerhouses, and bring them to the studio to record the Stephen Schwartz-written song for the DreamWorks musical animated feature.
It was later reported by outlets that during the recording of the song, Mariah got so ‘worked-up’ after listening to Whitney’s part of the song – which the latter had already recorded in a separate setting, that she repeatedly went back to the studio to re-record her own part of the vocals, up until the point she was satisfied that she was on par with the late Prom Queen of Soul.
This juicy titbit comes from an article published back in the year 1998 on an issue of SPIN magazine. Here is an excerpt from the story:
“Carey and Houston were no more than professional acquaintances, though Whitney is said to have been privately resentful of Carey’s appropriation of her style, while a friend of Carey’s described the former Mrs. Tommy Mottola as dismissive of Houston’s fading luster. Wisely, the companies involved scheduled the divas to record at separate times. .It was decided that Houston would record first, and she proceeded to knock off her part in one try. Though Carey’s initial take was also considered a success, upon hearing Houston’s performance, the competitive 28-year-old returned repeatedly to the studio in order to fix notes, experiment with effects, and fill the song’s final bars with her signature melismas. At press time, various camps were whispering that Carey’s tinkering could delay the multimillion-dollar launch of the entire Prince Of Egypt campaign. To make matters worse, DreamWorks and Arista are said to be bothered by Carey’s appearance in the Hype Williams video for Jermaine Dupri’s “Sweetheart,” a star turn that could have Carey competing against herself in the marketplace. As for Houston, sources say she’s busy working on her new record and probably has no idea what trouble she wrought.”
Interestingly, after having recorded their respective verses separately, the two got together in the studio to record the final bridge at the same time.
Mariah and Whitney did eventually end up becoming more than just acquaintances, as they collaborated for interviews and performances during the promotion of the duet. The once-popular ‘fictional-rivalry’ created by the media, was now a candid friendship between the two.
Listen to their iconic duet below:
Thoughts?