While there have been several vocalists since her advent to the music industry, who have wowed us with their extraordinary technicality and range, there was something very organic about Whitney Houston’s talent, and her natural reflex towards soul music and singing, which made her more than just the mainstream Pop songs she recorded. And it was always evident in her live performances.
If one has to witness and comment on the full potential of her true gift, the secret really does lie in her several live performances, recorded over the years and not just in those Billboard chart-topping classics.
Houston, unlike the singers who rose in her wake, wasn’t just a belter – but a story-teller – whose live performances would eclipse her own studio recordings, with her ability to take the listener on a journey each time she stood behind the microphone.
Cited by her peers as a “singer’s singer”, the Newark-born had the ability to sing both Rodgers and Hammerstein and Motown – with equal finesse, and there’s hardly any other singer who can boast of such versatility. The ability to be Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother at one moment and a Mahalia Jackson-reincarnation, the next.
With the most operatic rich head voice among all contemporary female vocalists, which was so exuberant and powerful that it could cut through a mountain – Houston’s vocal ornamentation was just as much a part of her legacy as her ability to spontaneously take a song to church.
And with that, we count down 10 of her most extraordinary vocal performances – that made her a cut about the rest among the divas of her time.
Here are Ms. Houston’s 10 best live performances over the years:
10) A Quiet Place, 1987
A stellar vocal showcase, with Whitney taking home all the conviction and emotion of this classic gospel hymn, by just standing still before the microphone. With her mother present leading the choir behind her, this performance from the 80’s, features Houston transfixed with her eyes closed, delivering a pitch-perfect yet emotionally captivating performance of the song. It’s like – when she closes her eyes, she ventures into a different space and time, and only comes back to reality when she’s finished hitting the last note.
9) God Bless The Child, Classic Whitney, 1997
A stellar vocal showcase from the first night of her HBO special from 1997. A cover of Billie Holiday’s 1940’s classic, given a theatrical and Broadway twist. Her impeccable performance and her jaw-dropping riffs here, serve as a reminder of how Houston could pack a powerhouse show with just her voice, and how she continued to serve legendary vocals even during the commencement of career’s second half.
8) This Day, This Is My Life, 1992
Something got into Ms. Houston whenever she touched upon a gospel track. This rehearsal footage featured on her This Is MY Life mini documentary for television, back in 1992, takes you to nearly all realms of her sweeping vocals. But it is the emotion she exudes when she nearly exclaims, ‘So they CAN be free…like me’, when you are lost marvelling at the talent.
7) I Will Always Love You, Divas 1999
A soul-stirring interpretation of a classic, that had already been imbibed in Pop culture history and her own legacy. It takes a lot to play around with the melody of a song, every second of which has come to be recognised by even the most casual listener. But Whitney Houston’s ability to sing every phrase, from the depths of her soul, allows her to take this iconic ballad to places it never went before.
6) All The Man That I Need – Welcome Home Heroes, 1991
Perhaps the most powerful performance of this Billboard #1 classic, out of all her other interpretations of the song. Yet again, you see her drenched in emotions, as she belts out a confessional for a maddening, passionate love. After the sax solo from her band-mate, Kirk Whalum, Houston spreads her arms and unleashes this supernova note into the crowd – as it fills the whole auditorium with spine-chilling vocal prowess. She’s then seemingly so lost in interpreting the song from every inch of her body language, as she beats her chest and belts ‘he fills me up’, that you drown in her passion by just looking at it – an ability of losing oneself into the music, that sets this balladeer way above mere vocalists, like Mariah Carey and Celine Dion.
5) Didn’t We Almost Have It All, Saratoga, 1988
Ms. Houston’s live interpretation from Saratoga, of this spine-chilling, power-packed ballad composed by the late Michael Masser – is even better than her own studio recording of the same (as is the case with most of her live performances). Starting from tingling and caressing sweet notes, the tempo of this ballad rises like sea-waters and her voice finally unleashes itself like high-tides, engulfing the crowd with whatever is going on in her soul. When she reaches the bridge and sings ‘Once you know what love is, you’ll never let it end’ – it is just an unabashed display of her bare feelings, right on that very stage.
4) Greatest Love Of All – Statue Of Liberty, 1986
A sweeping interpretation of her Billboard #1 classic, often associated with self-love and self-empowerment. She nearly changes the entire melody of this track and displays her ‘musical genius’ when she ventures into the second repeat of the chorus, as she belts out – ‘Because the greatest love of all, is happening to me.’ The accompanying violins in the orchestra playing behind her and the wind blowing her hair on her face, only adds-up to the theatrical drama of this nuanced example of story-telling.
3) Saving All My Love For You, Japan, 1986
For the first 10 years of her career, Saving All My Love For You – was the song, the legendary vocalist played around with, the most. During this whole period, it received Gospel, Jazz, RnB, Pop – treatment, making each performance from different era’s of her career, nearly sound like a different song. It was only a matter of personal preference and some objectivity, to pick this performance from Japan during one of her world tours. Filled with all the high’s and the low’s and the right’s and left’s of her vocals, it is what she does towards the end of this vocal juggernaut, that makes this version special. Her impromptu adlib with the band, starting from notes that could send butterflies in your stomach to the final moment of her growled gospel-induced exclamations, professing a passionate desire building-up within her – this performance alone sets her in a category of her own.
2) He/I Believe, Wembley, 1988
Every time Ms. Houston sang this tune during her Moment Of Truth world tour, back in the 80’s – she gave something different to it. Previously recorded by her mother, Cissy Houston, Whitney’s performance of this Gospel classic from her stop in Wembley arena in 1988, is nothing short of spectacular. The sweetness of her tone during the beginning sounds almost like making love, as her voice works like a musical instrument to produce varied notes. But after she ventures into the second part and starts harmonising with her background singers, it is pure bliss. How she modulates her voice, going deeper, and throws it out in the universe, while singing ‘I Believe’ – at around 4:05 mark in this video, is the biggest goosebumps-inducing moment here.
1) Jesus Loves Me, Brazil, 1994
What Whitney Houston does towards the end of this performance is pure madness. Apart from Aretha Franklin, one can’t really think of another contemporary female vocalist who can lose themselves into the music, like this. But Houston offers the best of both worlds – the caressing sweetness of Pop and the raw grittiness of Soul. She turns this near-4-minute recording into a 10 minute passionate sermon from a church congregation, taking the song to the very place she learnt it all from. After exhausting her lungs, singing high in praise, she half-communicates with the audience – venturing into a jamming session with her band, to their own astonishment and then eventually leaves the experience burning in your soul.
The truth is – any of these performances could have been placed at #1, and it wouldn’t have been a shocker. It is quite a Tsunami task to pick just 10 performances from a list filled with nearly equal display of vocal finesse. Even when her vocal range had significantly diminished, Ms. Houston quite never lost her near-angelic tonal quality and her story-telling abilities.
Honorable mentions also go to performances like – There Is Music In You Live from Rosie O’Donnell, Saving All My Love For You from Brazil 1994, Natural Woman from Brazil 1994, I Wanna Dance With Somebody from Arista Anniversary 1990, One Moment In Time from Grammy awards in 1989, Star Spangled Banner from her Welcome Home Heroes concert – to name a few.