The year was 1994, and Whitney Houston – who was at the peak of her stardom, was asked to greet South Africa’s iconic leader Nelson Mandela with a performance at the white house.
The iconic leader was being honored by the then Bill Clinton-led government, following his release from jail after 27 years of imprisonment in a post-apartheid South Africa.
The diva looked every bit stunning as she wore a figure hugging velvet gown and took the stage to stun the audience with a number of classic tunes.
This was after Whitney had already become the first major act to perform at the post apartheid South Africa, for an immensely popular HBO-televised – Concert for a New South Africa, which also gave her the opportunity to get close to Mandela and his family.
But during her astounding performance at the white house, Whitney chose to perform a number of inspiring ballads, suiting the theme of the occasion, which including – Stevie Wonder’s ‘Love Is In The Need Of Love Today’, Barbra Streisand’s ‘People’ and her own ‘Greatest Love Of All.’
Interestingly, Barbra Streisand was one of the many big-shots who were present at the audience that night, as they all witnessed Ms. Houston pour her heart out in her performances, earning a standing ovation from Mandela, the Clintons and everyone else.
To give you a sneak-peak into the historic throwback event from the past. Here’s miss Houston, performing at the heights of her powers, in a rare footage:
A sublime performance, as usual.
Would have been even more interesting to see how another mega-diva in the audience – Ms. Streisand, had reacted to this.