Role of The Performer - Whitney Houston

Introduction   

  Whitney Houston led an iconic musical career that was so successful that even younger generations know who she was or have heard some of her work. Despite her popularity, many are still surprised (including me) when they find out that Whitney generally did not write her own songs. However, she had co-written with several great songwriters so her perspective was still included in the pieces.

Biography

    Whitney Houston was born on August 9, 1963, in Newark, New Jersey. From the beginning, it could be said that Whitey was destined for musical greatness as her mother was Cissy Houston, who rose to fame in the Drinkards gospel quartet. She was also first cousins with Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick, who have both achieved successful independent musical careers. In her teens, Whitney was already very active in the music scene and was performing throughout New York City in the '70s and early '80s. One fateful evening in 1983, Arista Records producer, Clive Davis, heard Whitney performing in a New York nightclub and signed her on the spot. It was in February of 1985 that Whitney's debut album, Whitney Houston, was released (WHOS). Included in the album is "Saving All My Love For You" which was written by Michael Masser and Gerry Goffin (Wikipedia).

    From the outset, Whitney Houston broke industry records left and right. The album Whitney Houston set the record for best-selling debut album by a solo artist. Her second album, Whitney, made history as the first female artist to enter the Billboard charts as number one. In 1992, Whitney made her movie debut in "The Bodyguard," which went on to be the best selling motion picture soundtrack album of all time and was voted the Grammy-winning Album of the Year. Whitney covered Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" as part of the soundtrack and was awarded Grammys for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance (WHOS). The song was written by Dolly Parton and was originally released in 1974 (Wikipedia).

    Over her career, Whitney recorded seven studio albums, acted in five movies, and amassed over 600 awards. Some of the most notable include 22 American Music Awards, 31 Billboard Music Awards, and 7 Grammys (Piwowarski).

Opinion

    Performers are just as necessary for works of art as the composer or creator. Performers are talented in conveying a piece so that it is widely enjoyable and understandable to the audience. As for Whitney, she had amazing musical talent and, to put it simply, she had a great voice. She also put 100% effort into her performances, be it on tour, in the studio, or acting. She positively interacted with her fans and other industry big shots so that people kept wanting to work with her. In the two pieces I've shared, you can hear the stylistic choices that she's known for. Most notably, she really liked to play around with the dynamics of her music. In both songs, she starts fairly quiet then crescendos and decrescendos throughout the piece until she reaches the peak where she belts the lines. She had a great voice for belts, her timbre was quite clear and rich which helped her voice carry. I chose these two ballads that have a fairly slow tempo as I felt it shows off her voice the best.

Sources

“Biography.” Whitney Houston Official Site, 6 Nov. 2020, www.whitneyhouston.com/biography/.

“I Will Always Love You.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 July 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Will_Always_Love_You.

Piwowarski, Allison. “How Many Awards Did Whitney Houston Win? Lifetime's 'Whitney' Biopic Has A Lot Of Accomplishments To Cover.” Whitney Houston Won A Shocking Amount Of Awards, Bustle, 17 Jan. 2015, www.bustle.com/articles/58767-how-many-awards-did-whitney-houston-win-lifetimes-whitney-biopic-has-a-lot-of-accomplishments-to.

“Saving All My Love for You.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 9 July 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saving_All_My_Love_for_You.