Whitney's Greatest Performances

Agree OMIT at the Grammys is one her best. I’d say Greatest Love Of All from the Arista 15th Birthday show in 1990 too. I Wanna Dance With Somebody from that same night is fantastic as well. She seems so happy and confident. 89/90 was her peak for live performances I think.

One more from me: her voice was effortless here and it was back when no one ever sang live on Top Of The Pops.

Op, I agree. The song is awful but she makes it magic

Agreed OP. Her best performance ever.

Paula Abdul at The Grammys?! My sides!

Susan Rice at the Grammys? I’m sure that that’s her right at the start of the standing ovation.

At 5.45 before I am snarked upon.

July 4, 1987. Tampa Stadium. I Wanna Dance with Somebody was two months old and had just hit #1 in the country the week before.

Where's my Canadien friend? He knows all the good Houston performances...

The Greatest Love of All performance from the Arista 15th anniversary show in 1990 gives me tears every time. The way she ends the song is just unreal...

I can’t find it, but she sang a medley of songs from Porgy and Bess and Dreamgirls once

She did her best work underwater.

This.

R9, you're referring to the Ancient White Fag troll otherwise known as Whitbot?

Please don't summon him. He makes every thread about black singers awful with his pomposity and bipolar rants.

At the Grammy's singing One Moment In Time, who is the guy with the mullet and the mustache in the audience at 05:47? He looks like he'd throw a mean fuck.

Agree OP shit song but she made it great. The best druggy vocalist of all time.

R10 Amazing, absolutely amazing performance.

[quote] She did her best work underwater.

Oh that’s mean you bitch. True, but shady nonetheless.

She did her best work in front of a spread labia.

Her vocal instrument was phenomenal. What she could do with her voice is astounding.

r19, that's rude and distasteful.

R14 is miss warwicke. Gross old white racist man from Missouri. Ban it again please!

Whitbot/R14, not everyone is charlie, Miss Warwick or an old white gay man. You have serious mental issues. I just wanted to let you know that.

The one person that's close to being banned is you, boo, for slandering everyone as "Ancient White Fags."

*Whitbot/R22

This crack ho’s “greatest performance” was pretending to be a loving mother when she was meanwhile scarfing down every drug and pill she could get her hands on.

No wonder her daughter became a dead addict, too.

R14, r23 & R24 is miss warwicke. It's easy enough to prove. Why does it keep calling good men ancient white f*gs though? That's new even for that old scat queen. And THAT thing is banned. Good bye.

Learn from the best.

The greatest love of all.

Didn't she have it all?

Whitney Houston - Didn't We Almost Have It All

Good Love

Whitney Houston - Didn't We Almost Have It Al

Miracle

I look to you...

Whitney Houston - All The Man That I Need

A voice as big as the sea.

Your baby tonight.

Heartbreak Hotel

Try it on my own.

At her peak, Whitney was really the best. What a voice. Nobody could compare to her. The versatility of her voice. She could be soft and tender, and then full-on powerful.

It's a shame her demons took over because, frankly, she really only had 10 good years of being a truly great vocalist. Even by 1995 with Waiting to Exhale, you could start to hear a bit of a decline in her voice.

I saw her in 1999 at the beginning of the My Love is Your Love tour. She still sounded good but she was very hesitant with her voice. She didn't seem as confident she could hit the notes.

R32 is everything! YASSS!

She sometimes had problems with overextending her notes, phrasing, and pitch. Basically, just like the Beverly Hilton bathtub, she allowed them to pull her down and drown her performance.

everything, that voice

R43: I hadn’t seen that video till a few years ago and had a few days of playing it over and over. If only she’d recorded a version of it back then.

R40: I saw her for the first time on the My Love Is Your Love tour as well and remember at the time being very aware I wasn’t seeing Whitney at her peak. The irony of then seeing her on her last tour in 2010 and wishing I’d appreciated more what I did get to see in 1999.

She had such a beautiful tone to her voice. But, man, Paul just kills the beautiful vibe she establishes when he opens his mouth.

Veering off topic a bit though OP didn’t specifically say ‘live performance’ but I think ‘Don’t Look Any Further’ would be up there with her best vocal performances based on the small part you hear here and knowing how her voice sounded in 1984/1985. If only Arista had released it/would release it.

I will always miss her voice. It will be quite some time before we get another voice like hers - that's if we ever do.

R28 is my favorite of her televised performances. She was at her vocal peak. She still had the technique and constitution to make it seem effortless. She was so beautiful.

I still feel shame about how we took her for granted. I remember watching performances like that and being incredibly impressed but still talking shit about the song quality, her wardrobe and wigs. There has not been a single performer since who is even a fraction as thrilling as Whitney Houston at full blast. No one has come close.

^ Nothing but the Truth^ ❤️

Thread should have been called “Whitney’s Greatest Hits”. Girl had many good hits, not all of them musical in nature...

I love this performance with Cissy and Gary. If only she had stuck to gospel or standards or even real R&B instead of the execrable pop schlock that Clive Davis foisted on her.

R52: another ‘gospel’ song. It’s not the best song but Whitney’s vocals are great at about the minute mark. Kind of unfortunate/sad she sings these lines in the second verse though:

‘Boys and girls Can't you see The kind of friend Crack can be’

It does sound like "crack" but I think the lyric is "Christ."

Still some old morons on Datalounge say that Whitney could not sustain notes, properly phrase or sing melodically? There's nothing she couldn't do. This thread proves once again and forever that her talent was as great as her gift. ❤️

No votes for the national anthem?

The bathtub at the Beverly Hilton.

It's a bad one channel copy, but her young coltish voice was insanely beautiful. Later, she would be even greater!

A tender moment of faith - exalted by her vocal prowess.

R54: I did think there was no way it could be ‘crack’ when I first heard it but it definitely sounds like it, on the record version too. The song’s lyrics are all state of the world, crime, young people dying, etc so it does make sense.

That interview at R13 is great.

This is a playback...and Whitney was worn out no matter how much work they put in to making her pretty. Try It On My Own was the last BIG whitney houston-style ballad she ever recorded and I always liked it. There's a hole in her vocal sound and a lot less power and agility to her singing -but she remained beautifully resonant in tone. A great singer, the voice. She'd live another 9 more years and have more than a few good days along the way. Singing and otherwise. But, after the year 2000, the voice of WHITNEY HOUSTON was never coming all the way back. Still, she sounded better than most anyone and always tried her best.

Even as her personal decline and vocal decline collided, she could still create magic as a performer.

[quote] The Greatest Love of All performance from the Arista 15th anniversary show in 1990 gives me tears every time.

That performance was a mess. However, I saw Whitney in concert in 1987 and her performance of Greatest Love of All as her encore was priceless and by itself was worth the price of the ticket.

[quote]At her peak, Whitney was really the best. What a voice. Nobody could compare to her. The versatility of her voice. She could be soft and tender, and then full-on powerful.

Nobody?

The Greatest Love of All is probably my least favorite Whitney song. But it was for sure her favorite. She always performed it. Every concert, her whole life. She never sang it quite the same way twice. The Arista performance is a bit too much vocal grandstanding. Sometimes a racehorse has to run. Her voice was astounding though she kind of dismantled the song. Aretha and Streisand did that too. Way more often than Whitney.

This early version of TGLOA is more modest. Before the wigs and sleeker wardrobe. She's using good old fashioned technique and singing. She knows what she can do. Don't be fooled. She's more than a vision in the night. So damn beautiful. Such pretty singing. Whitney always emotionally connected. Her heart was on display.

R11 are you thinking of this? I'm surprised no one has posted it yet. One of my faves.

The performance at R35 is my fave, All the Man That I Need, post Persian Gulf War with many hot young men in the audience.

The more time that passes, the more I appreciate her performances and talent. We all make fun of Mariah Carey b/c of diva ways, but I’m grateful she’s still around.

I don't think she ever sang I Learned From the Best well live once.

Whitney sang Learned From the Best dark and dangerously well on The Tonight Show. The whole performance is no longer posted but this should let you know. My Love is Your Love Whitney was not to be messed with. Her troubles mostly came on tour. The only hit song that Whitney recorded that she seldom sang live was Run To You. Very tough song for her range to travel. She did sing it on the Bodyguard Tour on some nights though.

She's good there, but that video cuts off before the final note. That's what she had trouble with.

I agree though that MLIYL Whitney is great.

That was her peak.

Whitney loved this album and her new look and sound. She had a real vocal renaissance between 98 and 2000. Cleaned up her act for a time. It was her last great period. She's a little hoarse here but no problem with singing the song.

No way. No way. I wanna see the receipts.

This Day and a cover/duet with CeCe Winans of Bridge Over Troubled Water.

I'm not religious but she was amazing here! There are very few singers who could bring emotionality and at the same time an astute sense for melody and lyric to a performance. Whitney was a masterful interpreter.

A very young Whitney Houston opening for Luther Vandross in 1998.

Heartbreak Hotel with Kelly Price and Faith Evans at the Billboard awards

Whitney never looked better than this:

Oops that should have been 1984.

R77

Whitney's rehearsal of "All The Man I Need" on SNL is unbelievable.

"In Whitney: Can I Be Me" there's a scene where she's dead tired in the back of car but a photographer is shooting he and she slowly rouses herself and gives him a warm smile before she fades out near the end of the documentary. Heartbreaking. She was working to support everyone around her because she cared about them. And Bobby saying if Robyn had stayed in Whitney's life things would have turned out differently, even though he was one of the reasons she left. Sad.

I never feel sad about celebrity deaths and can't help rolling my eyes at those who do, but I felt sad when Whitney died. That the only one. Such a sad life.

R77, I remember when Lionel Richie's "Love Will Find A Way" was part of her live set. It was a highlight. Stronger than anything she recorded on her debut LP and the theme fit her like a glove. All that youthful optimism and exuberance shooting out of her like fireworks. I can't believe she never recorded it.

"So Emotional" is one of my favorites, but I can't find a good live performance. I guess the chorus is hard to sing and, in some performances (YouTube), she has her "background" singers actually singing the chorus (without Whitney).

Didn't realize how '80s that song sounded. Also, didn't realize it's almost a rock song, which is probably why I like it.

R81, thanks for posting. She looks and sounds great there (All the Man That I Need).

great concert

Whitney didn't like this song, she found that it dragged and was too melodically repetitive, but the best parts (bridge and one chorus) would later be incorporated into her famous love medley. So when she did sing Where Do Broken Hearts Go - she gave it some gospel and soul. She was a beautiful girl with an astounding talent and a voice we will NEVER hear the likes of again. She had it all. ❤️

R87: this is another great live version of WDBHG

That's gorgeous R88. But I like the concert one better, because it IS a treacly song without enough dynamic differences, just a modulation. Whitney sang it perfectly for the TV audience and promoted it in a pretty dress, but I like how she looks her young age and plays with the song at R87, Even though her vocal is not as perfect. She was a thing of beauty to watch. And a thrill to hear. Broken Hearts, indeed.

R89: I need to give that concert version you posted some more attention. Your point about her playing with the song is something I’ve appreciated so much more since she died. As a kid growing up with her music I always thought she ‘messed up’ her songs live and I probably still saw it that way well into adulthood. I love that new live performances will appear on YouTube now and then and because she rarely sang a song exactly the same way twice you always get a new inflection or run or something different. So nine years later I still fairly regularly hear something new so she lives on for me in the present, not just in the past, which is quite special.

She sounds and looks great here.

1998. Supposedly already vocally washed up and she sings Rodgers and Hammerstein early in the morning? Her voice is so bright and melodic here and she sustains the notes and sings the song as straight and musically disciplined as she ever would. Sitting on a stool flat foot singing from the diaphragm and utilizing the most beautiful blend between her head, chest and modal voice. A good night's sleep and a day away from demons - Whitney sounded like a million dollar bill and soared through this song. Nowhere near as easy to do as she made it seem. Still. So many wish that she sang this kind of music and way more often - it just wasn't her preferred style. She had too much soul and gospel in her voice and way too much pain and joy in her life to go back to being just an aspirational pretty singer. But she could do it and just about anything else she wanted with that voice. The last note cracks - just to let us know she's LIVE!

The song she never sang. We used to call this her Mariah number, because it always suited Carey's vocal style and gifts better. And had a lot of F#5 notes. A bit outside Whitney's considerable range. But Mariah never displayed this gorgeous feeling or fullness of heart when she sang. So Whitney lowered the key and sang Run To You, sometimes. On the Bodyguard Tour. Never perfectly. Beautifully though. That catch in her voice - the passion of her vocal. She felt it. Soul.

R74, that was not her "last great period" in any way. FAR from it. Look at the sweat rag she's carrying during her performance. She couldn't get through a 3 minute song without mopping flop-sweat off her beautiful face as she was already into hard drugs with her "husband".

She peaked a couple years earlier, probably right w/Cinderella, and then got into that forced 'marriage' -- ironically or not, with the worst "singer" on earth (thanks Cissy) -- and it was all downhill from there.

I didn't see it, but I'm surprised this hasn't been posted. THIS is her greatest performance, the national anthem in 1991.

Back in Nov 1997, Rosie O'Donnell planned a show featuring the cast from 'Cinderella', and was pissed when at the very last minute, she got a call from Whitney's people saying she would be a no-show, because she had a virus. Brandy, Bernadette Peters and -- because Houston cancelled -- Paolo Montalban were on the show, but no Houston.

When it was rebroadcast three months later (for Valentine's Day), Houston finally made an appearance, but barely.

Watch the clip and you'll see a woman so strung out, she needs a valium the size of a basketball. SUPER EXCITED, SUPER "HAPPY", SO thrilled to be on a show that dissed her big time just a few months earlier. And like R94 mentioned, here too she can't talk for more than a minute without mopping her forehead because she was sweating buckets. NOT the same Whitney from just a few years earlier.

R94. Can you clear something up. Cinderella was 1997. Her marriage started in 1992.

[quote]She peaked a couple years earlier, probably right w/Cinderella, and then got into that forced 'marriage' -- ironically or not, with the worst "singer" on earth (thanks Cissy) -- and it was all downhill from there.[/quote]

What do you mean by "then got into that forced 'marriage' after Cinderella? She had already been married to Brown for five years by then.

R81 Thank you. God love the person who recorded that SNL rehearsal. Incredible.

In a sea of amazing voices she really was The Voice. Her life was tragic, but we are blessed to have bore witness to her talent.

She was in good voice on The Rosie Show; but imagine needing a sweat rag for a mere three minute performance on a morning chat show.

This is great

"Didn't Know My Own Strength" on Oprah was moving and poignant.

Her final junket wasn't all bad. The bad outnumbered the good. But I swear I saw one IWALY (from Nottingham?) that impressed me.

I loved her MLIYL era D&G wardrobe. So many of the pieces moved so well onstage.

R97, my bad. So she's already been married for five years. It took longer than I'd remembered for her fake marriage -- and the increasing drug use -- to take it's toll. She missed the first performance on the O'Donnell show, just four months after Cinderella wrapped, so it's probably a miracle that (truly great) production made it into the can at all.

If you watch even parts of CInderella (free w/commercials on youtube), you'll see how much healthier-looking she was, compared to her near-manic appearance on Rosie, where it looks like she's lost 1/4 of her weight. What R99 said is spot on.

A friend of mine toured with Kenny G, who was the opening act for Houston in the late 1980's. He knew Whitney pre-Bobby, and knows how her mom (and Clive Davis) forced her into that sham marriage, and did NOTHING as she fell apart as a direct result. All in the name of "Jesus".

He/I Believe

Can I Be Me is currently included in Amazon Prime. I thought it would be boring & that I'd skip through most of it. Ended watching most of it. Skipped through only the parts where she sang church-type songs (on tour, not in church).

She is the last of the vocalists who could deliver a more dynamic version of a song OUTSIDE the recording studio. Everyone since her leaves it all on the tape to be juiced by technology. Occasionally, Xtina or JHud have shown a little spark live but never as extraordinarily and consistently as Whitney.

R88, that performance of WDBHG is stellar, her live vocal is so much better than the recorded vocal.

Bridge Over Trobled Water

So pure.

A Song for You

A voice doesn't disappear in a day. Or overnight. Whitney was involved in cocaine use from early on. There is all evidence that once she started smoking crack (marrying Bobby Brown) that her sound, looks and demeanor all deteriorated. Her brain too. She had a lot of gifts to lose, so it was not immediately apparent to most people. Sometimes she was alarmingly high. She lost some clarity and range. But a sweat rag has little to do with if she could sing that day. Her walls of jericho performance of All The Man That I Need at Welcome Home Heroes concert proves that. It was in 1991 and her I'm a gospel girl singer hankie was fully utilized. The clear powerful fully resonant sound of her own voice made her back the fuck up. Amazing. But she was more than one kind of amazing and it didn't end on the Rosie O'Donnell Show. That's some internet fan talking, who never saw her live, or has only a narrow appreciation of how great her voice truly was.

Certain things happened to her voice that never came back, but like other singers and addicts she had some nights where her vocal performances approached her best days. It really doesn't matter to me, because when your gift is as great as Whitney Houstons', you can always sing something.

This performance is from 1999, in Italy. She has to sing a duet with this poor unfortunate, who had the good sense to drop back and let her beautiful voice RING through. Among all the great gifts and superhuman powers of Houston's singing; it was her resonance and the ring of her voice that seldom let her down. In this performance, everything is gorgeous and bright. No sweat in sight. She looks beautiful. She shortened phrases but hits all the notes and had vocal power and range in reserve. Some of the elder white gays seem to only love the young princess Whitney, not the more soulful woman and homegirl she became comfortable showing. MLIYL Whitney is the most authentic. BodyGuard Whitney is THE DIVA VOICE SUPERSTAR of all TIME. And nobody did it better. Young Whitney was from outerspace in the way she looked and what she could do. Drugs or not. Whitney loved Bobby. Don't kid yourself. And when she wasn't too wrecked or tired or fucked with, she loved to sing. She always gave her best. People who worked with her in studio or on stage, still weep at her genius and essential sweetness. She's beloved.

Cissy and Clive Davis did as much damage to her as anyone. Her brothers and Pat too. And what she did to herself. She was a good girl though. She took care of everyone and was gracious with her paper and heart.

A classic vocal performance by Whitney, recorded in the spring of 2000. People didn't want to see her this sexual either. She's somewhere in drug time - but gorgeous and smoldering. That slightly nasal sound & chesty echo is there....from years of smoking crack and weed and cigarettes. She'd have it for the rest of her life. The perfection of her voice was flawed - but her vocal talent and abilities were as great as ever.

R102: I saw her twice on that final tour. First night was a shock and heartbreaking to see. Went back the second night prepared for the same but she pulled it out of the bag. The crowd were really behind her and you could tell she saw that and it seemed to help her. Of course it wasn’t vocally 80s or 90s Whitney but it was still great to see and hear her.

I've never seen this before.

Whitney singing really well on a bad day. Sometimes a cold is just a cold. She really has one here. I always loved this song and though she has to cheat the high notes and cracks a few times, it's a great example of her wonderful taste & understanding of her vocal abilities and technique. She's not struggling - just not at full capacity. The low tones are luscious, she's tender and soulful. Her phrasing suffers not at all and she still builds the song to emotional climax. She can't quite get there with some notes along the way, but not the ones you might expect. That's the sign of a cold. And some nodules. That mid chest belt and thick operatic head voice wasn't going to let her down. Does she look worried? Hell no. She's still better than the rest.🌹

This is the best live performance of Whitney singing I Will Always Love You at the World Music Awards in 1994.

Yes it is, my favorite too R116.

The My Love is Your Love era is when the cracks really started to show. She started missing performances, she was high in public a lot, she got canned from the oscars.

I love the I'm Your Baby Tonight era. She was doing the music she really wanted to do for the first time in her career, and she seemed to be taking risks like indirectly outing herself in the title track of the video. It was also that whole Superbowl era, and she seemed happy and enjoying her success (and probably being with Robyn as well)

Those closest to her said things changed after The Bodyguard became such a huge success. She used to be able to go to the mall and shop without being hounded, but after that, she couldn't be so carefree. So she started retreating in more drugs.

I also think there was a lot of pressure for her to have a big acting career as well. I don't think she would have done The Bodyguard had she known just how big it would have been.

I think Whitney probably smoked plain old tobacco cigarettes as well (like cousin Dionne Warwick), which affected her voice.

The sweatiness & mop cloths. Some people just get hotter than others. Also, on stage, she was always wearing a wig, which is hot. I thought the sweatiness was part of her, the effort that she put into some of her performances.

As Celine says, "some people never disappear, some people never leave" - that is Whitney.

R118: though he definitely wasn’t the cause of all her issues, I think her life could have gone very differently after the Bodyguard if she’d not been with Bobby Brown. He was jealous of her success and she spent years trying to talk him up and always seemed uncomfortable with her own success and its impact on him. I’m sure she retreated as much to limit her own fame/success as she did avoid the public/craziness that goes with that level of fame.

I love the Olympic video that goes with One Moment in Time. The Greg Louganis clips are everything. When he cries, and his trainer hugs him, and he cries, and they're crying and Whitney's singing. And Watching him do that quadruple somersault from the high board. OMG.

I do believe that Whitney was already into drugs (cocaine, whatever) by the time she met Bobby Brown. I did watch a season of "Being Bobby Brown" and alcohol did seem to be his drug of choice. Really sad seeing him stumble around

R123: yeah her brother got her into cocaine in her teens long before she met Bobby Brown. She kind of said herself in an interview (Oprah 2009 I think) that Bobby was more into drink than drugs when they met I think. So his negative influence on her wasn’t so much the drugs or other vices but his jealousy, insecurity and the emotional abuse.

I like that DL has appreciation threads for both Whitney and Dionne right now.

I think Whitney was doomed regardless of Bobby. Her family is a bunch of vultures and they would have continued to leech off of her, and she would have found someone else, possibly even more toxic than Bobby.

True and if we’re talking jealousy, Cissy comes across as a bitter old cow who resented Whitney’s success herself as she never really made it past backup singer status. Plus the strict religious upbringing and Cissy being very clear she’d never accept Whitney loving another woman. Whitney had no chance long before she met Bobby.

I wouldn't say she had "no chance." Mariah Carey recently put out an autobiography. She financially supports her mother but calls her mother by her first name (not "Mom"). I think she (Mariah) also has no contact with her brother and sister. Sounds harsh to some, but that's what you have to do, sometimes.

Whitney Houston has the most genius voice and vocal talent of the second half of the 20th century. Mariah hooked up with the head of Sony Records when she was 18.

[quote]The My Love is Your Love era is when the cracks really started to show.

It didn't matter. She could still pull off a fantastic performance even if she was hoarse, with no voice. She had so much charisma and creativity she could pack a simple song with so much drama. Watching her live was an experience.

So it was not a live performance? This clip says it was prerecorded... WTF?

Everyone knows that R131. A hundred articles have been written about Whitney's performance of the Star Spangled Banner. All appreciative. It was named one of the greatest moments in television history. And the sports hall of fame. She took the Star Spangled Banner to the TOP of the pop charts! Twice. She sang it in one take with a second one for reassurance. Listen to most any of her performances on this thread and you'd know that she could sing it as well or better LIVE. It was the change in arrangement and time signature that is historic. She and Ricky Minor came up with it. She gave it incredible joy and drama and changed forever the way the song is sung. No one has ever matched her rendition. Every performer pre recorded the SSB for the Super Bowl up until the last few years. Save your shade for someone who deserves it. Whitney's greatness will not be diminished. Or forgotten.

Rather OT, but since OP brought it up, WHET Milli V.? Does anybody ever hear their music on the radio or in public any more? I haven't.

This is iconic. She animated the people to sing with her at 5:50

Can someone please start a thread on Whitney's worst performances.

I was not a fan of that short hairstyle/wig at all.

It was iconic

Here, then.

What about this short hairstyle?

Her finale in the bathtub when old Mr. Devil told her he has waiting for her, and he has good "stuff" for her.

Her most beautiful video (arguably) is with shorter hair and a more mature look. Great song too. One of her biggest and best hits. Pretty, pretty Whitney Houston. ❤️

I got the "Whitney: Live" compilation they put out a few years ago and binged it while I had bronchitis. I remember this one especially; her agility and clarity knocks me out. Not sure why they dressed her like an old woman though.

R141: I always thought that wig in the Exhale video aged her. She was only 32 at the time. It was even worse for the Count On Me video, the next single. She wore some really awful wigs that made her look much older than she was during what should have been her prime looks years.

Think what you like R143. Whitney was not your disney white girl princess doll. Most of her wigs were bad. I hate that she wore them. Watch the early videos with her natural hair. It was beautiful and flowing and curly and blowing around. Not as dark or blonde. And a lot of work that she didn't want in her life. But she looked SEXY in the Shoop video.

Whitney was styled so much older than her years in her twenties. I guess you'd have to be black to recognize this. Look at the video that introduces this thread. She was astounding singing One Moment In Time. And though she had been a huge star for a few years by then - that night she took on the mantle of the world's greatest singer. But she was only 25 years old wearing some old lady wig and a Barbra Streisand gown. She glows with youth and health and sexiness and power. But she looks so hokey. That's Clive Davis work.

By the Time of The Preacher's Wife and My Love is Your Love - nobody was telling Whitney what to wear. She's so sexy in that era. The clothes and the hair choices are her own. Some of the older white gays only like the innocent *white girl* packaging of the young Whitney Houston. With a few exceptions, she transcended it all anyways. She was a beautiful girl and woman. Sexy too.

[quote] Watch the early videos with her natural hair. It was beautiful and flowing and curly and blowing around.

IMO, Whitney always wore wigs, even at the beginning.

Your opinion is wrong. You're white right? See those baby hairs? This ain't Drag Race. Leave it alone R145.

She's the best voice there ever was. The end.

So Emotional. Vocal perfection.

When a cold works for you. Singers love this zone when it works. You kind of sing over the throat problem - but there's some added texture and resonance to the voice. This is probably the best version of this song that anyone will ever hear. Excellent musicians, background singers and Whitney is completely in the groove of the song and in love with her own voice. She plays and soars. Risks and rewards. Too fucking gorgeous. *Listen* It looks like a video shoot - but it's only Japan. 🌹💮

Yes R116, it's an incredible performance of IWALY. Prince was in the audience that evening and the camera showed him for a few seconds absolutely loving Whitney's performance. Too bad they never worked together. With Whitney, Prince and Aretha the music world lost some of its real icons.

She makes the near impossible look easy. Her voice is on fire. She loves them and they love her.

Her doped up bathtub ..where she goes gurgle, gurgle ,gurgle

Whitney drowned in a scalding tub of hot water - after doing a hit of crack, falling and hitting her head. I hope her leaving was joyful. She will never return.

What's your excuse for being alive R152?

(153) My excuse for being alive? That I'm not as stupid as your stupid idol.

This whole concert from 1996 is great. Past her peak and a few years of drugs being an every day thing have taken their toll on her voice a bit it’s still a joy to watch as a fan.

Yes, it is R155!! Well said. She was so far from done. Whitney would give even better vocals later than 1996. But her voice was so rich and strong that night. She looks happy. She was pregnant. And most likely just a bit high. 🌹

R156: I’ve got it on the TV to listen to while looking at my phone and had to stop and watch when Didn’t We Almost Have It All came on in the medley. Her voice breaks fairly frequently but I always thought she sang this song with such passion, even when it wasn’t perfect vocally. Her friend/one-time-lover Robin quotes the song often in her book so I do wonder if Robin is why she was so passionate every time she sang it. What they had was over and would never happen again as a relationship but they had the memories of it, and of almost having it all together.

What? Incredible!

Super human singing. Unbelievably beautiful tone and power and resonance.....The Greatest of Them All. WH.

Sadly, her last performance was under about 6 inches of water.

R160: Hilarious!!!! Such wit.

Some singers move me to tears...pouring down my face. Whitney is one of them. Judy also.

Listen to this R162. The song ain't new and she sang it a thousand times. But this is the first (almost clean) version of how she did it on the night of The Rainforest Benefit, aka - the night she sang 16 bars of opera for Pavarotti. 1994. Whitney's voice was so light and beautiful that night. She had all the dark velvet tones she'd ever need. The power notes are as good as the soundtrack and the key is original. She looks happy and sober and sings the song with the most beautiful musicality and reserved power. The best version of this or that gets tedious to discuss - but for a troubled singer with too much talent and distraction - sometimes the best happens because they are prepared to do well. On a private night in good company. I Will Always Love You. Elegant.

Thank you R163. Her voice is flawless. I don't know about the techniques of singing...but I know what sounds beautiful and moves me. In Whitney's prime, she was one of the best ever, in that category that most singers don't reach. I looked at some videos of her on youtube, in her later years...when she began her problems and it's sad. The voice was tired, strained...still held some beautiful notes, but her power was gone.

R163: Wow. Thanks for posting that. It’s just beautiful.

Gurgle, gurgle is this a bad batch, never happened...HELP...

R32 is a truly spectacular live performance for the ages.

Gurgle,Gurgle..I told him not to buy the cheap stuff...

Never forget. Whitney was a beautiful woman with a once in a lifetime voice. Astounding talent.💖