Do You Remember When You First Heard Whitney Houston?

**marv2** · 02-13-2012, 01:15 AM

You know how music, I mean really good music can stick with you for years and conjure up memories of where you were and what you were doing when you first heard a particular song or artist. Can you remember when you first heard Whitney Houston?

I am going to go with the first time I can remember hearing her "solo" because prior to that time I know she did a few duets with Jermaine Jackson and Teddy Pendergrass. By the time I heard Whitney solo, I did not remember her from those duets. It was early Spring of 1985 and I was on a work assignment in Cleveland, Ohio with one of my first real jobs out of college. I remember I was driving over this bridge at the height of rush hour traffic and then the traffic came to a halt. I was stressing to say the least when out of the blue this song, this voice came over the radio from one of the local Cleveland R&B stations. It was WHITNEY! The song was, "You Give Good Love". It sounded so smooth, soothing and cool. I was knocked out! I had to go find it, a cassette , a single anything until the album was out. I loved her voice every since that day 26 years ago!

**soulster** · 02-13-2012, 03:20 AM

It was 1985, when mostly everyone else also heard her for the first time. She was on Soul Train, I think, and she sang "You Give Good Love". I remember not liking the song very much, but it was the second single "Saving All My Love" which influenced me to buy the CD. What I remember even more is that I didn't like the brittle sound of that CD. I had already stopped buying records and tapes at that point.

**jack020** · 02-13-2012, 03:29 AM

1978 on Michael Zager's Life Is A Party

**bankhousedave** · 02-13-2012, 08:26 AM

I remember her doing Saving All My Love on Top of the Pops. It was obvious from the start that she was something special. I'm not sure what year - late eighties - we went for a meal in a little restaurant in Torquay and they played the whole album. I Will Always Love You became a huge wedding favourite and was never off the radio for years, The Greatest Love was the song that really got me - and still does it to me now.

**mike_sku** · 02-13-2012, 10:45 AM

I think my first listening encounter with Whitney was on a Paul Jabara album. This was definitely before all her hits.

**marv2** · 02-13-2012, 01:37 PM

Originally Posted by jack020

1978 on Michael Zager's Life Is A Party

Michael Zager as in "Let's All Chant?" Wow!

**BobC** · 02-13-2012, 02:53 PM

I first heard her doing a song called Memories on a Material album--it was her first recording [[Same record that had Nona Hendryx's Busting Out). The second song was You Give Good Love which I thought was a great soul ballad, and then Saving All My Love, which I already had heard done by Marilyn MCCoo and Billy Davis Jr

SupremeBoy · 02-13-2012, 07:19 PM

I first heard Whitney when her first single "Saving All My Love For You" dropped.

smark21 · 02-13-2012, 09:37 PM

When I heard You Give Good Love on the radio in summer of 85, but I think it was Saving All My Love for You that made me really pay attention.

**daviddesper** · 02-14-2012, 01:01 AM

I was attending a seminar at Lake Chautauqua, New York in the summer of 1984 and her duet with Teddy Pendergrass was all over the radio, even though I don't think it was all that big a hit. The next summer, when her debut album came out, I remember talking about it with a sweet little old couple who ran a neat mom-and-pop record store in downtown Roanoke, VA. I bought some of my best music there.