Whitney Houston Greatest Love of All

Wikipedia

When Whitney came along with Greatest Love of All, I had some problems singing it. I was a teenager then. Whitney had a different vocal range than I had. I would sing up to a certain point and stop and listen to her. My mom would ask, "Why do you stop? You never sing the song all the way through?"

I would say, "Whitney's too strong. She's too high for me right there, and I get tired. That is a long song. Whitney is long winded, and I get out of breath." When Whitney would get to..."I decided long ago never to walk in anyone's shadow", I would stop to listen. I thought to myself, "The song is new. I have to learn it that's all." I would play back Whitney's song and wondered how I was going to sing that particular line that she was singing so high and loud with an attitude.

My mother would say, "Gail, you have to find your own voice, but you sound kind of like Whitney. You sound a lot like her when you first start."

When I would play Whitney's song, I would turn the volume down to sing over her voice to find mine. I didn't like it, and I felt an audience wouldn't like it either. Still, I was hearing Whitney's voice and the way she sung it. That would be the voice the audience would want to hear. Back in those days, if you sung a song, you had to sound like the person that sung that song. That's when I started writing my own songs.