Whitney Houston's Studio Vocals

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Live Singing

Whitney Houston was a great singer singing live on stage. She could hold a note a long time. Whitney could sing any way she wanted and could sing how she wanted. She had a lot of experience singing in the church and taught by her mom Cissy Houston. I heard Miss Houston say something about Whitney singing from the head, chest, and stomach in the documentary. She said Whitney could do it all. I never knew what Whitney was doing because I didn't know about singing that way when I first heard her songs. All I knew, I would be very tired trying to sing her song, Greatest Love of All. I never felt tired in singing before singing songs by Sister Sledge, Stevie Wonder, Pointer Sisters, and so on.

Whitney Houston brought something to a new generation. Everybody was trying to show off their voices that I knew could sing from the church. I began to notice more and more people doing the kind of thing Whitney would do in singing. To be honest, it didn't suit everybody. Some folks were doing too much, and I thought it might be too much on my vocal chords. I didn't change. I just kept singing ignoring all the other stuff. I listened to the Motown singers and paid attention to their sound recordings. Even Aretha Franklin. She could do what Whitney did with a different voice and Whitney listened to Aretha. I thought, Everybody has their own way. If it sounds good, it sounds good.

Studio Sound

In the studio, there are special effects that you may here on records like echo and reverb. For Whitney, it didn't matter. She sounded great no matter how it was done in the studio. Whitney Houston could sing. She had a beautiful vocal. Whitney could sing out loud and strong. She was taught how to do it. There is a lot to singing. The problem I had was hearing Whitney sing her songs. My mom told me I needed to hear me. I couldn't see that then mocking records. I see that now though I knew who I was writing and singing my own songs.That's the only way I could hear me.

 I wish I could have shared my songs with Whitney Houston. I wanted to be her song writer and write the kind of songs like Rod Temperton wrote for Michael Jackson. Such were Off the Wall and Rock With You. I wanted to write her more songs like The Greatest Love of All because of her vocals. However, songwriting is not always easy. You need something to write about and some experience. Not just something thrown together. Whitney was looking for meaning and I dig that. That's what helped her singing too. Whitney also needed something soulful and something she could really get down with. I believe that the dance songs like Rod Temperton wrote for Michael would have really brought something more out of Whitney, She loved to dance.