Songoftheday 4/2/14 - I found out what I've been missin' always on the run, I've been lookin' for someone...

Whitney Houston - "You Give Good Love"
from the album Whitney Houston (1985)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #3 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 13

Today's Song of the Day was the world's true big introduction to who would become one of the biggest singing stars of the rock era, Whitney Houston. Born to "royal" music blood with mother gospel legend Cissy Houston and cousin pop vocal legend Dionne Warwick, Whitney grew up with musical giants all around her, where she developed her amazing vocal range in her church. Although she dabbled in background singing, her personal solo career didn't get going until the mid-80's. By then she was already an in-demand model, and after being signed by Clive Davis to Arista records, Whitney recorded a duet with Teddy Pendergrass, "Hold Me", which placed her on the R&B and Adult Contemporary top-40 in Billboard magazine, and almost scraped the top-40 on the pop chart at #46 in 1984.

The following year, Whitney's self-titled debut album was released, and the buzz around it from the beginning was staggering. Billed as the R&B voice of the next generation, her first single was the seductive "You Give Good Love", written by New York newcomer LaForrest Cope ("Lala"), was originally pushed for Roberta Flack. But thankfully producer Kashif and Whitney took the song to a more youthful place, and Houston's range did wonders to the mid-tempo bedwarmer...

"You Give Good Love" first topped the R&B chart, then crossed over to pop radio where it climbed to the top-5 in July of 1985. The single also placed up at #4 on the adult-contemporary chart in Billboard, cementing her rise with a more mature market even as the kids were eating it up. Internationally, the single made the top-10 in Canada, but wasn't really her big moment overseas - she nicked the British chart at #93 and peaked in the lower half of the chart in Australia. But this was just the start...

After all she's been through until her untimely death in 2012, it's easy to forget her quiet storm beginnings. And "You Give Good Love" is a nugget of hers that is welcome to pull out from time to time without getting old...

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


Houston made her big TV debut on the Tonight Show, and even Johnny must've known he had something special in the works, even though you can tell her nerves were getting to her at first...

Now just watch her just two years later at the Soul Train Awards...

...and finally, in concert in Japan from 1990...

Up tomorrow: the "Cruisers" are back and completely weathered.