Songoftheday 8/17/14 - There's a boy I know he's the one I dream of, looks into my eyes takes me to the clouds above....

Whitney Houston - "How Will I Know"
from the album Whitney Houston (1985)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 16

Today's Song of the Day is from Whitney Houston, whose self-titled debut album had already scored a top-10 hit with "You Give Good Love" and a #1 follow-up with "Saving All My Love For You". Both of those singles her urban contemporary jams that were well suited for the bedroom (or lite-radio, for that matter). The third release from the set, however, is the one that truly made her a pop star. "How Will I Know" was written originally for Janet Jackson by the husband-and-wife team of George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam, who as the duo Boy Meets Girl had already reached the top-40 themselves with "Oh Girl" in 1985. With Narada Michael Walden using his synthed-out soul production like he did with Aretha Franklin's "Freeway Of Love" on this expression of romantic uncertainty, Whitney had the pop classic she needed...

Man, I forgot how campy those dancers were.

"How Will I Know" became Whitney's second #1 pop hit in February of 1986, and also topped Billboard magazine's R&B and Adult Contemporary radio charts. It was her first big dance hit as well, climbing to #3 on the club play chart (her album cut "Thinking About You" popped in at #24 the previous year). Internationally, the single went to the top of the chart in Canada, the runner-up spot in Australia, Sweden, and Norway, and top-5 in the UK and Ireland.

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One of the first shows that gave Whitney a shot was the Merv Griffin Show, and here she is back in 1985...

Houston performed "How Will I Know" (really) live on the MTV Music Awards in 1986...

....and again live at the Montreaux Pop Festival in 1987...

And a year later in full superstar mode...

Fast forward to her playing live in 1991...

...and for the Sultan of Brunei in 1996...

 She's still workin' it in 2000...

In 2004, the British dance group LMC "mashed up" the beginning of "How Will I Know" with U2's "With Or Without You" for "Take Me To The Clouds Above", which went to #1 in England for a couple of weeks...

The cast of Glee also took on the song after Whitney's passing for a tribute episode, and the recording hit the chart at #65 in the US and #73 in Britain...

Lastly, Sam Smith did a beautiful ballad-style cover of the song for an appearance on Sirius satellite radio...

Up tomorrow: A percussionist finds some unusual romance.