The 500 - #257 - Whitney Houston (Self-Titled Debut) - Whitney Houston

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #257
Album Title: Self-Titled Debut
Artist: Whitney Houston
Genre: Pop, Pop-Soul, R&B
Recorded: Arista Records Studio, New York City, U.S
Released: February, 1985
My age at release: I was 19, my guest blogger was 21
How familiar was I with it before this week: 

    Guest Blogger: Very

    Me: The Hits, 7 out of the 10 songs on the record
Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #412, dropping 139 spots since 2012
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: How Will I Know?

I am delighted to introduce a new guest blogger this week. Sue Bruyns was, until her retirement a week ago, the principal at our school, Sir Arthur Currie in London, Ontario. Sue has been an extraordinary leader with our school board (Thames Valley) for over three decades. Not only was she my principal for the past three years, she also hired me as an Instructional Coach in 2017 – an opportunity that turbo-charged my practice.

Sue Bruyns (front and centre) surrounded by the Sir Arthur Currie Coyote
staffon her last day (June 29, 2023) - I’m up top in sunglasses,
wisely putting the good-looking people in front of me.

Sue was a supportive administrator who brought intelligence, patience, passion and kindness to her role as principal. She was also a terrific conversationalist. Many of my office photo-copying sessions were pleasantly interrupted by a spontaneous chat with Sue about music, education, politics or life. At one such impromptu exchange, we realized that we had both attended Saunders Secondary School in London at the same time and were in band together. Furthermore, much to our surprise, we had gone on a band trip to Boston together in 1982. As is often typical of high school social dynamics, we occupied the same space but never interacted. Two years age difference is a lifetime when you are a teen and we played in different sections -- I played saxophone and Sue played clarinet That was rectified this year, Sue and I had the opportunity to join our school’s band – practising with the students two mornings a week and performing together at the Spring Concert.

Sue and me, following the school’s Spring Concert
on May 4th, 2023- Yes, we performed the
Star Wars’ Theme on "May The 4th Be With You".

Sue also maintains a blog, which can be found at http://www.susanbruyns.com/. Remarkably, she takes on the annual challenge of crafting a “Post-A-Day for the Month of May”. Give her a follow at @sbruyns on Twitter. But first, enjoy her guest post on Whitney Houston’s self-titled debut record.

 By Sue Bruyns

1985 was a monumental year for me. I had graduated Western with my Bachelor of Arts degree in April, started Teachers College at Althouse in September ~ and got married in August. Life was changing at an incredible speed (little did I know how much faster the sands through the hourglass were going to continue to fall). I found that my taste in music was also going through a change. The soundtracks to Grease and Saturday Night Fever were being played less on the stereo system with the large BOSE speakers, as my LP collection was expanding to include the more provocative sounding Purple Rain, Private Dancer and No Jacket Required. It was around that time that I also started my lifelong love of Country Music ~ most notably the band Alabama.

Mid-80s records from Phil Collins, Tina Turner, Prince & Alabama

In the spring of 1985, when it was time for us to select a first dance for our wedding, I recall hours upon hours of spinning records trying to find something perfect. When nothing captured our “promise” to each other, it was off to the nearest music store to look for something new.

I have no doubt it was the beautiful tangerine cover of Whitney Houston’s self-titled first album, Whitney Houston, that caught my eye and led to my purchase that day. I immediately fell in love with all the tracks.

One of the best parts of the 80s was MTV. Not only did Whitney have a powerful voice, but the camera also loved her which helped elevate her popularity, especially with the fun, light-hearted, How Will I Know? video, which is still on my Spotify playlist and a fan favourite at weddings, almost 40 years later.

Screen capture from Houston's How Will I Know? video

However, it was her rendition of  The Greatest Love of All which has been a beautiful tapestry of lyrics woven throughout various parts of my journey as an educator. As a student teacher, I was asked to create a poetry lesson for a Grade 7 class. I was determined not to repeat the poetry lessons of my own youth, which included The Cremation of Sam McGee, so I decided to use contemporary song lyrics, with the following verse from Houston's song,

“I believe the children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be.”

Throughout my career, whenever I have been asked to articulate my core belief about the importance of education, I have referred to those lyrics time and time again. Even as recently as one week ago, as I gave my final farewell after 35 years in education, I called upon those lyrics one last time as my parting words of advice to my wonderful school family. I will always believe that “our children are our future” and that it is our job to “teach them well and show them all the beauty they possess inside.”

In preparing this post, I rewatched The Greatest Love of All video and was overcome with a sense of sadness in knowing not only Whitney’s fate of an untimely death, but what the future held for her daughter. In the video, a young Whitney is supported by her real-life mom, Cissy Houston, as she makes her first stage appearance as a child, and it ends with an adult superstar Whitney embracing her mom ~ a gift that neither Whitney nor her daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, were ever able to experience. Houston died in 2012 at the age of 48 when her daughter was 17.

Whitney with her daughter, Bobbi Kristina

I also found it interesting that this song was originally recorded by George Benson as the opening number for the 1977 film The Greatest, a biopic of Muhammad Ali. Until now, I assumed that Whitney was the first singer to cover the song.

Although this album certainly started Whitney’s career – and my love for her music – it was not until the release of the 1992 soundtrack of The Bodyguard, which she also starred in with Kevin Costner, that she reached superstardom. That album also included her all-time number one hit, I Will Always Love You, which was a remake of a song originally recorded by superstar country artist Dolly Parton. That song was also the number one wedding song of 1992.

Movie poster for The Bodyguard (interestingly, the woman
in this photo was Houston's body double, as it was taken 
after Houston had finished her filming and left for home.)

Which leads me back to the beginning. Although my purchase of Whitney Houston on that fateful day led to many wonderful memories and inspirational moments in my career as well as love and respect for Whitney as a singer, an actor and an artist, it did not quite make the cut as our wedding song.

We eventually agreed on You’re The Inspiration from the band Chicago and their 1984 album, Chicago 17.