Greatest Love of All
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| “Greatest Love of All” | |||||
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| Single by Whitney Houston from the album Whitney Houston |
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| Released | April 1986 | ||||
| Format | CD single Cassette single 7" single 12" single |
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| Recorded | 1985 | ||||
| Genre | Soul, R&B | ||||
| Length | 4:52 | ||||
| Label | Arista Records | ||||
| Writer(s) | Michael Masser Linda Creed |
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| Producer | Narada Michael Walden | ||||
| Whitney Houston singles chronology | |||||
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"Greatest Love of All" is the fourth and final single released from Whitney Houston's self-titled first studio album, Whitney Houston, released in April 1986. It was written by Michael Masser and Linda Creed, and originally recorded (as "The Greatest Love of All") by George Benson for the 1977 Muhammad Ali film The Greatest. The original record was a minor hit for Benson.
Label head Clive Davis was against Houston recording the song, but eventually gave in after persuasion from Masser. The song was included as a B-side to the single "You Give Good Love", which reached number three in the U.S.
The original album version features a piano intro, while the single version begins with a keyboard intro. After the single became a success, it replaced the album version on subsequent copies of the album.
When Linda Creed wrote the lyrics, she was in the midst of her struggle with breast cancer. The words describe her feelings about coping with a terminal illness and being a young mother. She eventually succumbed to the disease and died on April 1986 (at the age of 37), the same month that the single was released.
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[edit] Chart information
Houston's version of the song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for three weeks. The song was also the third chart-topper from the album, an unprecedented achievement for a solo female artist.[citation needed] It was Houston's longest-running number-one single at the time, and her second longest to date after I Will Always Love You. The song also reached number one on both component charts, the Hot 100 Singles Sales and the Hot 100 Airplay, her second consecutive release to do so, and stayed for fourteen weeks in the top forty.
On other Billboard charts, the song performed well, reaching number three on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart (where its predecessor had managed to make number one). It topped the Adult Contemporary chart for five weeks, Houston's longest stay at the top of the chart at the time.
Internationally, the song did not manage the success of "How Will I Know", reaching number eight in the United Kingdom, twenty in Switzerland, and twenty-one in Germany. The song became Houston's first number one single in Australia. On the United World Chart, this became Houston's third consecutive number one single staying at the top spot for nine consecutive weeks in 1986.
It won the American Music Award for Favourite Soul/R&B Video, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Record of the Year and a Soul Train Music Award for Single of the Year.
The song ranked at #30 on Blender's list of the "50 Worst Songs Ever".[1]
[edit] Gordon Lightfoot Plagiarism Lawsuit
Canadian folk-rock singer Gordon Lightfoot filed a lawsuit against one of the song's composers, Michael Masser in April 1987, claiming that Masser's melody for the song "The Greatest Love of All" stole twenty-four bars from Lightfoot's 1969 hit "If You Could Read My Mind." The case was settled out of court, with a public apology from Michael Masser.[2]
[edit] Music video
The music video, shot in Harlem's Apollo Theater, features Cissy Houston playing herself, encouraging and supporting Whitney from the time she was a young girl (portrayed by an actress) to her eventual stardom.
[edit] Alternate version
An alternate version of the song, featuring just the piano and the vocal, appeared on 200,000 limited copies of the Whitney Houston.
[edit] In pop culture
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Among the many such references in the pop culture are:
- the film Coming to America: Randy Watson (Eddie Murphy) leads his band Sexual Chocolate in a terrible cover of the song.
- the film Camp Nowhere: Zack (Andrew Keegan) tells Trish (Marnette Patterson) that she has to stay in school, because otherwise "who's gonna sing 'Greatest Love of All' at graduation?"
- the film School of Rock: Dewy (Jack Black) says that he doesn't believe in testing because he "believes that children are the future."
- "The Puppet Show," an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Cordelia auditions for the school talent show with an off-key rendition of the song, saying, "My song is about dignity, and human feelings, and personal— hygiene or something. Anyway, it's sappy . . . ." Cordelia performs the song again in the Angel episode "Slouching Toward Bethlehem".
- Say Anything: The school's salutatorian performs an off-key rendition of the song at graduation.
- American Psycho: Patrick Bateman, the titular character, names the song as a favorite, which represents his self love and narcissism in both the film and book. During the scene in the film , the song is played in the background.
- Full House's 1991-92 season finale: Stephanie Tanner briefly sings part of the first verse.
- "The Finale" of Will and Grace: Grace sings the song to her unborn baby to stimulate her to be familiar with music. The baby, perceiving that it is a terrible performance of the song, starts to kick her mother.
- "Francine's Flashback", an episode of American Dad!: Stan makes Houston (impersonated by comedian Debra Wilson) sing this song for his wife in exchange for a fix of cocaine (in a reference to Houston's crack addiction, which became a tabloid sensation of the late 1990s).
- Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) performed this song in the 30 Rock episode "The Baby Show."
- Rapper The Game makes reference to Whitney Houston and the opening line of the song in his song titled "Dreams" when he raps "We the future, Whitney Houston told me that".
- In an episode of Felicity, R&B singer Monica plays a beauty pageant contestant and performs the song. Monica also performed the song to get her record contract and also idolizes Whitney Houston.
- In the Everybody Loves Raymond episode "Hackidu," Amy's brother Russell tells Ray that Ray's brother, Robert, "needs to learn to love himself." Ray responds with "Yeah, well, that's the greatest love of all, right?"
[edit] Covers
- Shirley Bassey
- Aretha Franklin- Franklin did this song as the closing to a show she did at the Palais Des Sports in Paris, France in 1977.
- Kevin Rowland, lead singer of Dexy's Midnight Runners, chose the song as lead-in track for his solo-comeback album My Beauty in 1999
- Punk Rock band Mindless Self Indulgence have a cover due to be released on a upcoming single
[edit] References
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| Preceded by "West End Girls" by Pet Shop Boys |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single May 17, 1986- May 31, 1986 |
Succeeded by "Live to Tell" by Madonna |
