Whitney Houston’s Musical Influences Free Essay Example

Whitney Houston has many influences that she looked up to when she was growing up and that helped her to be shaped into the kind, open hearted woman she was. Darlene Love is an American Singer, also is an Aunt to Whitney Houston, therefore Darlene being her aunt is close to Whitney. Whitney growing up was always in contact with Darlene and was always considered someone Whitney had looked up to from early age. In the rolling stone interview here are some of the things that Darlene has mentioned on Whitney behalf.

“I met Whitney when she was eight years old. Her mother Cissy, Dee Dee Warwick and myself sang background for Dionne Warwick for 10 years, almost. When we’d work around the area in New York or Connecticut doing shows, instead of staying in a hotel, I’d stay with Cissy. And it was, “Well, where am I going to sleep?” Nippy – that’s what we called her – would chime up, “Oh, you can sleep in my room, auntie!” She was always that little girl that wanted to help.

I was pregnant at the time, and eating fruit was my passion. She’d go, “What do you want, what do you want?” There was a store on the corner where she’d run down the street and buy fruit for me – “OK, you all right? You want something else?” So charming from Day One.” Darlene Love was born as Darlene Wright on July 26, 1941, in Los Angeles, California. She began performing at a very early age.

As daughter of the minister she began singing on her church choir. Love grew up in the South Central Los Angeles long before the racial tension, violence, and crime began to arise. At an early age, still in high school Love was already prepared to sing in a girl group called The Blossoms. The trio already performed locally and sand in backup for people like Sam Cooke and Bobby Day.

Love had caught the ear of a groundbreaking producer named Phil Spector, who had immediately recognized the great potential in her voice. Phil Spector in an interview mentions ‘She had a peculiarly young voice, which made it suitable for the songs Spector liked best—the ones dealing with adolescent emotional experiences. However, unlike most of the kids around, she was also a solidly professional singer with exemplary technique, control and flexibility. She had real power and genuine dynamic range…. In a word, Darlene was a godsend.’ Over the years she had sung her way home into the people hearts and right into the Rock and Roll hall of Fame. This great and strong woman was present in Whitney’s life for a big chunk of years. Whitney Houston had all of these great, incredible, passionate wine surrounding her childhood. No wonder she became the top singer she is today, even after her death. Enduring these string qualities from all of her influences. One of Whitney Houston’s many influences was Aretha Franklin.

Whitney mother Cissy Houston was a backup singer therefore Whitney communicated with Aretha a lot of times. Based on the San Diego Union Tribune, where an interview was conducted with Aretha Franklin it stated that the connection that Whitney had with Aretha was more than just professional. Her mother Cissy Houston sang backup for the Queen of Soul. “I remember when I was about 12, I would go into out basement where my mother had her recording equipment, and I’d take the mic and put on Aretha and we’d go at it for hours.” Houston told Ebony in 1985. “I’d just close my eyes and sing all by myself and imagine I was on stage singing to a packed house” This shows how Whitney saw Aretha as a talent, as a singer. Whitney singing Aretha Sings means she understands where Aretha is coming from in her songs. Aretha Franklin was born in Memphis Tennessee, in 1942. She toured with her father’s traveling revival show and then when they visited New York she signed with Columbia Records. She then went on to release a couple of popular singles. She bacem the first female artist in 1987 to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2008 she won her 18th Grammy Award, and that basically made her on of the most honored artists in the Grammy history.

Aretha followed heroud such as Cooke and Dinah Washington into pop and the blues atmosphere. Those were some of her influences. In 1961 she released her first album named “Aretha”. Two tracks from that album would make it to the R%B top 10 category, but then a bigger success had came that same year with a single named “Rockabye your baby with the Dixie Melody” . This single crossed over No. 37 on the pop charts. Aretha Franklin was honored to be enlisted to perform at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. funeral ,as well as she was selected to sing the national anthem to begin the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. In 2008 she was tapped to sing at the 2009 presidential inauguration of Barack Obama. Aretha Franklin is one of the most ranked among the hikes of Alison Krauss, Adele, and Beyonce. Aretha had given an interview on Whitney Houston behalf in the Rolling Stone article, and here are some of the things that she had mentioned “I met Whitney when her mother, Cissy, who was singing with me, brought her to one of my recording sessions. She was around nine or 10, with little red pigtails and her hair parted in the middle. I think Cissy had instructed her to be very quiet, because she didn’t say too much after that. She was just very quiet and very attentive, a pretty little girl. By the time she was a young lady, Luther Vandross and I were talking about her. She knew how to be glamorous and graceful. She had class. She knew where she was going. It was clear her and her mother both had a similar quality to their voices – the genetics were just unbelievable. Just like her mom, she was one of the great sopranos.” On August 12, 2018, Aretha Franklin had died by the surrounding of her family and friends in her home in Detroit.

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