My latest for Capital: Anatomy of a performance: Whitney Houston sings ‘The Star Spangled Banner.’ January 1991.
Categories
Archives
-
-
-
-
Recent Posts
- “I couldn’t do no yodelin’, so I turned to howlin’ and it’s done me just fine.”– Howlin’ Wolf
- “If you have to be in a soap opera try not to get the worst role.” — Judy Garland
- Mike Doughty, if you’re out there …
- Happy Birthday to “Mr. Excitement”, Jackie Wilson
- “I was smart enough to go through any door that opened.” — Joan Rivers
- “Art is about building a new foundation, not just laying something on top of what’s already there.” — Prince
- “I dread to think about life without singing.” — Tom Jones
- “I want them to think ‘He was a nice guy. He did pretty good and we loved him’.” — Dean Martin
- “I want to write poems that will be non-compromising.” — poet Gwendolyn Brooks
- “When people ask me if I am a feminist film maker, I reply I am a woman and I also make films.” — Chantal Akerman
Recent Comments
- Lyrie on “Rock n’ roll! It’s the music of puberty.” — Suzi Quatro
- Mike Molloy on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- Sheila on “Rock n’ roll! It’s the music of puberty.” — Suzi Quatro
- sheila on “Rock n’ roll! It’s the music of puberty.” — Suzi Quatro
- Lyrie on “Rock n’ roll! It’s the music of puberty.” — Suzi Quatro
- sheila on “Rock n’ roll! It’s the music of puberty.” — Suzi Quatro
- Lyrie on “Rock n’ roll! It’s the music of puberty.” — Suzi Quatro
- sheila on Review: Carolina Caroline (2026
- sheila on “Rock n’ roll! It’s the music of puberty.” — Suzi Quatro
- Lyrie on “Rock n’ roll! It’s the music of puberty.” — Suzi Quatro
- Lyrie on Review: Carolina Caroline (2026
- sheila on Review: Carolina Caroline (2026
- Clary on Review: Carolina Caroline (2026
- sheila on “Rock n’ roll! It’s the music of puberty.” — Suzi Quatro
- sheila on “Rock n’ roll! It’s the music of puberty.” — Suzi Quatro
- sheila on “I’m not interested in money. I just want to be wonderful.” – Marilyn Monroe
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- Lyrie on “Rock n’ roll! It’s the music of puberty.” — Suzi Quatro
-
Really? Lip synching? I’m not so sure she was — there are some really subtle pushes at the very end where she is pumping her arms in seems reflected in the “braaAaaVe….”
If she was, no matter. Truly stirring.
thanks
That’s what I mean. Yes. No shit “no matter”! It’s an amazingly coherent and synched up performance. Shes probably singing over a track which is why the breath is there.
I remember this! Which is amazing considering how little I remember. I also remember it because I was the opposite of a fan of hers…my taste in music simply excluded her genre. I always could appreciate her talent but I didn’t truly connect with her own songs. But I do remember being truly blown away by this performance.
And, um, it’s one thing to rag on Ashley Simpson for lip synching…the point being that she probably didn’t even sing on the original recording. We’re going to complain because Whitney Houston SANG THAT SONG THAT WAY???? Get over it.
Speaking of your genre, bren, I was in an elevator today with a dude wearing a Minor Threat T-shirt.
Lip synching is part of being a professional. You sing in the movies, you have to lip synch convincingly. When you do it right, nobody would question you. It’s when you feel that someone is trying to pull something over on you that there is a problem.
She BRINGS IT.
This is a clip that has been going around in the last 2 days – Whitney’s isolated vocal track for How Will I know. This is what this woman sounded like. This is without autotune, without 5 vocal tracks laid down to beef up her sound – this is a live track. Her voice was astonishing.
But that she could back it up with a performance of such vitality at that Super Bowl …
This is like Judy Garland level of connection.
As a matter of fact, when the Capital guys asked me to write the piece – I thought immediately of Judy Garland singing Battle Hymn of the Republic on her TV show a couple of days after JFK was assassinated. Now that was clearly a live track – but why I thought of it is that Judy was stepping into a moment huger than she was … a national moment … and she used her own performance as a way to give her audience a catharsis. That’s what Whitney does here.
// Which is amazing considering how little I remember. //
hahahaha
Boone, go to school.