"Greatest Love of All" is a song recorded by American singer Whitney Houston. It is a cover of the original song written by Michael Masser and Linda Creed, and recorded by George Benson. Originally issued as the B-side of her solo debut hit "You Give Good Love" in February 1985, it was released by Houston's label Arista Records as the sixth single from her self-titled debut album on March 18, 1986.

The song found immediate success upon its release. In the United States, it became Houston's third consecutive number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, where it would stay for three consecutive weeks, making her the first female artist to have three Hot 100 number-one singles from the same album. In Canada, it became Houston's second number-one single as well as in Ireland and her first chart-topper in Panama and Australia and would chart successfully in other countries, reaching the top ten in the United Kingdom and the top twenty in five other countries. The song earned Houston a Grammy Award nomination for Record of the Year at the 29th Annual Grammy Awards in 1987, her first nomination in that category.

The song has been featured on three of Houston's compilation albums since its release including Whitney: The Greatest Hits (both in its original version and as a dance remix), The Ultimate Collection and I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston. Houston's 1990 live performance from the Arista 15th anniversary concert in Radio City Music Hall was included in the 25th anniversary deluxe edition of Whitney Houston and the 2014 CD/DVD release, Whitney Houston Live: Her Greatest Performances.

With over 8 million copies sold worldwide, the song was considered one of the first signature songs of her career while its music video was the first music video on MTV by a black female artist to debut to heavy rotation.

Background

In 1977, 14-year-old Whitney Houston entered the Garden State Competition in her home state of New Jersey and became a finalist, competing against another young female vocalist for the win. Houston's song for the competition, as given to her by her mother Cissy Houston, was the Barbra Streisand ballad "Evergreen". Houston lost by technicality due to singing above the limit. Ironically, the girl who won had performed the song "The Greatest Love of All". Houston was also a fan of the song and eventually included it in her solo performances while singing in her mother's band.

By early 1983, the song had become a regular inclusion in Houston's short set list, along with other pop standards such as "Home" and "Tomorrow". That year, she had been spotted by Arista Records A&R man Gerry Griffith at the Manhattan jazz club Seventh Avenue South. Griffith, who had first caught Houston performing at another club in Manhattan two years earlier, was so impressed with her performance that the following day, he went to the office of Arista CEO Clive Davis and asked him to come see Houston's show. According to Davis, he caught a show with Whitney and her mother at the Sweetwater's jazz club. Upon hearing Houston perform "The Greatest Love of All", an impressed Davis decided to sign the aspiring 19-year-old singer.

For the first couple of months following Houston signing with the label in April 1983, the singer and Davis hosted showcases in nightclubs to seek producers without much success until Davis called producer Michael Masser to come to New York to see Houston performing "The Greatest Love of All", which he co-wrote with Linda Creed for George Benson in 1977 for the Muhammad Ali biopic, The Greatest.

At the time, Arista, which had been founded by Davis in late 1974, had won rights to produce the soundtrack of the Ali film and Masser, who had previously composed hits for Diana Ross, had been contacted by Davis to pen the film's theme song along with Creed, which in turn produced a long partnership between the two songwriters. Benson's version became a hit upon its release, reaching number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1977 and became Arista's first top ten R&B hit, where it peaked at number two on the Hot Soul Singles chart.

Masser happened to walk in when Houston began performing the song. Upon hearing her sing the song, Masser was moved and convinced Davis to let Houston be the featured duet performer of Teddy Pendergrass's ballad, "Hold Me". Davis obliged under the condition Masser produce for Houston's debut, to which Masser agreed.

Recording

According to the label, work on Houston's debut album took over a year. Initially budgeted for $200,000, it was now over the budget, approaching $400,000. Houston had insisted on recording the ballad sensing that it was important for music to have a positive message reaching people. Davis, however, refused, telling Houston that there were already too many ballads recorded.

Michael Masser, however, who had recently produced "Saving All My Love for You" and "All at Once" for Houston in the studio for her upcoming debut album, agreed with the singer, having wanted to record her singing the ballad after first catching her live performance. According to arranger Gene Page, Davis initially refused to have Masser record the song because Benson's version was only moderately successful on the pop charts.

Page claimed Davis was split between the four Masser songs recorded, liking "Hold Me" and "All at Once" and disliking "Greatest Love of All" and "Saving All My Love for You" but eventually decided to include the latter two songs after Masser refused to do anything else for Houston's album if he couldn't record them on the artist. Davis later warned the pair that it wouldn't be released as a single.

According to Houston, who was gaining a reputation as a single-take vocalist, Masser recorded 60 takes of the song during the December 1984 session, which drove a weary Houston to call Davis to tell him to end the session.

By the time Houston released her debut album in February 1985, famed songwriter Linda Creed, who had composed the song's lyrics two weeks after a 1977 mastectomy following her 1975 diagnosis with breast cancer, was dying of the disease and later became bed-ridden near the end of the year.

Creed would die from complications of breast cancer on April 10, 1986, just as Houston's version of the song entered the top 40 of the US pop charts.

Arrangement According to the sheet notes provided by Warner Bros. Publications, Houston's rendition has a tempo of "slowly" with 68 beats per minute.

The song starts and mostly remains in the key of A-major, though during the second part of the choruses, it switches to D-major. Houston's vocal range goes from the low note of A3 to the high note of E5. At the end of the song, Houston sustains a high belting note on the word "love" for 12 seconds.

Critical reception Many critics called the song the centerpiece of Houston's debut album. Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote that "Houston sings it with a forceful directness that gives its message of self-worth an astounding resonance and conviction" and called the song a compelling assertion of spiritual devotion, black pride, and family loyalty, all at once.Holden, Stephen (March 18, 1986). "Whitney Houston – Pop's New Queen". The New York Times. p. A18.

Don Shewey of Rolling Stone wrote that as the song builds, Houston "slowly pours on the soul, slips in some churchy phrasing, holds notes a little longer and shows off her glorious voice."Shewey, Don. "Whitney Houston Album Review". Rolling Stone

In his March 7, 1985 review of Houston's debut, Liam Lacey of The Globe and Mail hailed the ballad, along with "Saving All My Love for You" and "Hold Me" as "some of the loveliest pop singing on vinyl since the glory days of Dionne Warwick."

In their March 22, 1986 issue on its "Singles Releases" page, Cashbox magazine called the song a "positive-think, optimistic anthem" that would "connect with her long and growing throng of fans".

In his retrospective of the song, Tom Breihan of Stereogum wrote that it "stands as an eternal monument to Houston's ballad-singing powers".

Alex Hopper of American Songwriter praised Houston's ability to "[shed] any vocal acrobatics for a simple arrangement that hits just as hard" with the song among her other signature ballads such as "Saving All My Love for You" and "I Will Always Love You".

Commercial reception

Chart performance North America Initially issued as the B-side of "You Give Good Love" in February 1985, after heavy airplay on radio stations across the country, the song became the sixth official release from the album on March 18, 1986. It entered the Billboard Hot 100 for the week of March 29 at number 54 as the "Hot Shot Debut" of that week. It entered the top 40 the following week (April 5). It became Houston's fourth top ten single in its sixth week for the issue dated May 3, 1986. Two weeks later, for the issue dated on May 17, it topped the Hot 100, becoming Houston's third consecutive number one single after "Saving All My Love for You" and "How Will I Know". It replaced the Pet Shop Boys' "West End Girls" at the top and would stay there for three consecutive weeks, becoming her longest running chart topper at the time.Bronson, Fred (2003). The Billboard Book of No. 1 Hits, 5th Edition (Billboard Publications), page 636. It was also Masser's fourth number one composition on the Billboard Hot 100 and Creed's first and only number one, despite helping to compose top ten hits for the likes of the Stylistics and the Spinners.

In the same week it topped the chart, Houston's album, Whitney Houston, returned to number one on the Billboard 200 having unseated Van Halen's 5150 from the top spot, making Houston the first female artist to do this since Kim Carnes achieved the same feat when her hit single, "Bette Davis Eyes", topped the Hot 100 while her album, Mistaken Identity also topped the Billboard 200 simultaneously in the same week in June 1981. It also topped the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart on the April 26, 1986 issue of Billboard, staying for five consecutive weeks, her longest running number one on the chart, later tied with "I Will Always Love You" nearly seven years later.Hyatt, Wesley (1999). The Billboard Book of number 1 Adult Contemporary Hits (Billboard Publications), page 306. It would peak at number three on the Hot Black Singles chart for the week of May 24, 1986, becoming her sixth top ten R&B hit in a row, making her the first solo recording artist to do so with her first six singles and the first in fifteen years since the Jackson 5 achieved this in 1970–71.

Due to this success, it made Houston the first female solo artist in history to produce three number one singles off a single album on the Billboard Hot 100. Houston's album was only the fourth album after the multi-artist soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever, the Bee Gees' Spirits Having Flown and Wham!s Make It Big to accomplish this milestone.

During its initial run on the charts, it spent 14 weeks inside the top 40, including seven weeks in the top ten, spending an initial 18 weeks on the charts. In 2012, following her death, the song re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 49 for the week of February 27 and moved up to number 36 the following week (March 3), giving Houston three posthumous top 40 singles along with "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" and "I Will Always Love You", culminating in a total of twenty weeks.

In Canada, the song hit number one for the week of June 7, 1986, where it replaced Madonna's "Live to Tell" at the top spot, staying for a week. It was Houston's second number one single in the country after "How Will I Know" and her fourth consecutive top ten hit in the country.

Central America In the Central American country of Panama, the song reached number one, becoming her first number one hit in that country.

Europe