Whitney Houston – So Emotional

‘So Emotional’ was released as  single from the album Whitney, on October 12, 1987 in US.

It was written by the team of Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, who have also written hits for Cyndi Lauper, The Pretenders, Heart, the Bangles, Madonna and The Divinyls.

This was the sixth of seven consecutive #1 US singles for Houston – a record that still stands. This incredible run was all from song from her first two albums, a time when Houston was totally devoid of controversy and willing to record whatever songs Clive Davis recommended.

As head of Arista Records, Davis could put out a call for songs and know it would be answered, especially when it came to his superstar Whitney Houston. Davis was known for his ability to develop artists and played a big part in deciding what songs they would record. Before signing Houston, he worked with Barry Manilow, Billy Joel, Chicago and many others. In 1999, he engineered Santana’s comeback. He also nurtured the career of Alicia Keys, who he signed to his new label, J Records.

Producer Narada Michael Walden played drums on this track. The other personnel are:

Walter Afanasieff: keyboards, synth bass
Corrado Rustici: guitar synth
Bongo Bob Smith: percussion Programming, drum sampling

Wayne Isham directed the video (first video on the top), which was shot during a stop on Houston’s tour in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and shows footage of her on stage and behind the scenes. Houston, who was a professional model before launching her music career, didn’t need special effects or fancy concepts to help her out in front of the camera.

The video earned airplay on both MTV and the older-skewing VH1, which launched in 1985.

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Whitney Houston - So Emotional

Whitney Houston Live In Brunei 1996 ( So Emotional) HD04:16

“Her voice wasn’t warmed up, but she recorded almost 90 percent of the song that day. That’s unusual, says Narada Michael Walden, who credits the fresh performance to the fact that Whitney recorded it in one session.”

Billboard, January 1988

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