POPOLOGIST® Mike Borgia

Mike Borgias's "Desperate Wishes"

Whitney Houston NFT in The BOOK OF POP

Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. She is one of the most awarded and best-selling recording artists of all time, with over 200 million records sold worldwide. Houston released seven studio albums and two soundtrack albums, all of which have been certified from gold to diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Known for her powerful and soulful vocals, Houston has influenced many singers in popular music. She is the only artist to have had seven consecutive number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, from "Saving All My Love for You" in 1985 to "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" in 1988.

Houston began singing in church as a child and became a background vocalist while in high school. She was one of the first black women to appear on the cover of Seventeen after becoming a teen model in 1981. With the guidance of Arista Records chairman Clive Davis, Houston signed to the label at age 19. Her first two studio albums, Whitney Houston (1985) and Whitney (1987), both peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 and are among the best-selling albums of all time. She became the first female artist to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 with her second studio album. Houston's third studio album, I'm Your Baby Tonight (1990), was certified quintuple platinum by the RIAA and yielded two Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles: "I'm Your Baby Tonight" and "All the Man That I Need".

Houston made her acting debut with the romantic thriller film The Bodyguard (1992). She recorded six songs for the film's soundtrack album, including "I Will Always Love You" which won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and became the best-selling physical single by a female in music history, with sales of over 20 million copies worldwide. The soundtrack for The Bodyguard won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and remains the best-selling soundtrack album of all time, with global sales of over 45 million copies. Houston starred and recorded soundtracks for two other high-profile films, Waiting to Exhale (1995) and The Preacher's Wife (1996). Soundtrack of The Preacher's Wife became the best-selling gospel album of all time and scored hit singles with "I Believe In You And Me" and "Step by Step". Houston is credited as the music producer of the album. As a film producer, she produced multicultural movies including Cinderella (1997) and series including The Princess Diaries and The Cheetah Girls.

Houston's first studio album in eight years, My Love Is Your Love (1998), sold millions and spawned several hit singles, including "Heartbreak Hotel", "It's Not Right but It's Okay" and "My Love Is Your Love". Following the success, she renewed her contract with Arista for $100 million – one of the biggest recording deals of all time. However, her personal problems began overshadowing her career and the 2002 studio album, Just Whitney, received mixed reviews. Her drug use and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown received widespread media coverage. After a six-year break from recording, Houston returned to the top of the Billboard 200 chart with her final studio album, I Look to You (2009). On February 11, 2012, Houston accidentally drowned in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, with heart disease and cocaine use as contributing factors. News of her death coincided with the 2012 Grammy Awards and was covered internationally.

Houston was certified as the best-selling female R&B artist of the 20th century by the RIAA. She also sold more physical singles than any other female solo artist in history. Houston’s accolades include two Emmy Awards, eight Grammy Awards (including Record and Album of the year wins), 14 World Music Awards, 16 Billboard Music Awards and 22 American Music Awards. She was inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in 2014 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020. In 1997, the Franklin School in East Orange, New Jersey was renamed to The Whitney E. Houston Academy School of Creative and Performing Arts. Houston was named as one of the 100 greatest singers of all time by Rolling Stone. She was also ranked by VH1 among the "Top 100 Greatest Artists of All Time" and the "200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons of All Time". Houston's entrance into the music industry is considered one of the "25 musical milestones of the last 25 years", according to the USA Today in 2007. Referring to her vocal talent, Houston has often been dubbed "The Voice" by the media.

"Take On Me" Almost Didn't Take Off

In our "Songs That Didn't Do Well At First" series, learn how Aha's "Take On Me" almost didn't fly. Not until Tony Mansfield and remixed by John Ratcliff did any head nodds by POP CULTURE! "Take On Me" is a song by Norwegian synth-pop band A-ha.

A-Ha burst onto the music scene in 1985 with their incredibly catchy tune 'Take on Me', and it's still one of the greatest pop songs ever made.

But what inspired the song and who made its iconic partly-animated video?

Here's all the facts behind the classic song...

Originally, 'Take on Me' was written by A-Ha members Magne Furuholmen, Morten Harket and Pål Waaktaar.

The song first existed from Waaktaar's and Furuholmen's previous band Bridges.

One of the tracks they rehearsed at this time was called 'Miss Eerie', which was initially titled 'Panorama'. It featured several elements of what would later become 'Take On Me', including the main synth riff, which Furuholmen created when he was 15.

The band felt the riff was too poppy for their band, and so the first version of the song had a "punky" sound.

However, Bridges soon disbanded. Waaktaar and Furuholmen relocated to London, and then returned to Norway after six months of disappointment.

They were later joined by singer Morten Harket and began working on demos, including a new version of 'Miss Eerie', which was renamed 'Lesson One' before it finally became 'Take On Me'.

The song was intended as a way to unveil Harket's impressive vocal range, which led to his vocals "doing this spiraling thing", according to the band.

The first version was a flop

After singing to Warner Bros in the UK, the Norwegian band met with producer Tony Mansfield, who mixed their demos - including 'Take on Me' with electronic instrumentation rather than their usual instruments.

This sound was not what the band had hoped to achieve, and the album was remixed again.

The band soon released 'Take On Me' as a single in the UK, but the single only charted at 137 in late 1984.

Warner Bros in the USA then decided to invest in the group, and gave them the chance to re-record the song.

It then flopped a second time

Former Warner Brothers UK executive Andrew Wickham said in 2020: "I got a call from Terry Slater... I couldn't believe my ears when I heard Morten Harket sing. I thought, how can somebody who looks like a film star sound like Roy Orbison? I thought, this is unbelievable." Wickham signed A-ha to Warner Brothers America, after learning of their previous attempts to make 'Take On Me' a hit. He approved large investments in the band, and on Slater's recommendation, producer Alan Tarney was brought in to refine the song. The new recording had a much cleaner and soaring sound, and a coda section instead of the earlier quick fade-out. It was re-released in the UK, but the record label's office in London gave very little support, and the single flopped for a second time.

Its video finally made it a hit

Thanks to Producer Alan Tarney who was challenged to make it into an anthem!

How was the video made?

The video was filmed in 1985 at Kim's Café (now named Savoy Café), which is on the corner of Wandsworth Road and Pensbury Place in London, and on a sound stage in London. The video used a pencil-sketch animation and live-action mix called rotoscoping, in which the live-action footage is traced over frame by frame to give the characters realistic movements. Around 3,000 frames were rotoscoped, taking 16 weeks to complete. The idea of the video was suggested by Warner Bros executive Jeff Ayeroff. The fantasy video follows a comic book narrative with motorcycle sidecar racing, in which the hero (Morten Harket) is chased by two opponents, one of whom is played by actor Philip Jackson. Meanwhile at a cafe, a young woman, played by Bunty Bailey (Harket's girlfriend at the time), is reading the comic book. As the woman reads along, the waitress brings her coffee and the bill. After winning the race, Harket winks at the woman from the page. His pencil-drawn hand then reaches out of the book, inviting the woman inside. She then appears as a pencil drawing, as the action unfolds. The video won six awards at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards, and is widely known as one of the greatest music videos of all time.