"You Give Good Love" is the debut solo single by American singer Whitney Houston for her 1985 eponymous debut studio album. The song was written by La Forrest 'La La' Cope and produced by Kashif. Originally offered to Roberta Flack, it was one of the first songs recorded for Houston's debut album.
The song was released on February 22, 1985 as the album's leading single. The release of "You Give Good Love" was originally designed to give Houston a noticeable position and standing within the black music market first, eventually topping the US R&B singles charts on both Billboard and Cashbox.
However, it also made an unexpected crossover pop hit, peaking at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, her first of what would be many Top 10 hits. It was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[1] The song also was successful in Canada, where it gave Houston her first top ten single there.
In other countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, its success in those countries were more moderate.
After hiring Tara Productions founders Eugene Harvey and Seymour Flics to manage her professional career in 1981, Houston began seeking a record deal, auditioning for the record labels Elektra and Epic Records in 1982. Following guest appearances on albums by Material and Paul Jabara, Houston signed an exclusive contract with Clive Davis' Arista label in April 1983.[6]
To pique producers' interest in giving the singer songs to record, Houston, Davis and Arista A&R Gerry Griffith presented showcases in both New York and Los Angeles nightclubs. One of the producers, Kashif, who was also signed to Arista, accepted Davis' invitation to see Houston's New York club performance.[7]
Kashif admitted disappointment in viewing the singer's show, comparing it to a "lounge act", admitting he wasn't used to producing "cabaret singers".[7] Undeterred, Davis sent Kashif a videotaped clip of Houston's performance on The Merv Griffin Show, to which Kashif was impressed by.[7] Around this time, a songwriter who had just got signed to Kashif's music publishing company named La Forrest 'La La' Cope sent him a demo of a ballad she had written titled "You Give Good Love".[7]
It had been initially sent to her idol, soul singer Roberta Flack but the songwriter was rebuffed by Flack's assistant with an angry "don't call us, we'll call you" retort.[7] When Kashif heard the song at his apartment in New York City, a light bulb came out in his mind that flashed "hit! hit!"[7] Kashif then advised La La to rewrite the song and "make it a double entendre".[7]
Recording and composition
Kashif called Griffith after hearing La La's demo and told him, "I think I have a song for you" and invited Griffith and Houston to the New Jersey studio where he worked at to listen to the song.[7] Griffith recalled that there was a demo but La La wanted to sing it live with her piano playing. In an interview with Billboard, La La mentioned as she was finishing the song, "[Houston] picked up on the lyrics and was singing it along with me."[8]
Afterwards, Gerry Griffith remarked "that's the song – that's what I've been looking for." It was the kind of tune that had the emotion that she could get into and sing her heart out.[9]
Houston immediately loved it and, according to Kashif, recorded the song immediately after La La performed it, stunning Kashif and Griffith, who claims Houston recorded it in a single take.[10]
According to Musicnotes.com, "You Give Good Love" is an R&B song with the tempo of "moderately" under 76 beats per minute.[11]
The song starts in E major throughout most of the first verse before moving up to G major for the first bridge, first chorus and the second verse before then moving up to B♭ in the repeat of the bridge, which by then Houston, who had softly crooned the song up until that point, belted the song and would continue to do so throughout the song until the end.[11] Houston's vocal range in the song spans from B3 to G5.[11]
Release
Arista released "You Give Good Love" as the official leading single from Houston's self-titled debut album on February 22, 1985, over a week after the album itself was released on Valentine's Day 1985.
Despite having charted the previous year with soul singer Teddy Pendergrass on the adult contemporary ballad "Hold Me", which reached the top ten on both the R&B and AC charts, Houston was still relatively unknown at the time of the release of "You Give Good Love".
In 1982, music editors for the industry magazines Billboard and Cashbox changed their official R&B charts from "soul" to "black", with Billboard journalist Nelson George explaining in its June 26 issue that year that the name change was based on the fact that "blacks [sic] have been making and buying pop music of greater stylistic variety than the soul sound since the early 1970s", noting most black artists were recording under various genres outside of what was considered "soul" music.[13]
By that period, very few black artists were given play on pop radio. At the same time, black artists who did eventually cross over to pop radio, such as Lionel Richie, Prince and Michael Jackson recorded music directly aimed at white audiences.
Black female artists had an even harder time to cross over to pop stations, with only Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Donna Summer, Chaka Khan and Deniece Williams having intermittent success on top 40 radio. Arista had struggled with breaking new black female talent in the past with artists such as Phyllis Hyman and Angela Bofill, both of whom failed to score a top 40 hit and were reluctant to cross over, in fear of abandoning their predominantly black audiences.[14][15]
The release of "You Give Good Love" was designed to give Houston a noticeable position and standing within the black music charts. Clive Davis later explained the thinking behind releasing the song as the debut single from the album:
"We wanted to establish her in the black marketplace first, otherwise you can fall between cracks, where Top 40 won't play you and R&B won't consider you their own. We felt that 'You Give Good Love' would be, at the very least, a major black hit, though we didn't think that it would cross over as strongly as it did. When it did cross over with such velocity that gave us great encouragement."[16][17]
Chart performance
"You Give Good Love" replaced "Fresh" by Kool & the Gang (pictured in 2017) at number one on the BillboardHot Black Singles chart.
"You Give Good Love" entered the Billboard Hot Black Singles chart at number 89 on the March 9 issue,[18] and on the ninth week of its release, reached the top ten of the chart, the issue dated May 4, 1985.[19] Eventually, it hit the pole position of the chart, the issue date of May 25, 1985, replacing Kool & the Gang's "Fresh" off the top spot, and stayed atop for one week, becoming Houston's first R&B number-one single.[20]
Four weeks later, on the June 1st issue, the song gave Houston her first top 40 entry, rising to number 34.[23] It gradually rose up the charts, becoming Houston's first top ten entry at number 7 for the week of July 6.[24] On July 27, it reached its peak of number three on the chart, a position it would remain for three consecutive weeks afterwards, eventually spending a cumulative total of 21 weeks on the chart, including 12 weeks in the top 40 and six weeks in the top ten.[25][26]
On the Adult Contemporary chart, it reached a peak of number four in the July 20, 1985 issue, becoming her second top ten entry and first solo top ten AC hit.[27] It would spend 21 weeks on the chart. The song marked the first time Houston reached the top ten with the same song on three different main Billboard charts.
On the US Cashbox charts, the song repeated its Billboard success peaking at number one on the Cashbox black contemporary singles chart for the week of June 1, 1985 and number three on the pop singles chart on August 3, 1985.[28][29]
In Canada, the song debuted at number 95 on the RPM 100 Singles chart on the May 18 issue, and 14 weeks later peaked at number nine on the chart, the issue date of August 24, 1985, becoming Houston's first top ten hit in the country.[30][31] It placed at number 76 on the RPM year-end Top 100 Singles chart of 1985.[32]
Worldwide, "You Give Good Love" was not released as a single except in a few countries such as Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unlike in North America, the song did not receive enough attention to establish itself as a hit song in these markets, because other songs from Houston's debut album ―"All at Once" and "Saving All My Love for You" ― got a better reaction from the public and the media, particularly in Europe. The early promotion for the album was also strategically focused on these songs.[33]
The single entered, but did not reach the Top 40 of, the singles charts of several of these countries: it peaked at number 58 in Australia,[34] 44 in New Zealand,[35] and 93 in the UK, becoming her first UK single entry on August 24, 1985.[36]
Critical reception
Billboard, in its review of the single, called Houston's vocal on the song as "a voice of exceptional clarity and control."[37] Adam White, a performance reviewer of Billboard, in his writing of Houston's performance to promote her debut album at the Sweetwater's in New York, described the song as "the mellifluous, midtempo item."[38] Fellow Billboard critic Brian Chin commented that "the ecstatic single which may possibly be the classiest make-out song since 'Fire and Desire'."[39] While reviewing Houston's I Look to You album, Rashod D. Ollison from TheGrio.com stated that "You Give Good Love" is "effortlessly sexy."[40]
Accolades
The song received a number of awards and nominations following its release. "You Give Good Love" won Favorite Soul/R&B Single at the 13th American Music Awards, where Houston garnered a total of six nominations in Pop/Rock and Soul/R&B categories, on January 27, 1986.[41][42]
The song was ranked number 47, number 27 and number two on the Billboard Year-End Top Pop Singles, Top Adult Contemporary Singles and Top Black Singles charts, respectively.[44][45][46]
On the Cashbox year-end pop and black singles lists, the song was ranked the 25th and 4th biggest single respectively on the lists.[47][48]
On December 6, 1995, a decade after its release, the single was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for pure sales of half a million copies in the United States alone.[49]
On March 3, 2020, on the song's 35th anniversary of its original release, the ballad was re-certified platinum for stream and sales equivalent units of a million copies.[49]
Controversy
Ann Landers, the pseudonym for Ruth Crowley (pictured in 1983), criticized the song for having "trashy lyrics".
"You Give Good Love" brought Houston a bit of notoriety when it turned up among several songs cited by advice columnist Ann Landers as having suggestive titles. Landers, in her column for a reader who worried about the bad influence of song lyrics on children, wrote that "Some of the lyrics are sexually provocative. The titles tell the story," and called the song "pretty trashy stuff", citing the song's title as an instance along with "Hot Love" by Cheap Trick, "Let's Go to Bed" by The Cure, "Ready, Willing and Able" by Lita Ford, "You Shook Me All Night Long" and "Love at First Feel" by AC/DC, "Tease Me" by Junie Morrison, and "Fire Down Below" by Bob Seger.[50]
Houston, in an interview with the Chicago Tribune, gave some answers to Landers's comments, saying "She chose a few songs out of the Top 40 that she thought had suggestive titles as far as she was concerned, and it was one of them. I don't think that the title is suggestive at all. It didn't say anything but 'you give good love,' and it didn't say anything in the song that was sexual or outrageous. I think that Miss Landers just looked at the title and didn't view the song itself."[51]
Houston, who described herself as a religious person, said that she hasn't given much thought to the controversy over questionable lyrics:
"The songs that I sing don't fall into that category, so I don't think about it at all. But I believe that music does influence people. It's a universal thing. Everybody listens to music and knows about it. I think that the lyrics can have a lot to do with influencing whoever you're singing to. I think that as far as children are concerned, parents should have control over what they listen to. If they don't want them to listen to records that are very sexual or explicit or outrageous, they should have control over that situation. As for adults, they're going to buy whatever kind of music they want to hear, so if they buy music with explicit lyrics, they must like it."[51]
Music video
Houston in the music video for "You Give Good Love", tells the story of a romance with a cameraman.
The music video for "You Give Good Love" was directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg and produced by Karen Bellone,[52][53] featured an off-duty cameraman entering a club that's being refurbished.
Houston is on the stage rehearsing for a performance. Taken aback by her impressive singing, the man begins filming Houston as she performs.
As the performance continued, the nightclub's cooks come out and begins dancing along to the song before the cameraman pans away from Houston, ending the video.
TIME commented that the video "tells the story of a romance with a cameraman ― and, more tellingly, with his adoring camera."[54]
Liam Lacey of The Globe and Mail, in an interview with Houston, called it "the blatantly erotic video" and added "Houston and a photographer have a suggestive encounter (the photographer with his zoom lens, the singer with her microphone)."[55]
Robyn Crawford, Houston's best friend and personal assistant, makes an appearance as one of the backing singers. Kenneth Reynolds, then president of public relations for Arista, played one of the cooks in the video.
As a solo artist, Houston first promoted "You Give Good Love" alongside other tunes from her debut album Whitney Houston in the shows, arranged by Clive Davis for music critics to see Houston perform, at Sweetwater's club in New York, the place where Cissy Houston had been bringing Whitney along, on February 12–16, 1985.[38][56][57]
On April 20 of the year, Houston performed the song on Soul Train. On April 29, she performed the song on The Merv Griffin Show.
She also performed the song along with "Saving All My Love for You" on the syndicated TV special The 1985 R&B Countdown which aired on December 31, 1985.[61]
She delivered a performance of "You Give Good Love" on the 1st Soul Train Music Awards, where Houston was nominated for two categories, at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on March 23, 1987.[62] The performance is found in the bonus DVD featured on Whitney Houston: The Deluxe Anniversary Edition, remastered to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its original release.[63]
The song influenced many black female artists, most notably Canadian R&B singer Deborah Cox, who stated that Houston singing the ballad "stopped me dead in my tracks. I had to know who that was singing. There weren't any Black artists really being played on Canadian radio at the time. We're talking about the late '80s and it was just like... 'who is that?!'"[74]
Cox, who would later record on Houston's label Arista and with whom recorded the hit R&B duet ballad, "Same Script, Different Cast" many years later, added that the song and Houston "made a huge impact on me because her voice was just so pure and soulful and it was not like anything that I had heard on the radio", comparing Houston's vocal style to that of Aretha Franklin and Gladys Knight, adding "no one sounded like Whitney."[74]
Following the song's breakthrough to pop radio, Cashbox wrote in their June 1, 1985 issue that Houston was "proving that the pop marketplace is open up to black product."[75]
The song ranked #10 on Entertainment Weekly's 25 best Whitney Houston songs, writing about the song's crossover success, stating "this pretty bedroom ballad — the first big single from her debut album — proved that soulful R&B and top 40 pop can be hard to tell apart when the lights are off."[76]
In 2009, the song was named the 12th greatest slow jam of all time by Essence magazine.[77]
On November 6, 2020, the day before Houston was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Billboard ranked the song 21st in their 25 best Whitney Houston songs ever list, writing that the song "[was] an exemplar of mid-’80s balladry, with light synths and a gentle, easy groove providing the bedrock for Houston to show off just an ounce of her firm, confident vocal prowess."[78]
In 2022, the network BET ranked the slow jam the 15th best Whitney Houston song out of 40 songs, acknowledging the song's unexpected crossover success with white pop audiences, stating "her irrepressible vocal abilities — effortlessly switching between husky, from-the-gut tones to soft soprano trills — made this breezy song an unexpected crossover hit, peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, a major feat for an unknown Black artist in the mid-'80s.".[79]
The song's producer Kashif added in the same article, "[You Give Good Love] took my career to a whole new level and helped to cement my status as an elite producer. For that I am eternally grateful to Whitney."[80]
↑ Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture, ISBN978-0-415-16161-9, ISBN978-0-415-16161-9 (2001) p. 217: "In fact, by 1977, before punk rock spread, there was a 'disco sucks' movement sponsored by radio stations that attracted some suburban white youth, who thought that disco was escapist, synthetic, and overproduced."
↑ "The Deluxe Anniversary Edition credits". Whitney Houston: The Deluxe Anniversary Edition (CD). Whitney Houston. United States: Arista Records. 2010. 88697 58903 2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ You Give Good Love (UK 12" vinyl single). Whitney Houston. United Kingdom: Arista. 1985. ARIST 12625.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ You Give Good Love (Australian 7" vinyl single). Whitney Houston. Australia: Arista Records. 1985. K-9787.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ You Give Good Love (Japanese 7" vinyl single). Whitney Houston. Japan: Arista Records. 1985. 7RS-116.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ You Give Good Love (UK 7" vinyl single). Whitney Houston. United Kingdom: Arista Records. 1985. ARIST 625.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ You Give Good Love (US 7" vinyl single). Whitney Houston. United States: Arista Records. 1985. AS1-9274.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ "Whitney Houston album notes". Whitney Houston (CD). Whitney Houston. United States: Arista. 1985. ARCD-8212.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
Seal, Richard (1994), Whitney Houston: One Moment in Time, Britannia Press Publishing, ISBN0-9519937-8-X
Further reading
"Whitney Houston" article in Ashyia Henderson Contemporary Black Biography, Volume 28, Gale Group 2001 reproduced on Biography Resource Center Thomson Gale 2005
"Whitney Houston" article in Contemporary Newsmakers 1986, Gale Research 1987 published on Biography Resource Center Thomson Gale 2005
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