Whitney Houston released a cover considered a “quiet storm” that took over the charts after turning it into a ballad in 1985, and was reportedly inspired by her affair with Jermaine Jackson.
“Saving All My Love for You” wasn’t originally released or sung by Houston. It was first recorded by Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. for their 1978 album Marilyn & Billy. Composer Michael Masser and Gerry Goffin co-wrote the track, with Masser having been the one to put the track on Houston’s radar and even reworked and produced it for her self-titled debut album.
“That’s the single. It’s a torchy song; that’s going to be your first No. 1,” Masser recalled telling Houston’s manager, Gene Harvey, per The Billboard Book of Number One Hits.
As many know, Clive Davis was the one who originally discovered Houston at Sweetwater’s nightclub in New York City. He saw a young Houston sing backup for her mother, Cissy Houston, and immediately called Messer to come and listen to her.
Houston soon signed with Arista Records, with “Saving All My Love for You” having become one of her first major hits of her career. It peaked at No. 1 months later, in October, on the Billboard Hot 100 for a straight week. The track also landed at No. 1 on the Hot R&B chart and marked her first chart-topping hit at only 22 years old.
The story behind what helped fuel Houston to deliver a heart-wrenching ballad was reportedly about an affair she had with former Jackson 5 member Jermaine Jackson. Both she and Jackson had recently signed to the record label, and he became her first producer.
The two worked on a series of duets, with reports soon claiming that Houston and Jackson began a torrid affair. He was, at the time, married to Motown founder Berry Gordy‘s daughter, Hazel, and had two children. Whitney was also nine years younger than Jackson.
According to PEOPLE, Houston’s mother wasn’t comfortable with her daughter singing the ballad, as its lyrics mimicked what was really happening at the time. The song talks about a woman longing for a married man and hoping they would be together one day. Houston once acknowledged having gone through a “terrible love affair” at the time.
Jackson also revealed his memoir, You Are Not Alone: Michael Through a Brother’s Eye, that their work together was “turning into duets between temptation and forbidden love … I arrived on those days with butterflies, because the whole experience of being around Whitney was intoxicating … it became increasingly hard to sing love songs with all that emotion and unspoken passion between us.”
There were multiple reports at the time about what led to the end of their relationship, from failed promises to not receiving concert tickets. “Saving All My Love for You” ended up having an emotional backstory that made it a hit. It led Houston to perform it at the 28th Annual Grammy Awards, where she also took home the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance Award for the song.
Her performance of the ballad also led her to win a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program at the 38th Primetime Emmy Awards.
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