You know you’re truly a legend when you have not one, but two greatest hits compilations to your name. While Whitney Houston released only seven solo studio albums in her career, her perfect pitch and silken tone have made her one of the music industry’s greatest vocalists ever. Her untimely death at the age of 48 this year was undoubtedly tragic, but Houston’s legacy lives on. A second greatest hits CD “I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston” out November 13, follows up her 2000 compilation “Whitney: The Greatest Hits” and is said to be the definitive collection of her best work. (There is also a 2007 collection “Whitney: The Ultimate Collection” available only outside the U.S.).
This latest greatest hits CD includes the original version of the song “I Look to You” written expressly for Houston by R&B singer/producer R. Kelly, the title track of Houston’s 2009 CD. This version includes newly recorded vocals from Kelly who sang the song at Houston’s funeral.
“The duet version of “I Look To You” between Whitney and R. Kelly is purely and simply a knockout. I believe that everyone will remember the first time they heard it and I think a new classic is being born,” Clive Davis, the album’s producer and Chief Creative Officer of Sony Music Entertainment Worldwide said in a release. He is credited with discovering Whitney Houston after an Arista A&R executive heard the young singer and brought her to Davis.
In addition to the CD, Atria Books will release a book of photographs featuring the singer entitled “Whitney: Tribute to an Icon.” Essays from her longtime manager/sister-in-law Pat Houston, photographer Randee St. Nicholas and Clive Davis are included among the photos. The book will be available on November 27. Proceeds will go to Teen Summit, a charitable organization that Houston supported, as well as to her estate in which her daughter Bobbi Kristina is the sole beneficiary.
Houston was one of music’s most successful female singers of all time. Eleven of her 39 Billboard hit singles went to #1, including “I Will Always Love You” from “The Bodyguard” soundtrack which became her signature song. She is the Guinness Book of World Records’ most awarded female singer of all time, notching 411 music awards including 6 Grammys, 2 Emmys, 16 Billboard Music Awards and 23 American Music Awards.
