The Star Spangled Banner by Whitney Houston

Discover here the backstage behind the song The Star Spangled Banner by Whitney Houston !

Whitney Houston performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Super Bowl XXV on January 27, 1991.

Her version of the song was so acclaimed that on February 12, 1991, it was released as a charity single to raise money for the soldiers, officers and families of those involved in the Persian Gulf War.

After his performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” during the Super Bowl, Houston decided to turn it into a concert to honor the troops who went to war in the Gulf, their families, military and government officers.

The concert was originally planned as an HBO special, with Whitney singing for the troops on Easter Sunday.

But by the time the concert was scheduled, the war had ended and it was announced as a “Welcome Home, Heroes” concert, with Whitney performing at a Virginia naval hangar to welcome back military personnel from Iraq.

Regarding the event, Whitney told the Salina Journal, “I was thinking about doing something else for the comrades over there and I was thinking about going overseas. Then the war was over and it came out.”

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Preparation and Broadcast : The Star Spangled Banner by Whitney Houston

First, the U.S. Department of the Navy arranged for Whitney to meet the USS Saratoga, a cruise ship her men named “The Sara.”

The singer spent the night on the ship joking and laughing with the men, and even increased the “canteen capacity” by serving dinner.

After visiting the Saratoga, Whitney went to Norfolk, Virginia, to prepare for the concert.

Virginia Governor L. Douglas Wilder was invited and some senior officers who had served in the Gulf, but most of the seats were reserved for the men and women enlisted in Desert Storm and their families.

Because there were more troops than seats for the Easter Sunday performance on March 31, 1991, 3,000 Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard personnel were invited to the Saturday night dress rehearsal.

The concert was broadcast live on HBO. The cable network agreed to decode its signal allowing it to be available to more than 50 million homes via cable. It gave HBO the highest ratings ever recorded at the time. About the concert, Whitney said:

Until I spent time with these military men, I didn’t really appreciate how special they were. I was surrounded by courteous and brave men and women…. I would sing to them at the top of my lungs…and hear them give even more in return. I salute our troops, those who have returned and those who are still serving in the world, and thank them from the bottom of my heart.

The Show

Jessica Goodman of HuffPost said, “The video shows the late singer at her best: infectious energy and mad talent,” while praising her performance of “I’m Your Baby Tonight,” saying the singer “brings a house full of people.” with soldiers standing around with a hilarious rendition of the song.

Clive Davis , president of Arista Records at the time, told HuffPost, “There’s a hot, sexy Whitney roaming around the stage. It really sends chills down your spine. You understand why every audience is. He gets up from his seat. . roaring with a standing ovation. It’s all real. It’s extraordinarily eye-opening.

“Jessica Andrews,, praised her performance of “All the Man That I Need” saying that “Whitney’s vocal stunts were truly incomparable, especially on the final note, which she could hold for a long time at a time.” [ten]

The show won a Cable ACE award for “Performance music special” in 1992.

The concert was released on VHS and Laserdisc on May 14, 1991, and on DVD in 2002.

In 2008, the DVD was re-released in the U.S. and worldwide under the title A Song for You: Live .

Only the U.S. VHS/Laserdisc has complete concert clips, originally broadcast live on HBO, including the opening performance of “The Star Spangled Banner” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” as an encore.

Since 1991, all concert releases outside the U.S., titled Live in Concert (official release) or many other names such as A Song for You: Live and Whitney Houston Live (which were released by smaller labels), do not include the above – mentioned performances of 80 minutes or less, less than the original 96-minute edition.

Note that Welcome Home Heroes with Whitney Houston is the first televised concert and solo video of the American singer Whitney Houston .

Released on May 14, 1991, via Arista Records , the video contains the special Whitney Welcome Home Heroes HBO concert with Whitney Houston , broadcast live from the Naval Air Station in Norfolk, Virginia , on March 31, 1991, Easter Sunday, for 3,500 military. and women returning from the Gulf War .

Lyrics The Star Spangled Banner by Whitney Houston

Oh, say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,

O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,

Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,

In full glory reflected now shines on the stream:

‘Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore

That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion

A home and a country should leave us no more?

Their blood has wiped out their foul footstep’s pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation!

Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land

Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,

And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”

And the star-spangled banner forever shall wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the