Greatest Love Tour

infobox concert tour
concert_tour_name = Greatest Love Tour


artist = Whitney Houston
album = "Whitney Houston "
start_date = April, 1986
end_date = November, 1986
number_of_legs = 4
number_of_shows = ? in North America
? in Europe
6 in Japan
12 in Australia
last_tour =
this_tour = Greatest Love Tour (1986)
next_tour = Moment of Truth World Tour (1987-1988)The Greatest Love Tour was Whitney Houston's first world tour. The 1986 arena tour included shows in North America, Europe, Japan and Australia following the success of the singer's debut album.

History

Houston's debut album was released in early 1985. The album sold poorly at first while Houston got herself various small nightclub gigs to support the album in the US. After the album slowly began selling following the success of "You Give Good Love", Houston became the opening act for singer Jeffrey Osborne on his US Nightclub tour. After "Saving All My Love For You" became Houston's first #1 in the US, she was now able to headline her own shows. She played various festivals and more nightclubs throughout the summer and fall of 1985. With more #1s on the way, Houston's album finally topped the album charts in 1986 making the singer a household name. This allowed her to headline her first world tour, the Greatest Love Tour.

The tour started out in North America during the summer of 1986, before heading to Europe and Japan during the fall.

et list

# "Greatest Love of All" (tease)
# "Wanna Be Starting Something"
# "Eternal Love"
# "You Give Good Love"
# "Hold Me"
# "How Will I Know"
# "Take Good Care Of My Heart"
# "Nobody Loves Me Like You Do"
# "Saving All My Love For You"
# "Someone For Me"
# "I Wanna Dance With Somebody"
# "He I Believe"
# "Greatest Love Of All"

Also included were "Memories", "I Am Changing" (from Dreamgirls), "Heart to Hear", and "All At Once". During the later shows, Houston was also working on her second album and would preview a couple of new songs such as "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" and "Didn't We Almost Have It All". [ [http://whfan.free.fr/other86tour.htm| AllWhitney.com] ]

The Show

The show consisted of Houston on a round stage in the center of the arena/theater with the band playing behind her. There were no costume changes or background dancers. Brother Gary Garland would replace Jermain Jackson and Teddy Peddergrass on the duets.

With the crossover success of Houston's debut album in 1986, many critics pointed out that the singer was a puppet controlled by her label. However, her live shows proved them wrong, revealing a creative musician. Houston rearranged most of the songs during her shows as well as incorporated tougher songs that deviated from her album's mainstream forumla. In "You Give Good Love", Houston would slow it down and emphazise the soulful elements of the song, treating it like a gospel number while breaking it down with her background singers. Takiff, Jonathon. "Whitney Makes Converts". Philadelphia Daily News. August 28, 1986.] . During "Saving All My Love", Houston arranged the song into a bluesy jazz number that recalled Billie Holliday. Houston often scatted with sax player Josh Harris during the end of the song. Many critics noted "He/I Believe" and "I Am Changing" as the show's highlights. The former is a song she learned from her mother which joins the gospel songs "He Is" with "I Believe". The latter is a cover of the show Jennifer Holliday's show stopping Dreamgirls song. After opening the show with a tease of the anthemic "Greatest Love of All", Houston closed out the show with a slowed down soulful version of the song.

The band

* Music Conductor/piano: John Simmons
* Bass guitar: Ricky Minor
* Guitar: Curtis Neishloss
* Keyboards: Willard Meeks
* Sax: Josh Harris
* Drums: Brian Brake
* Percussion: Kevin Jones
* Background Vocalists: Gary Garland, Felicia Moss, Voneva Simms, Billy Baker

References