Whitney Houston – Greatest Love Of All (Official 4K Video)

“Greatest Love of All” Single by Whitney Houston from the album Whitney Houston. B-side “Thinking About You”
Released March 18, 1986
Songwriters Michael Masser and Linda Creed
Producer Michael Masser
Charted No.1 in US and No.8 in UK

“The Greatest Love Of All” was written by songwriters Linda Creed and Michael Masser. Creed was recovering from breast cancer when they wrote the song in 1977. Originally recorded by George Benson, his version went to #24 in the US. In 1985, the song was revived by Whitney Houston, and on May 17, 1986, it went to #1 for the first of three weeks.

The lyric is quite sincere. Linda Creed drew inspiration from her family; she married Stephen Lee Epstein in 1972 and had their first daughter in 1976 (they had another in 1980). Lines like “I believe that children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way” express her hopeful spirit. Her songs almost always expressed her true self; an exception is “Ghetto Child,” one of the hits she wrote for The Spinners.

Houston’s version was originally the B-side of “You Give Good Love” but the amount of airplay it received persuaded Arista to release it as a single.

Houston’s music video was filmed at Harlem’s Apollo Theater in New York City. In the video, she is a successful singer who is about to perform in front of an audience. She reminisces about the time when she was a child performing in a talent competition and receiving encouragement from her mother. The video features Houston’s mother Cissy Houston playing herself, supporting a young Houston, as well as hugging present Houston at the end of the video. It was directed by Peter Israelson, filmed with James Contner as DP and Steadicam operator Robin Buerki shooting 35mm film. In February 2020, the music video was restored in 4K.

Whitney Houston won the American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Video Single, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Record of the Year and a Soul Train Music Award for Single of the Year.