I honestly believe that in her prime years, Whitney Houston was the greatest vocalist of any female contemporary artist. That's a bold statement considering how many great singers there were in her day and how many pop diva "rivals" she had. But in comparing and contrasting various artists, there was something that always set Whitney's voice apart from the others.

A lot of singers are known for doing "tricks" when they are singing (ie: belting, scaling, scatting, whistling, runs, etc), but few of them have been able to blend all of those elements together while still keeping the beauty in their original tone of voice. Whitney Houston could! She may not have had the most dynamic belting voice (Patti Labelle, Celine Dion) or the widest vocal range (Mariah Carey, Minnie Riperton), but she had a very strong & powerful voice with a wide enough range that she could do almost anything she wanted and make a song sound good. A lot of singers belt out big notes and it sounds like they are either shouting or straining to stay on pitch (Christina Aguilera). Whitney was able to sing with power without losing the beauty of her natural tone. When she belted out notes, it never sounded like she was shouting, it always sounded like "singing".

I would not say she was the greatest female vocalist of her time but she is definetly in the top 5. Barbra Streisand, Donna Summer Celine Dion to name a few are top vocalists as well. Whitney had a nice style and a dynamic vocal range as did the others mentioned. Not many can top Patti Labelle when it comes to belting out a song. Taylor Dane was another female vocalist that could really let it go. Laura Branigan also had a good dynamic range.


My favorite Whitney performance was the Grammy's from 1989 when she sang One Moment In Time Live! I think that was one of the greatest performances ever in music history!

Clive Davis stifled Whitney's voice a lot in those early days....esp when she seemingly was on top of the world. However, you knew that underneath it all, Whitney could sang.

Tony Marino wrote:

I would not say she was the greatest female vocalist of her time but she is definetly in the top 5. Barbra Streisand, Donna Summer Celine Dion to name a few are top vocalists as well. Whitney had a nice style and a dynamic vocal range as did the others mentioned. Not many can top Patti Labelle when it comes to belting out a song. Taylor Dane was another female vocalist that could really let it go. Laura Branigan also had a good dynamic range.


My favorite Whitney performance was the Grammy's from 1989 when she sang One Moment In Time Live! I think that was one of the greatest performances ever in music history!

Yeah, it's hard to come up with a "best ever" list because there were so many greats (each with their own signature style). I guess I've just always been partial to the tone of Whitney's voice in her prime, and the fact that she really kind of popularized that whole style of singing.