Readers of That Grape Juice know what avid music lovers we are – especially of hits past.
So, as our retrospective features ‘From the Vault’ and ‘TGJ Replay’ allow us the chance to re-spin the gems and jams of yesterday of one artist, our newest feature Chart Rewind – a variation of our current Retro Rewind assay – accedes salutes to an entire era of music history.
This week all we want to do is hear ‘All the Man That I Need’ – the second single from Whitney Houston‘s multiplatinum third album ‘I’m Your Baby Tonight’ [click here to read our ode to the full album]. Released in December 1990, ‘Man’ – a remake of the Linda Clifford hit released 8 years prior – succeeded the album’s title track (which peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100) by peaking similarly this week in 1991.
Becoming the 9th #1 single of her career, ‘Man’ held the top spot for two weeks before being unseated by fellow powerhouse diva Mariah Carey and her hit ‘Someday.’ That dethroning certainly didn’t stop the overall power of the tune, however. It was later certified Gold and remains a fan favorite among the singer’s lengthy list of hits.
Look inside to relive the magic of ‘All the Man That I Need’ and see who joined Houston in the top 25 this week 27 years ago:
Whitney Houston was the greatest vocal diva in history. And had THE best stage presence outta any female performer. That lady was so gifted.
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I have to agree, WHEN WHITNEY SINGS “GREATEST LOVE OF ALL” at the Arista 25th and she holds that note………………. it blew my mind. She is the Greatest Rnb Singer of all time, sorry Aretha and Mariah.
I agree. Even though Aretha came before her, Whitney learned from, and then surpassed Aretha’s ability. Greatest singer ever, hands down.
Things are debatable and there are many greats. But there are a couple of things that are totally Whitney´s when it comes to singers: the best singer in pop history at LIVE showings, and the most beautiful/best presence in pop history too. A real effortless star. The numbers are what they are for a reason. She averaged monumental numbers per era and she has the biggest era by a female ever under her belt no doubt.
There’s really no singer that showed out live, but sung so elegantly like Whitney. She’s a singer’s singer & global superstar.
Yes!
All those legends and great songs. That’s when the music industry was REALLY competitive with top-tier talent from many different genres.
The trinity Whitney, Mariah and Celine in the top 5, top noch, I remember @JOHNVIDAL once said that he loved ‘All the Man That I Need’, pure quality there.
The real S******! Trust me, I ignored those imposters lol…I know how you write! And yaaas, pure quality from the Trinity! All The Say That I Need, Someslay and Where Does My Heart Slay Now! ??
LOL so much slayage yes @Fancy! 🙂 Anyway I love these posts about older stuff because only we the few people in this blog that REALLY enjoy music and talent seem to leave comments in these. I love how more and more people have been appreciating Slayline lately (the ignorant young people in America I mean lol). Reaction videos on youtube about her are growing more than ever. She was so much greatness too and a part of the trinity for a good and deserved reason. I have been “suffering” the trolling too lately btw.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU4IjULe2pA
@JOHNVIDAL absolutely! Slayline has the powerhouse voice! I could see her singing All The Slay That I Need…Slayline has a passion to her voice! She really convinces the listener that she’s really going through whatever she’s singing! I mean damn, WHO made the world cry like Slayline did with My Heart Will Slay On? To this day I get tears lol…Slayriah, Whitslay and Slayline….the Trinity for real! ?
LMAO Whitslay!!! Never heard that one. They are above for real.
I love Whitney, Janet, LL Cool J, Mariah, Keith Sweat, etc but never really cared for Celine. Celine’s voice is just loud imitation of soul. A good example was when Celine covered Patti Labelle’s If You Ask Me To. Usually covers are supposed to be better or add something special to the original but in Celine’s case she was not able to outperform Patti Labelle’s very subtle original version of the song.
I can understand why a lot of people might like Celine, especially those who prefer a more pop over r&b sound but I simply don’t. I would pick natural soul over manufactured soul all day long (Luther Vandross, Whitney Houston, Patti Labelle, Toni Braxton, Aretha, Mariah, Oleta Adams, Martha Wash, etc all sang circles around Celine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da-RjeCObyA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bKuXbnGDqI
I agree Patti’s version is way better (and I’m not a big Patti fan), but I actually often think of Patti’s singing as just “loud”! Celine is a wonderful singer! She has great control and sings with such power live. She always lands her notes and she deserves credit for consistently delivering clean and strong vocals!
I´m sorry but you went on to choose one of the most non-special Celine covers. I never loved that song with her especially. However, just like Whitney and Mariah she has went onto outperform and outwin the original songs with many of her covers. All by Myself says hello. Her cover of Natural Woman is UNBELIEVALE too. And many many others.
The thing with Celine is that she actually HAS soul despite nobody expecting someone with her origins to have it. She was monumental for a reason.
@JOHNVIDAL I looked up that Celine Dion cover of “Natural Woman” you label as “UNBELIEVABLE”. Sorry but I respectfully disagree with you here. This is simply a matter of personal taste but to me Celine’s voice lacks natural SOUL. Yes, she can sing loud and carry rifts but there is a natural soulful sound that oozes out of people like Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Toni Braxton, Mariah Carey, Patti Labelle, Luther Vandross, Fantasia, etc that Celine never had. I just finished listening to Celine’s version of the song and then I listened to Aretha Franklin’s original version of the song and there is no way in hell that Celine “outperformed and outwon” Aretha Franklin’s original version:
Celine’s version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcJ9_KuIIz8
Aretha’s 1967 original version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEWuAcMWDLY
Aretha and Celine singing the song live in 1997 when Celine was in her prime and Aretha was already towards the end of her long career:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lstk0Xe8sdg
The video evidence clearly shows Aretha’s version is better both in the studio and live. Aretha made Celine sound like a background singer on the live version.
Similarly, Luther Vandross made 98 Degrees and Usher sound like background singers on a live tribute to Michael Jackson. When you have natural soul that oozes out of you that is what SOUL music means to me and really what soul music is all about. If the SOUL is not oozing out of your naturally then you are just making manufactored soul music (Celine).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSKyqvJq6uo
I stand by what I said Celine´s vocals in her studio version of Natural Woman are UNBELIEVABLE. Yes. I think most people would agree. I never said she has MORE soul than Aretha. Those people ate soul at home when they were kids. I never said otherwise. And you won´t hear a bad word from me about Aretha Luther or Whitney. You are the one always a little bit obsessed with denying talents from other parts of the world and cultures and races. You have such a typical American mind.
I´m glad at least either you or suicede have stopped the trolling thing. Cheers!
@JOHNVIDAL “You are the one always a little bit obsessed with denying talents from other parts of the world and cultures and races.” Please don’t think that of me. I have been able to learn and enjoy music from lots of different cultures and countries over the years. Youtube is a wonderful website! Our definition of what constitutes SOUL music is different and that is okay. I certainly recognize Celine’s vocal talents as a singer. It is just that when I think of SOUL music I think of “sanging” and not just “singing” which is where my earlier comment came from. I do not think of race at all when I hear natural soul. For example, La India is a Puerto Rican singer that I fell in love with years ago because of the natural soul that oozes out of her voice (even though she only sings in Spanish):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfDn3uqV7BQ
I am sorry that I do not hear natural soul when I listen to Celine’s voice. I still like her a lot though and I thank you for bringing her up because I am going to have to find my old Celine Dion – Falling Into You album and get back into her music.
And One More Try by Timmy T is the low-key JAM lol…don’t sleep! He was cute too if my memory is correct lol…let me go watch the music video! ?
WE ALL LOVE YOU UPSTATE WESTERN NY.
Hair-raising stuff. And the live performances for the song… yes mom! THE VOICE!
It always surprises me that Celine´s first English song did it so high in the hot 100 in 1991 already when overall she didn´t become really big there untill a few more years later.
The trinity is above and beyond anything else I´ve seen since then. They had it all.
So much talent on one chart (vocally and entertainment pure quality). Legends like Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Oleta Adams, Mariah Carey, Keith Sweat, Martha Wash pared with hit songs of that time period like Tracie Spencer’s This House and Keith Sweat’s I’ll Give All My Love to You. Each artist and song is so unique, unlike today’s charts full of the same sounding blah.
Keith Sweat’s I’ll Give All My Slay To You is one of the best songs ever written! I could listen to it all day! Absolutely beautiful and still sounds fresh to this day! Keith solidified himself with this song! He’s the TRUTH…and the album version is the definitive version! The music video is one of my favorites too! ❤️
Whitney is truly the vocal standard! I’ll never forget the chills I felt when I saw her live! I can’t even describe it! Whitney’s EVERYTHING vocally and will always be what created my love for music! Waiting to Exhale was one of 2 albums that started my collection (the other was Janet’s DOAD) and it just made sense because Whit’s such a big part of my childhood … and life when it comes to music! It will never be another like Nippy!
What the pfuck?! You got to see Whitney LIVE? I´m asumming very obviously that when she was way way way out of her prime. Imagine how it would have been she listen to 80s Whitney live 🙂
ps: My collection started with one of Tina´s 80s album when I was 4 years old. They brought it to me cause I loved her so much at that age. We were not in the 80s anymore but she was still a megastar with monumental tours in Europe for many more years, more than in the USA, and kept on being one of the top artists for longer. And then the albums I really had my say about were Whitney´s Bodyguard (still too young really, but it was inscapable) and especially Celine´s “Falling into You” and Mariah´s “Daydream”. That´s when I really started following music.
Yep, I saw Whitney Elizabeth Houston live! My favorite aunt took a few of us to see Whitney sometime during the Bodyguard era. My aunt was big on Luther and always rounded up everyone to see him in concert whenever he came to New York! I went once when he was touring with En Vogue (I wasn’t a huge Luther fan, but I respected his talent – he was amazing live)! I thought that was going to be as good as it’ll gets (Luther/EnVogue), but you can imagine my shock when my aunt one day produced Whitney tickets for all of us! This might have been around the time Whitney was on the brink of her vocal decline, but I promise you – she was so on that night! We sat near the stage for the Luther concert, but we were much further away from the stage (at Whit’s concert)! I was a little upset about that initially because I had visions of Whitney noticing me and extending her hand out for me to touch prior to the concert! I kid you not, it felt like Whitney was singing in the row before me! Her voice was CRYSTAL clear! Her singing gave me chills! I can’t explain what she did to my body while taking all of that in! I’ve never experienced that on this level before or after Whitney and I’ve seen many greats! Whitney was totally unreal!
I remember Janet and Whitney starting off my music collection, then Toni’s Secrets, Brandy’s Never Say Never (interestingly enough all of them were on the Waiting to Exhale album), Aaliyah , Lauryn, Usher, Bey, A. Keys, Kanye, etc… Btw, I have to say that Mariah’s Day dream is one of the most underrated albums ever! It’s my favorite by her and by a female! As far as the pioneers are concerned, Tina and Diana are everything! I can get lost in MJ, Prince, George M’s and Chaka’s discography too!
* and one of my favorites by a female! … It would probably be like a 10- way tie! LOL
Amazing to hear from you about music and not all these pfucking trolls that know nothing.
I can´t believe you got to see Whitney during the tour for the Bodyguard. Just wow.
It was truly a dream come true! … It’s a little heartbreaking to see TGJ go from this amazing music site that was full of energy to this place where half the comments are filled with people trolling! Sam really had a quality blog on his hands and I wish it would go back to being a place where you’d find stimulating interaction!