Music Monday – Whitney Houston Earns Her Fourth Number One Hit
I admit I kinda wanted to BE Whitney Houston when I was younger. This was one of those fun songs you just wanted to be her.
On this day in 1987, Whitney Houston earned her fourth number one song on the charts with “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me),” the debut single from her second album.
The song was written by George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam who also wrote “How Will I Know,” which was one of Houston’s previous #1 hits from her debut album. George and Shannon, a married couple, also known as “Boy Meets Girl”. In 1985 they had released their own album, AND had written Whitney’s hit “How Will I Know”.
When they pitched the song to Clive Davis, head of the label that represented Whitney Houston, they wanted it for themselves as Boy Meets Girl. NOT for Whitney. Clive Davis made it very clear that Houston would be recording it.
“I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) would go to number one, a month ahead of the albums release, the first of four to hit number one from that album.
Boy Meets Girl went to #5 with “Waiting For A Star To Fall” in 1988.
The song won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female. It also took the American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Single. And FUN FACT –
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle chose this song as their first dance at the evening reception following their wedding.
