Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston Instagram – For the 25th anniversary of Whitney’s performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” in 2016, Danyel Smith of ESPN wrote: “Like the best heroes, Whitney — the black girl from Jersey who worked her way to global stardom … — makes bravery look easy. … She is calmly joyful — cool, actually, and free of fear. And when she arrives at Oh, say [cymbal] does our star- [cymbal] spangled banner yet wave, she moves to lift the crowd. It’s a question. It’s always been a question. And she sings it like an answer. … Whitney’s version made it all absolute, for a moment. Her arms were wide and reaching slightly up at the end, a pose familiar to many Americans, across races. Her head was back, as one’s can be when victorious, and as one’s can be when asking for and ecstatically receiving the glory of God.”
On this day in 2001, the second release of “The Star Spangled Banner” peaked at #30 on the Billboard R&B Charts. Whitney’s rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” remains a perennial favorite, cited every year by most media organizations as the best performance of the anthem of all time. | Posted on 20/Oct/2025 20:43:37