January 27, 1991…Whitney Houston Mesmerizes America

The Story Of The Best Ever Version Of “The Star Spangled Banner”

Here is our national anthem sung like never before, and the backstory of how it came to be. Please watch it with the volume high and don’t be surprised if you tear up to, what most consider, the most moving rendition ever.

Few know that the entire performance was prerecorded…music and voice. In order to keep the performance from sounding thin, as most stadium performances tend to be, Houston wanted the great arrangement, to be as powerful and moving as it was when she first heard it ten days earlier.

This performance was the opening of Super Bowl XXV at Tampa Stadium, January 27, 1991…10 days into the Persian Gulf War. Whitney was backed by the Florida Orchestra along with music director Jahja Ling, before 73,813 fans, 115 million viewers in the United States and a worldwide television audience of 750 million.

When asked to perform, Houston knew instantly how she wanted to interpret the tune. Rickey Minor, her longtime musical director, and later Jay Leno’s band leader, said that in a crowd that large and loud, it would be impossible for Houston to hear herself, so in order to have the most powerful performance, the decision was made to prerecord both the music and vocals.

Although there was no audio from her mic, there is no question that she sang this with all her heart live, but it was her pre-recorded voice that the audience heard. She did it in one take in the studio!

The NFL had no qualms about the song being prerecorded, even if Houston would be criticized for it. The NFL’s issue was with the meter. “The Star-Spangled Banner” is written in 3/4 time — not quite brisk, but waltzy. Houston and vocal arranger Minor, as well as bassist-arranger John L. Clayton, changed it to 4/4, slowing it down.

“All was in place for what many of us thought would be one of the greatest versions of the national anthem ever performed,” said Jim Steeg, who for 25 years had been in charge of the Super Bowl for the NFL.

“Then on Jan. 17,” as Steeg further recalled it, “senior executives with the NFL asked to hear the recording. A tape was overnighted to Buffalo, where the AFC championship game was played. The next day I was told the version was viewed as too slow and difficult to sing along with. Could I ask to have it redone.” Perhaps the NFL was afraid there would be discontent in the stands, as there had been when Jose Feliciano dared to stray in the anthem before Game 5 of the 1968 World Series. So Steeg called John Houston, Whitney’s father and her manager at the time. “The conversation was brief,” Steeg said. “There would be no rerecording.”

Houston’s performance electrified the stadium and soon after, popular demand prompted Houston’s record label to release a single of her national anthem performance that hit the top 20 on the Billboard charts.

“I think it might well be the best Super Bowl performance of all time, ” said Billboard Magazine editor Danyel Smith. I AGREE! God Bless America! -Bobby Ellerbee