Whitney Houston Greatest Love World Tour

The Greatest Love World Tour was the first worldwide tour by Whitney Houston, in support of her successful self-titled multi-platinum debut album. The four-month tour began in North America on July 26, 1986 at the Merriweather Post Pavilion and included visits in Europe, Japan and Australia.

Houston's debut album was released in early 1985 and she performed at various clubs to promote the album. Following the success of the hit single "You Give Good Love", Houston became the opening act for singers' Luther Vandross and Jeffrey Osborne on their individual 1985 US tours. After the next single, "Saving All My Love For You" became Houston's first #1 in the US, she began headlining her own shows, playing at various American theaters, festivals, and clubs throughout the summer and fall of 1985. With more #1 hits on the way, and Houston's album at the top of the album charts, she would become a household name. She then embarked on her first worldwide tour, the successful The Greatest Love Tour. The tour started in North America during the summer of 1986, before heading to Europe, Japan, Australia and back to USA for a final show in Hawaii during the fall.

The show consisted of Houston on a fringed round stage in the center of the arena/theater with a 9-piece band playing and four backup vocalists behind her. There were no costume changes or background dancers. Brother Gary Garland would replace Jermaine Jackson and Teddy Pendergrass on the duets. A young Washington, DC comedian Sylvia Traymore Morrison (first African American Female Impressionist), opened the show and did hilarious impressions of such stars as Dionne Warwick, Tina Turner, Cher and others. Mark McCollum (comedian) and Kenny G also opened select US dates.

While on her first global tour, Houston revealed she was a creative musician; rearranging most of the songs during her shows and sometimes deviating from the album's version. In "You Give Good Love", Houston would slow it down and emphazise the soulful elements of the song, treating it like a gospel number while breaking it down with her background singers. During "Saving All My Love", Houston arranged the song into a bluesy jazz number that recalled Billie Holiday. Houston often scatted with sax player Josh Harris during the end of the song. Many critics noted "He/I Believe" and "I Am Changing" as the show's highlights. The former is a song she learned from her mother which joins the gospel songs "He Is" with "I Believe". The latter is a cover of the show Jennifer Holliday's show stopping Dreamgirls song. After opening the show with a tease of the anthemic "Greatest Love of All", Houston closed out the show with a slowed down soulful version of the song.

Personnel

Houston and John Simmons were friends from their church in New Jersey. While Houston was trying to get a recording contract, she would perform sets as part of her mother's nightclub act in New York. Simmons was her musical director. Houston asked Simmons to put together a band that would back her during her nightclub act and record label showcases. The tour manager was Tony Bulluck, who remained her tour manager on several of her tours later, including the Nothing but Love Tour. Rickey Minor and Houston's brother Gary Houston remained band members throughout her touring career.


 * Music Director/Piano: John Simmons
 * Bass guitar/bass synthesizer: Ricky Minor
 * Guitar: Curtis Taylor Neishloss
 * Keyboards: Willard Meeks
 * Saxophone: Josh Harris
 * Drums: Brian Brake
 * Percussion: Kevin Jones
 * Background Vocalists: Gary Houston, Felicia Moss, Voneva Simms, Billy Baker

Set list:

"Instrumental Intro" (contains elements of "Also sprach Zarathustra" and excerpts from "Greatest Love of All") "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" "Eternal Love" "You Give Good Love" "Hold Me" (duet with Gary Houston) "How Will I Know" "Take Good Care of My Heart" (duet with Gary Houston) "Nobody Loves Me Like You Do" (duet with Gary Houston) "Saving All My Love for You" "Someone for Me" "I Am Changing" "Heart to Heart" "All at Once" (performed at select dates in Europe and Japan) "Didn't We Almost Have It All" (performed at select dates in Europe and Japan) "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" "He, I Believe" "Greatest Love of All"

July, August: for select dates, Houston performed "Memories" (she recorded prior to her debut album), "A Brand New Day" and a duet with her mother, gospel singer Cissy Houston. Houston also added Kenny Loggins's US pop hit "Heart to Heart" and "I Am Changing" from the musical Dreamgirls as part of her set list for the tour.

Europe, Japan: on select dates, Houston performed "All at Once", which replaced "Didn't We Almost Have It All".

September 13: the concert in San Francisco, Houston brought out a cake and sang "Happy Birthday" to her father John Houston.

August, October & November: during the later part of tour, Houston was also working on her second album and would preview two new songs such as "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" and "Didn't We Almost Have It All".