"Saving All My Love for You" is a song written by Michael Masser and Gerry Goffin. Originally recorded by Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. for their album Marilyn & Billy in 1978, it was revisited by American singer Whitney Houston, who recorded the ballad for her self-titled debut studio album in 1985. It was released on August 13, 1985 by Arista Records, as the second single from the album in the United States, and third worldwide after "All at Once".
Allegedly inspired by her relationship with singer Jermaine Jackson, Houston's rendition of "Saving All My Love for You" garnered positive critical response, with reviewers praising its melodious production and her vocal performance, and picked it as one of the album's highlights.
The song became a global success and represented a commercial breakthrough for Houston, topping the charts in four countries and reaching the top 10 in various other regions. It became her first song to top the US Billboard Hot 100, staying there for one week, and is certified double platinum by the RIAA for sales of over 2 million copies.
At the 28th Annual Grammy Awards, the song won Houston her first Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Houston's rendition is considered one of her greatest recordings and is regarded by some as one of the best and important songs of the 1980s.
Background
In April 1983, Whitney Houston signed her first recording contract with Arista Records. That month, she taped her first national television performance for the Merv Griffin Show. During this period, Houston and label boss Clive Davis sought out producers for recording on Houston's debut album with many pulling out due to prior commitments.
Following the airing of her Merv Griffin performance, however, offers began pouring in. One of the first producers they came in contact with was former Jackson 5 member Jermaine Jackson, who had recently signed with Arista after 14 years recording for Motown. Though Jackson had limited production experience, having mostly produced for the band Switch, Houston agreed to work with Jackson on a series of duets.
The young New Jersey-based singer, 19, flew to California shortly afterwards to record with Jackson. Not too long afterwards, it was reported that Houston began a torrid, secretive one-year affair with Jackson, who was nine years Houston's senior and married to Hazel Gordy, daughter of Motown founder Berry Gordy, with whom he had two children with at the time.
According to Houston's best friend and former lover Robyn Crawford, the singer was smitten with Jackson, 28. Though initially reluctant to share details of her relationship with Jackson, Houston told Crawford that Jackson and his wife were separated and seeking a divorce; Crawford didn't believe it, however.
According to Crawford, Jackson was "smuggled into hotel rooms" with Houston, worked late nights on duets with her and the 20-year-old Houston even had a nickname for Jackson, "Ji". The affair also reportedly alarmed Jackson's brother Michael, who warned him that the affair could destroy both his and Houston's careers.
A year later, in 1984, Houston and Jackson appeared on TV together performing on the soap opera, As the World Turns. According to Robyn Crawford, the affair broke when Houston was angered that Jackson had reneged on a promise to give her and Crawford tickets to see the Jacksons's Victory Tour at Madison Square Garden around July 1984, which led to Houston going off on vacation in Antigua by herself and refusing to give Jackson her phone number. Others reported that Houston angrily broke off the affair because Jackson wouldn't leave his wife Hazel.
Publicly, Jackson has denied an affair with Houston had occurred though he later admitted that the constant recordings with Houston had him deeply infatuated with the young artist, writing in 2012: "These were turning into duets between temptation and forbidden love [...] I arrived on those days with butterflies, because the whole experience of being around Whitney was intoxicating [...] it became increasingly hard to sing love songs with all that emotion and unspoken passion between us."
Recording and production
Around the same time Houston and Jackson began working together, producer Michael Masser caught a performance of Houston after he was invited to attend the Manhattan cabaret club Sweetwaters by Davis after telling him Houston was covering his 1977 composition "The Greatest Love of All".
Upon viewing the performance, Houston told him that the song was one of her favorite recordings. Masser agreed to work with the singer on her debut after getting the okay to put Houston in another duet, this one with another older musician, Teddy Pendergrass, on a ballad called "Hold Me".
Houston and Masser worked on several songs together following the production of "Hold Me", including the Jeffrey Osborne-composed ballad, "All at Once", recorded in July 1984, just around the time of Houston's breakup with Jackson. The following August, Masser presented Davis and Houston the ballad "Saving All My Love for You", which Masser composed with lyricist Gerry Goffin in 1977 originally for former 5th Dimension members Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr., with McCoo singing the song. Featured on the married couple's second album, Marilyn & Billy, a year later, their version wasn't released while the album itself performed poorly on the charts. At first, Davis was reluctant to have Houston record the track, with Davis considering the jazzy-inflected track "too old fashioned".
Still, Houston agreed to record the song. According to some reports, after the first recording was sent to Davis, the producer rejected it, thinking the song had Houston sounding "too much like Aretha". Kenneth Reynolds, the label's president of public relations, stated that "anything that was too black-sounding" was taken back and re-recorded.
After re-recording it to get the right emotionally vulnerable-tailored take from Houston, the producer guaranteed her that it would become "a woman's song", meaning that women will feel a special affinity for the song.
When Masser heard that another single was being considered for the next release off Houston's debut following the success of "You Give Good Love", he made a friendly wager with Davis during one of Houston's performances at the Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles in May 1985. He proposed that if all the women got on their feet when Houston sung "Saving All My Love for You", then Davis would agree that it should be the next single. Ultimately, the song was released as the second single in the United States and third single worldwide.
Composition and lyrics Houston's rendition of "Saving All My Love for You" is a soul and R&B song, composed in the key of A major, having a slow tempo of 84 beats per minute. Houston's vocal range on the song extends from the low note of F♯3 to the high note of F♯5.
The song features a saxophone solo by Tom Scott and its lyrics describe the thoughts of a young woman preparing for the arrival of her married lover.
Dave Heaton of PopMatters wrote that Houston sings some parts with bittersweet lightness ("that's just an old fantasy") and other parts with urgent heaviness ("tonight is the night"), which he considers exactly right for carrying the feelings in the song.
The song is also notable for adding extra lyrics that were not featured in the 1978 original ("no other woman is gonna love you more...").
The song caused controversy due to its theme of having an affair with a married man. Houston's religiously devout mother, Cissy Houston, did not at all like the scenario described in the lyrics, claiming that the song's message would reflect badly on her daughter. However, Houston herself confessed years later, "I was going through a terrible love affair [with Jermaine Jackson]. He was married, and that will never work out for anybody. Never, no way."
Reception Critical response
"Saving All My Love for You" received critical acclaim. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic picked the song as a highlight on the album, writing that the song "burns slowly and seductively."Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. [ Review: Whitney Houston]. AllMusic. Retrieved on August 7, 2009. Dave Heaton of PopMatters praised Houston for "singing as 'the other woman', ratcheting up the drama without overdoing it." Liam Lacey of The Globe and Mail wrote that "Saving All My Love for You", "Greatest Love of All" and "Hold Me" "are some of the loveliest pop singing on vinyl since the glory days of Dionne Warwick."
Author Ted Cox called it a "state-of-the-art mid-80s ballad" that proved Houston "belong[ed] in the same league of the great singers." Sputnikmusic called it "the sexiest, most romantic song on the record." Brad Wete of Vibe called it "goliath", writing that the song "was a fresh serving of precocious talent compared to 1985's mildly flavored R&B bluffet."Wete, Brad. "The Beginning: Whitney Houston". Vibe: 106. September 2008.
Tom Breihan of Stereogum wrote of Houston's performance in the song:
"Houston sings the absolute hell out of this song, giving it nuance that isn't there on paper. Early on, she's sweet and tender. She sings her lines with a sort of cocktail-jazz reserve. But as the song builds, anger and determination creep in. Houston's voice gets deeper and throatier. As the song climaxes, she puts her gospel training to work, putting emotional force into what she's singing: "Cuz to-night! Is the night! That I'm feel-ing awwwlll-right!" The words aren't confrontational, but the delivery is.
Houston sounds like she's made up her mind that this guy is going to give her what she wants. It's unspoken, but you get the idea that things are about to go very wrong if she doesn't get it. On top of that, Houston uses the song to show off her voice -- the creamy high notes, the expert timing, the way that she can convey a building sense of drama."
Classic Pop highlighted the song as an essential Houston song, writing "Whatever about its muddy morality, [the song] is four minutes of pure romance". Los Angeles Times praised her vocal performance, writing that, "it should mean a cinch Grammy nomination."
Chart performance
North America Following the peak of "You Give Good Love" in June 1985, Houston's version of "Saving All My Love for You" first entered the Billboard Hot Black Singles chart for the week of June 29, 1985 at number 84. In its fourth week (July 20), it entered the top forty at number 30. On the August 10th issue of Billboard, the song entered the top ten of the chart at number 6 in its seventh week.
Five weeks later, it became Houston's second consecutive number one single on the Hot Black Singles chart for the week of September 7, 1985, replacing Aretha Franklin's "Freeway of Love". It would eventually spend a cumulative total of 21 weeks on the chart, including nine weeks in the top ten, and eventually ranked number 5 on Billboard Year-End Top Black Singles chart."Billboard's Ratings of 1985's Top Pop Music Artists" San Francisco Chronicle. January 1, 1986. p. 48
The song entered the Billboard Hot 100 on August 17, 1985 at number 53, jumping to number 39 the following week (August 24) and reaching the Top 10 five weeks later on the week of September 28. On the October 19, 1985 issue, it leapt to number two; with that accomplishment, Houston only became the third female artist in history to have their first two official chart singles reaching the top three of the Hot 100 after Cyndi Lauper and Petula Clark.