The time Whitney Houston effortlessly sang 7 notes in under 1 second
14 October 2022, 16:31
The time Whitney Houston effortlessly sang 7 notes in under 1 second
Whitney Houston proved just what a natural talent she was when she appeared on a TV show and gave a glimpse into the power of her voice when she sang seven notes in under one second.
Whitney Houston's voice is unrivalled.
The singer was appearing on The Late Show with David Letterman in the early nineties when she gave an impromptu showcase of her natural talent.
In the midst of discussing the comparisons that music critics make between her and Mariah Carey, Whitney gave Latterman and the audience an example of why people think the two artists sound similar.
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"I don't really hear it," Whitney Houston says regarding the similarities between the two singers.
"There are a few inflections. Inflections mean..." looking straight at the audience and giving an example of an inflection, she uses her voice to sing a run of notes in quick succession.
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The remarkable moment sees Whitney effortlessly cover seven notes in under one second and continues to do it twice more before the audience burst into applause.
"I don't think that she sounds like me or I sound like her," Whitney states at the end of the clip.
See full video below:
Whitney Houston: 7 notes in under 1 Second (Vocal Agility)
Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston were continually compared throughout their careers, and eventually put rumours of a feud behind them when they collaborated in 1998 for a duet of 'When You Believe' for the movie The Prince of Egypt, which won an Oscar for Best Original Song.
Speaking after Whitney Houston's death, Mariah said that she was fed up of powerful women being pitted against one another.
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“One of the things is the pitting of women, against each other. There was the situation where, when I started, everyone was like, ‘Oh, her and Whitney [Houston], let’s put them against each other and blah, blah, blah,” Mariah told Variety in 2019.
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“We didn’t [even] know each other! And she was one of the greatest of all time.”
“Working with Whitney was an experience I'll never forget," she told Good Morning America in 2019. "It was a bonding experience...we really put all the rumours and nonsense behind us that there was a feud.”
“I don’t think people could ever really understand our relationship. There was always this supposed rivalry in the beginning and then we did the duet and became friends and I saw her toward the end and I loved her... her legend’s going to go on forever.”
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