You Give Good Love
"You Give Good Love" is the debut solo single by American singer Whitney Houston for her 1985 eponymous debut studio album. It was written by La Forrest 'La La' Cope and produced by Kashif. When La La sent Kashif a copy of the song, originally offered to Roberta Flack, she thought it would be a better fit for Houston and told Arista Records he would be interested in recording with her.
"You Give Good Love"
The song was released on February 22, 1985 as the album's lead single. The release of "You Give Good Love" was designed to give Houston a noticeable position and standing within the black music market first, which topped the US Billboard Hot Black Singles chart. However, it also made an unexpected crossover pop hit, peaking at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, her first of what would be many Top 10 hits. It was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[1] The single was released officially in some countries such as Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and United Kingdom, but failed to make the top 40 in the countries except Canada, where it reached the top ten. The song won Favorite Soul/R&B Single at the 13th American Music Awards, and was nominated for Best R&B Song and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance at the 28th Grammy Awards in 1986.
The music video for the song directed by Karen Bellone, shows Houston performing at a club and a photographer focusing his camera on her. Houston performed the song on various TV shows and awards ceremonies such as The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The 1985 R&B Countdown and The 1st Soul Train Music Awards of 1987, as well as on her first three tours and select dates of The Bodyguard World Tour (1993–94) and My Love Is Your Love World Tour (1999). "You Give Good Love" is also featured on four of Houston's compilation albums, Whitney: The Greatest Hits (2000), Love, Whitney (2001), The Essential Whitney Houston (2011) and I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston (2012). In 2009, the song was named the 12th greatest slow jam of all time by Essence magazine.[2]
Chart performance[edit]
"You Give Good Love" entered the Billboard Hot Black Singles chart (later Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs) at number 89 on the March 9 issue,[15] and on ninth week of its release, reached the top ten of the chart, the issue dated May 4, 1985.[16] Eventually, it hit the pole position of the chart, the issue date of May 25, 1985, and stayed atop for one week, becoming Houston's first R&B number-one single.[17] The song debuted at number 67 and number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles and Hot Adult Contemporary charts, respectively, on the May 11 issue.[18][19] Eight weeks later the single reached the top ten on the Hot 100 chart, and in the following three weeks peaked at number three on the chart, the issue dated July 27, 1985, spending a total of 21 weeks on the chart.[20][21] On the Adult Contemporary chart, it reached a peak of number four in the July 20, 1985 issue.[22] It was ranked number 47 and number two on the Billboard year-end Top Pop Singles and Top Black Singles charts, respectively.[23][24] The single was certified Gold for shipments of 1,000,000 copies in the United States alone by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on December 6, 1995.[25] In Canada, the song debuted at number 95 on the RPM 100 Singles chart on the May 18 issue, and 14 weeks later peaked at number nine on the chart, the issue date of August 24, 1985.[26][27] It placed at number 76 on the RPM year-end Top 100 Singles chart of 1985.[28]
Worldwide, "You Give Good Love" was not released as a single except in a few countries such as Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unlike in North America, the song did not receive enough attention to establish itself as a hit song in these markets, because other songs from Houston's debut album―"All at Once" and "Saving All My Love for You"―got a better reaction from the public and the media, particularly in Europe. The early promotion for the album was also strategically focused on these songs.[29] The single entered, but did not reach the Top 40 of, the singles charts of several of these countries: it peaked at number 58 in Australia,[30] 44 in New Zealand,[31] and 93 in the UK.[32]
Credits adapted from the album Whitney Houston liner notes.[54]