1988 Whitney Houston – Where Do Broken Hearts Go (US:#1 UK#14)
“Where Do Broken Hearts Go” is a song recorded by American singer Whitney Houston for her second studio album, Whitney (1987). It was released as the fourth single from the album on February 25, 1988. The song was written by Frank Wildhorn and Chuck Jackson and produced by Narada Michael Walden. Due to Wildhorn’s previous working relationship with Arista Records CEO Clive Davis, he had been approached about potentially writing for Houston. He contacted Jackson, who came up with the title, after which Wildhorn completed the music and lyrics for the song. Smokey Robinson originally wanted to record the song; however, Wildhorn and Jackson held the song for Houston.
Wildhorn recalls about the song’s selection for the album:
“From what I understand, it was one of the first songs chosen for the album. Knowing it was for Whitney’s project, there must have been 50,000 songs submitted after (ours). So every week it was, ‘Do we still have it?’ We were going through hell.”
Initially, Houston did not want to record the song, feeling there was no special message to convey. In a 2000 interview, Houston reminisced that she “hated the song”. However, Davis believed the song would go to number one if she recorded it, so she agreed. It indeed became a number one, Houston’s seventh consecutive number-one single in the United States—a record for consecutive number-one singles that still stands to this day.
Album
Whitney is the second studio album by American R&B/pop singer Whitney Houston, released in the United States on June 2, 1987 by Arista Records as the follow-up to her best selling debut album, Whitney Houston. The album catapulted her to international fame. Whitney was certified 9× platinum by the RIAA on November 29, 1995. The […]
Musicians
| Bass (synthesizer) | Randy Jackson |
| Drums | Narada Michael Walden |
| Guitar | Corrado Rustici |
| Piano | Frank Martin |
| Synthesizer | Frank Martin |
| Synthesizer | Preston Glass |
| Percussion | Greg Gonaway |
| Background Vocals | Jennifer Hall |
| Background Vocals | Jim Gilstrap |
| Background Vocals | Kitty Beethoven |
| Background Vocals | Nikki Harris |
| Vocals | Whitney Houston |
Produced By
Narada Michael Walden
Songwriters
Chuck Jackson
Frank Wildhorn
Charts
US:# 1
UK:#14