On March 17th, 1990, "That's What Friends Are For," an Arista Records 15th Anniversary Concert and AIDS benefit, was held at Radio City Music Hall (a month later it aired on CBS). Along with a slew of celebrities on hand, performers included Air Supply, Burt Bacharach, Hall & Oates, Alan Jackson, Barry Manilow, Carly Simon, and Dionne Warwick. The highlight, however, was a then 26-year-old Whitney Houston, who performed "I Wanna Dance With Somebody," which she had released about three years earlier.
As Rolling Stone points out, some low quality videos of her performance have been around, but now a more official one has been released, as this version of the song will be included on a compilation of Houston's greatest live performances (out next month). Check out her energetic ownership of the stage—her voice and smile were all that was needed to generate a room full of goosebumps.
At the 92nd Street Y last week, producer Clive Davis told RS that Houston's 1994 American Music Awards medley was his favorite—"You look at award shows today and see a hundred people onstage and moving from one big production to another, but this was the spotlight on one person... It shows an incredible talent."
