Saving All My Love for You

"Saving All My Love for You"
Song

"Saving All My Love for You" is a song written by Michael Masser and Gerry Goffin, and originally recorded by Marilyn McCoo on the 1978 album Marilyn & Billy (credited to McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. although Davis’ voice is not heard on the particular track). It was also the second single from Whitney Houston's self-titled debut album. The single was released in August 1985. The lyric is about a love affair with a married man, and the singer’s "saving all her love for him.”

Arista Records' CEO Clive Davis was against Houston's cover of the song. Eventually agreeing to it, he heard Houston sing it, and had her sing it again, stating that the original was "sounding like something Aretha Franklin would sing. This girl's not Aretha Franklin, so why is she sounding like her?"

Chart information

Clive Davis's decision not to record the song would have been a major mistake in Houston's career. Released in 1985, "Saving All My Love for You" rose from #53 to #39, on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, the week of August 24, reaching the Top 10 five weeks later. The single reached the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of October 26, 1985, and become Houston's first of seven record-holding consecutive number-ones in the United States. The single eventually spent fifteen weeks in the top forty. The song also reached number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and the Adult Contemporary Charts.

Internationally, the single was received well in most areas, most notably becoming Houston's first number one in the United Kingdom. The single also managed to reach number five in Switzerland, eighteen in Germany, and twenty in Australia.

"Saving All My Love for You" won the 1986 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and the American Music Award for Favorite R&B/Soul Video.

Music video

The music video, directed by Stuart Orme, was filmed in London, and featured Houston waiting for her married lover to return by singing her troubles away.

In pop culture

• Houston's role as Savannah Jackson in the romantic-comedy Waiting to Exhale would be a mirror-image of her persona in this song.
• Singer JoJo samples the melody of "Saving All My Love for You" in her song "How To Touch A Girl".
• In the episode "Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife" of The Simpsons, a karaoke reality show contestants sings the song as the Simpsons visit the Fox Studio.
• The song is used in two scenes of the movie Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins.
• The New York Daily News ranked it #79 in its list of Greatest Love Songs.
• Steve Urkel is heard singing the song in the beginning of an episode of Family Matters in an attempt to get crush Laura Winslow's attention. As he finished singing, Laura's father, Carl walked in the room.