Whitney Houston making lemonade from lemons on the Tonight Show (1985) [View all]

[wtmusic]

In 1985 Whitney made her first appearance on the Tonight Show. The band used to be careless with unknowns - you never knew quite what you were going to get - and this is no exception. They completely botch the tempo, starting You Give Good Love about 10bpm too slow. Instead of snapping her fingers to the band to pick up the tempo, or losing her cool, Whitney OWNS the performance - she makes it work for her.

Even more impressive was when she was sitting on the couch with Carson later: while talking about her gospel upbringing she launched into an a capella Amazing Grace that gave me goose bumps I still remember 26 years later.

Enjoy.