Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston (1963-2012) possessed one of the greatest voices in the history of pop-soul and remains one of the best-selling artists of all time. Montreux welcomed her in 1987, at the very start of her reign, at the Golden Rose Rock Festival.

Whitney Houston in Montreux

15 May 1987: the Golden Rose

On 15 May 1987, Whitney Houston performed at the Golden Rose Rock Festival, the pop-rock strand of the Rose d’Or, on the stage of the Casino de Montreux. She was twenty-three; her first album, “Whitney Houston” (1985), had shattered records, and the second, “Whitney”, had just come out.

That night she rolled out the hits that had made her name — “How Will I Know”, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)”, “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” —, carried by a voice of dizzying range.

The Voice

Daughter of singer Cissy Houston, cousin of Dionne Warwick and goddaughter of Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston had soul in her blood. From “I Will Always Love You” to countless sales records, she became a global icon before a tragic end, in 2012.

Her Montreux appearance, captured when she was not yet twenty-four, keeps the freshness of a beginning: the Rose d’Or had once again known how to invite a voice on the threshold of legend.