Whitney Houston: ‘Greatest Love of All’ Actor Talks Being ‘Intimidated’ Working on Video Set
Whitney Houston’s rendition of “The Greatest Love of All” is considered to be the best version. The song became one of the biggest hits of her career. In the accompanying music video, a young actor starred as the childhood version of the icon. Years later, the woman spoke of initially being intimidated by Houston before forming a connection that stayed with her for a lifetime.
Young starlet recalls working with Whitney Houston on her video set
Keara Hailey Gordon, now 43, who played the young Houston in the 1986 music video for her “Greatest Love of All.” Gordon was 9-years-old at the time and told Page Six in a 2020 interview that she did not know who Houston was from the audition notes.
“I was like, ‘Oh, who is that?,’” Gordon, who now lives in Metuchen, NJ, said. “I was young, and it was her first album. So then they showed me her ‘How Will I Know’ video, and I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I know who that is!’ ”
Gordon hadn’t done anything in entertainment but had been on several auditions prior. So booking Houston’s video was a major deal. She sang “Home” from The Wiz and Houston reportedly saw the tape and was impressed. Just a year earlier, Houston performed the same selection during her first television appearance on The Merv Griffin Show.
“So I had to actually learn the song ‘Greatest Love of All,’ come back the next day and sing it for Whitney. I can still see her face. She had a big smile on her face, and she said, ‘I want her.’ So I got to be her,” Gordon recalled.
Gordon says that she was “so intimidated” by Houston at first, but she quickly realized how relatable Houston was. “I had to stay overnight in a hotel “and it was my first time away from my house that I can remember,” she reflected. “I wanted to go home, and I started to cry, and then she came up to me and gave me the biggest hug and said, ‘It’ll be OK, baby. Before you know it, you’ll be home tomorrow. You’ll get to see your dad and your brother and sister, and everything will be fine.’ And I just stopped crying immediately…She kind of changed my life and she showed me how to present myself as a black woman.”
The song is Whitney Houston’s favorite in her catalog
‘Greatest Love of All’ was dear to Houston as well. During a 1999 appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Oprah asked the singer about her favorite song. Houston shocked Oprah when she revealed that it was a gospel tune.
The singer grew up singing almost daily in church and surrounded by nothing but spiritual songs. Her mother was the choir director and a famous background singer who trained the star vocally. At a young age, Houston began recording in studio sessions alongside her mother.
Oprah was also stunned that ‘I Will Always Love You’ was not Houston’s favorite. The song spent 14-weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard charts and is one of Houston’s biggest hits. “The Greatest Love of All is my favorite,” she said firmly.
Houston rarely left the song out of her tour setlist. She loved the song so much that she performed it at several key events throughout her career, including Arista’s 25th Anniversary celebration in 1990.
How well did ‘The Greatest Love of All’ perform commercially
The song became a major hit, topping the charts in multiple countries including Australia, Canada and the US. “The Greatest Love of All” remains Houston’s third biggest US hit, after “I Will Always Love You” and “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me).”
