Song Info :
While working with her mother as a backing singer,
Whitney had a solo spot in the show - her rendition of
"The Greatest Love Of All". The song had been written
for the film biography of Mohammed Ali, "The Greatest", and
had been a hit for George Benson in 1977. The writers were
Michael Masser and Linda Creed, who was recovering from
breast-cancer surgery at the time, and whose experience is
perhaps evident in the lyric. When considering songs for the album,
Clive Davis was not keen on this track at all but was talked
round by Masser. The single was a phenomenal success in the
states where it was no 1, while it peaked at no 8 in the UK.
Strangely the song had already been released as the b-sides
of the first UK and US singles.
Whitney says this is her favorite song (of all the songs she has ever recorded).
Linda Creed, who wrote the lyrics, died shortly before
Whitney took it to number one.