Higher Love (1986)

"Higher Love" is a 1986 song by the English singer Steve Winwood. It was the first single released from his fourth solo studio album, Back in the High Life (1986). It was written by Winwood and Will Jennings and produced by Russ Titelman and Winwood. The backing vocals were performed by Chaka Khan, who also appeared in its music video.

"Higher Love" was Winwood's first Billboard Hot 100 number-one song, topping the chart for one week beginning 30 August 1986. "Higher Love" also spent four weeks atop the US Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart and earned two Grammy Awards, for Record of the Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. It also peaked at number 13 in the United Kingdom, Winwood's highest charting solo entry there, and reached number one in Canada for a week.

Whitney Houston covered the song in 1990 and it was included as a bonus track on the Japanese edition of her third studio album I'm Your Baby Tonight. In 2016, Winwood made a version with his daughter Lilly Winwood, performing a duet for a Hershey commercial. Norwegian DJ Kygo reworked Houston's cover into a tropical house track in 2019, which was released as a single worldwide and hit number one on Billboard magazine's Dance Club Songs chart, making it Houston's highest-charting posthumous release to date.

Background

Winwood recorded the album Back in the High Life at several studios in New York City, ending up at Unique Recording Studios where Tom Lord-Alge was engineering with his brothers. To round out the sounds on "Higher Love", producer Russ Titelman brought in two members of the funk/soul band Rufus: singer Chaka Khan and drummer John 'JR' Robinson. After recording his drum parts and while waiting for Khan to get set up, JR played an impromptu drum fill which Lord-Alge caught on tape. Lord-Alge connected this drum fill to the beginning of "Higher Love", by assigning a timing offset to one of two tape machines such that they first played the drum fill followed by the song coming in on the beat. Titelman was happy with the result and decided to open the album with this drum fill. JR used a Latin rimshot technique across the top of his classic seamless brass Ludwig Black Beauty snare, unmuffled, with its snare wires disengaged, to emulate the sound of a timbale. He said, "it's one of the best drum intros I've ever played."

Titelman remembered the fill being played ad lib by JR while Khan was preparing to sing her background vocals on "Higher Love", causing Khan to exclaim "What is that shit? It sounds like voodoo shit!" Lord-Alge agreed that the drum fill was played as a lark after JR completed his drum overdubs for "Higher Love". Tom said, "It was one of those happy accidents, and it happened because [sound engineer brother] Chris always taught me that if the tape is rolling and there's a musician in the studio, make sure the tape machine is in record!"

Music video

The music video for the song uses the shorter single version and was shot in June 1986 by directors Peter Kagan and Paula Greif. Kagan and Greif shot an almost identical video for Duran Duran's "Notorious" in November of that year; coincidentally, both videos were nominated for several awards at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards though neither won. Chaka Khan appears in the video, as does Nile Rodgers, who plays guitar with the backing band.

Personnel

Steve Winwood – lead and backing vocals, synthesizer, sequencer programming, and Oberheim DMX programming

• Chaka Khan – backing vocals
• Nile Rodgers – rhythm guitar
• Robbie Kilgore – synthesizer and sequencer programming
• Andrew Thomas – PPG Waveterm synthesizer programming
• David Frank – synthesizer horns and synth horn arrangement
• Philippe Saisse – synthesizer bass
• Eddie Martinez – lead guitar
• John Robinson – drums
• Jimmy Bralower – Oberheim DMX programming
• Carole Steele – congas, tambourine

James Vincent McMorrow version

James Vincent McMorrow recorded a cover of the song for his charity album 'Silver Lining' which was recorded and produced by the students of Sound Training Centre in Dublin for the charity Headstrong. The cover was used as the soundtrack for television advertisements in the UK by LoveFilm in 2011.

Kygo and Whitney Houston version

A cover of "Higher Love" was released as a single by Norwegian DJ and record producer Kygo and late American singer Whitney Houston on 28 June 2019. The song was released to streaming and digital download formats on 28 June 2019 by the label RCA Records. The song is the lead single from Kygo's third studio album, Golden Hour. The song was also featured in a Ford Summer Sales Event commercial in 2020.

Houston's cover of the Winwood track was originally included on the Japanese edition of her third studio album, I'm Your Baby Tonight (1990). This version of the track was produced by American musician Narada Michael Walden, and therefore Walden is credited as a producer of "Higher Love" alongside Kygo. Houston performed her rendition of "Higher Love" at the 14 dates of her 1990 Feels So Right Tour in Japan.