Belinda Davis was nine years old when she first heard Whitney Houston’s LP “Hold Me,” and was inspired to sing like her idol. Now, Davis — who was selected from over 15,000 vocalists who auditioned for the part — really gets to embody Houston’s style and sound as the star in The Greatest Love of All: The Whitney Houston Tribute Show. The show will be performed in Edmonton at the Jubilee Auditorium on Wednesday, May 14. Tickets are $58-$68 and are available via Ticketmaster; use code TMN241 for a 2-for-1 ticket offer.
WHERE Edmonton interviewed Belinda Davis, the talented vocalist and star of the show, about her upcoming performance:
W: What intrigued you about the opportunity to perform this tribute show to Whitney Houston?
BD: Everyone always says the way I perform reminds them of her, but I never did anything about it. I did a show called “Kings and Queens of Pop” where I performed a 20 minute Whitney thing that went over really well, and someone advised me of [The Greatest Love of All] that they were casting for and told me try out. My friend had got me an audition spot so I packed up everything and went —I was travelling with my baby who was only 3 months old at the time! I performed one song, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody”, and the director asked me to sing “Greatest Love of All” so I performed it with just a piano and… that was it. I got the part. That was the opportunity and I’m grateful for it.”
W: How do you embody the essence of Whitney Houston while still retaining your own personality as an artist? Is this an impersonation or a tribute?
BD: [Emboodying Whitney] is not a very hard thing to do as it’s all I’ve been doing my whole life. It just comes out, it just happens. I’m not Whitney Houston, I’m just not her, so it’s easy to give a little bit of myself in the show. With my performance style and by singing her songs, to people I sound and look like her. I mean, no one really sounds like her. There was only one Whitney Houston. But I love performing her songs so much it just comes to me. I do what I can to showcase the immense talent and legend that was Whitney Houston.
W: Which is your favourite Whitney song to perform?
BD: My favourite song to perform is “Didn’t We Almost Have It All”, which is the second song during the show . . . I saw a version of Whitney performing it live for the troops and when I saw her doing that song I said to our band [for the show] “can we do it like that?” I love that version so much.
W: Who was Whitney Houston to you? Were you a fan of hers before realizing you had a similar look and sound to her?
BD: This is much deeper than being a fan. I idolized [Whitney] since I was 9 or 10. My brother had an LP of “Hold Me” . . . my goodness she sounded so young! I was so fascinated with her. I grabbed on to her. I didn’t know what I was doing but I just had a connection with her and I wanted to be her. I would sing her songs and I cut my hair like her and I cut my clothes to look like hers, my mother wanted to kill me, and all the neighbours called me “Whitney”.
Photos of Belinda Davis by Showtime Australia
