The label, he adds, “didn’t know their rear end from a hole in the ground on this issue. “But Arista was going to be pocketing a good deal of money before anything made its way to the charity.” “And they said ‘How dare you intervene with the good work that Whitney is doing? Because she’s contributing her profits to military families’ organizations.’ “Their first reaction was ‘Look, you’re background musicians, and background musicians get a modest stipend in these situations,’” Jakes recalls. The label was forced to concede that The Florida Orchestra was, in fact, a co-performer on the recording. Frank Jakes, an attorney with the Tampa firm Johnson Pope, specialized in copyright law, and he negotiated a six-figure settlement with Arista. But the orchestra was in dire financial straits in 1991. Houston’s rendition of the national anthem was so powerful that her label, Arista Records, issued the studio recording as a single, with Houston’s profits earmarked for charity.Īll well and good, except for the fact that The Florida Orchestra, which appeared on the record, was not consulted – nor was the group initially compensated.Īt another time, this might not have been an issue. “We hope this will help inspire you to what will be a stunning victory for Tampa Bay and, of course, the Buccaneers,” the very British Francis says at the start of the video, ending his speech with a very British, and not entirely convincing, “Go Bucs!” TFO in the courts

With the players masked and spaced suitably apart on the Mahaffey Theater stage, vocalist Diane Andrieux sings from a nearby balcony. Under conductor Michael Francis, TFO this week has produced a video showing the current group of musicians performing John Clayton’s 1991 arrangement of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the very arrangement that the late, great Whitney Houston used, and made history with. I sat on the couch with my wife and as we were crying at the performance, hearing it all come together, it was such a relief.”Īccording to a story this week in USA Today, it almost didn’t happen. “They were living their expression through her. “Her version of the national anthem was a relief valve for the nation,” arranger John Clayton later said.

27, 1991 into a microphone that was switched off – so even if the sounds everyone heard weren’t actually coming from her golden throat, at that moment, she was physically throwing herself into the “delivery.” Houston, however, was actually singing live on Jan. With that many people, and the possibility of weather-related or mechanical mishaps, it was deemed prudent to pre-record. This was not an uncommon practice at large sporting events. Houston was “miming” to a recording she’d made days earlier in a Los Angeles studio, over a backing track the symphony players had recorded in Tampa. Standing on a tiny stage, with the Florida Orchestra and conductor Jahja Ling behind her, Houston belted out a slow, bluesy “Star-Spangled Banner” that brought the crowd of 73,000 to their feet, the passion and patriotism of the performance carrying away, for those two minutes and 15 seconds at least, the fears and uncertainties brought on by the conflict in Iraq. And the most successful pop singer in recent history, still in her prime and a good many years away from the sad, drug-fueled descent that would ultimately kill her, was ready to deliver. So tensions were running high, and Americans badly needed a shot of the ol’ red, white and blue. The year was 1991, the Buffalo Bills were playing the New York Giants, and the Gulf War – Operation Desert Storm – was barely a week old. Whitney Houston was 27 years old when she sang the national anthem at Super Bowl XXV in Tampa Stadium.

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