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I'm Your Baby Tonight kicks off with three very different singles: the irresistibly danceable title track, the hip-hop influenced 'My Name Is Not Susan', and the powerful 'All The Man That I Need', in which the extraordinary scream of the saxophone follows Whitney's lead as the song builds into a wave of adoration. it became Whitney's ninth US Number 1 hit single in December 1990. 'Love For Life' is a light-hearted, bouncy pop song on the surface, but its lyrics have great charm, as they describe a love affair as if it were a court case: "You've heard my testimony, you've seen my evidence, hey it's a crime of passion, in every sense... will you sentence me to be your lover for life?" Bobby Brown's producers LA Reid and Babyface worked on two of the tracks, 'Anymore' and 'Miracle'. Their influence is particularly apparent on 'Anymore', a soulful, laid-back groove, in which Whitney's strong side creeps back to reject yet another suitor who does not fit the bill, and her Jacksonesque vocals prove that, contrary to her romantic image, she can be as bad as any man! 'Miracle' sees Whitney as the glamorous, heart-rending balladeer once more. The longest song on the album, it pushes the scope of Whitney's voice to its fullest extent. 'I Belong To You' borrows the catchy hook from 'Just be Good To Me' by the SOS Band. One of three tracks produced by Narada Michael Walden, the song has his trademark slick arrangements with soothing sax and melodic rhythm guitar - it was released as a single in 1992, with little chart success. 'Who Do You Love' was Whitney's first collaboration with sou crooner Luther Vandross, and the sleeve notes promise that we can look forward to more. Whitney's mother is reportedly his favorite singer, and he invited her to sing on his first  who albums.

'We Didn't know' is another first-time collaboration, this time with Motown song-writing genius Stevie Wonder. Putting two megastars in  the studio together can be a dangerous experiment, but the result of this combination sounds totally natural. if anything, 'We Didn't Know' is dominated by Stevie own soul signature, but he and Whitney sound superb together, how this song failed to be released as a single remains a mystery. Surely it would have been massive? 'After We Make Love' is probably more memorable for its risque post-coital title than its rather schmaltzy lyrics (an uncomfortable marrage of religion and sex) but the closing number 'I'm Knockin'', is right back on course. It makes Whitney's first attempt at co-production, with her musical director Rickey Minor, and the song was a perfect choice for her to work on. With a melody almost exclusively provided by Whitney's own vocals - both lead and back-up - 'I'm Knockin'' gave her the chance to play around with her own voice in the studio, a useful experience for the future. The album was relatively unsuccessful in the UK and US, reaching Number 4 and Number 3 respectively. Ian McCann in UK music paper NME gave the album an almost unprecedented zero out of ten, commenting with an air of disappointment: "Whitney sings better than ever, but so what?... Tomorrow night, Whitney, be your own baby and shock us all." It is likely that the sharp change of pace was a disappointment to many of the fans who had made the first two albums so very successful. however, if I'm Your Baby Tonight was not the album that the world wanted her to make, it was certainly a big step towards it, and those same fans were soon to come flooding back to her - and more decides.

In 1991, Whitney made good use of her celebrity by raising a great deal of money for charity. She was invited to begin the ceremony of the 25th Superbowl at Joe Robbie Stadium, Miami, Florida by singing the traditional anthem 'the Star-Spangled Banner'. Although her performance was pre-recorded, it was a definitive version of the uplifting hymn, and public demand inevitably led to the release of a single and video In true Whitney Houston style, the record went to the US number 20 spot and raised $500,000 for civilian victims of the Gulf War. In may Whitney performed live via satellite at the Simple Truth gig at London's Wembley Arena to raise money for Kurdish refugees, and was noted by the American Red Cross in recognition of her fund-raising efforts.

These fans who had so far been denied the chance to see Whitney perform live were finally able to get the next best thing in April 1991. Whitney Houston Live was a colourful concert in Norfolk, Virginia, on the east coast of the USA, on March 31 that year. The concert was first transmitted by the Home Box Office (HBO) on US television, under the title Welcome Home Heroes with Whitney Houston, and it caused a small controversy at the time.

The Norfolk show was in many ways a preview of Whitney's 1991 tour set list. To the audience of servicemen and women, the Gulf War had been both a chance to serve their country and a terrifying experience in which the lives of friends, family and lovers were at stake. "It's so good to see you all home safe and sound," said Whitney, "From that I understand, there are still a few our troops left over there - so this one's for them, too!" After a roar of applause, Whitney continued: "That's right - until they all come home. Until they all come home. i think this next song's gonna describe...how you felt when you took your loved one in your arms - and I know you made love all night long. ooh, I know you did!" - and Kirk Whalum's saxophone began to pick out the bluesy melody if the next song, 'Saving All My Love'

Whitney's dancers joined her for the cheerful 'How Will I know', and with the backing singers picking up the melody, there was plenty of room for Whitney's own bluesy variations on the song. Skipping off-stage, Whitney prepared herself for the second part of the show  with lighting change into a beautiful red evening down. Sweeping back in along the raised metal walkway and daintily down the steps, she accepted cards from the more presumptuous men in the audience, coyly asking them, "I'm gonna sing you some love song. is that all right?" Almost unaccompanied at first, but for the gentle voice of piano in the background, Whitney launched into a slow and  emotional version of 'Didn't We Almost Have It All', which built into a crescendo, imperceptibly changing into a medley with the Burt Bacharach - Hal David standard 'A House Is Not A Home' and 'Where Do Broken Hearts Go'. The show-stopper was 'All The Man That I Need'. Clasping a towel in one hand as she sang, her face and plunging neckline glistened with perspiration as she closed her eyes tightly with the intensity of the moment.

The show's third act began with the pounding drum beat of 'My Name Is Not Susan' as Whitney and her dancers worked out on the raised gangway at the rear of the stage. In peppermint green leggings, boots and matching mini-dress with glittery silver "W.H." motif, Whitney used a radio microphone and headset to make this final part of the show very mobile. For 'My Name Is Not Susan' the dancers wore brightly coloured linen suits, and Whitney, as always, proved that her voice was strong enough to last the distance, no matter what the pace. Taking break from the dance numbers, Whitney was alone under the spotlight for a few moments as she sang an operatic, jazzy love song called 'A Song For You'. However, the stage was soon alive with colour and light for the brilliant gospel hymn 'Revelation' as Whitney called out,"Put your hands together for the Lord," and the audience willingly complied. A heart-warming tune, 'Revelation', gave Whitney the chance to introduce her band and bring a series of brief solos from each performer into the show.

After another change of costume into a spectacular, off-the-shoulder blue satin dress, Whitney grabbed from somewhere an ugainly sailor's cap as the opening melody of 'Who Do You Love' began, and wore it throughout the track. Joined on stage by the four dancers, Whitney turned the song into another stomping workout. With 'I'm Your baby Tonight' getting the same treatment, the set was completed with a version of 'Greatest Love Of All'. Whitney basked in her perfect moment as a little boy was shyly coaxed on the stage to share the limelight. It was a stirring and mesmerizing performance, made especially potent by the atmosphere of wartime thanksgiving in the crowd.

Following the transmission of the concert on US TV, renowned critic Robert Hilburn criticized Whitney Houston in the LA Times for using the Gulf War an opportunity to exploit the emotions of the families and servicemen involved, commentting that Ms Houston's motivation for the performance was suspiciously unclear. However, to its credit, the newspaper allowed HBO producer Anthony Eaton to redress the balance two weeks later. "We built a show for the returning servicemen and women," wrote Eaton, "and they came. They came and they pretty much blew the top off Hangar LP-2 in Norfolk." In an attempt to "justify" the homecoming performance, Eaton pointed to the ecstatic reaction of the crowd. "We had sailors dancing with army lieutenants," he claimed with pride, "air-force flies singing along with the coastguard, boy soldiers bashfully handing flowers to Whitney on stage, proud families with their reunited moms and dads and, of course, marines hanging off the rifters. That night it felt like Babe Ruth pointing to left field, Lindbergh landing in Paris, martin Luther King's speech at the Washington Monument." Finishing with an indignant rebuff, Eaton praised Whitney's integrity and sincerity. "Contrary to Hilburn's comments, Whitney is a mysterious figure. in an age of fiercely ambitions artists trying whatever tricks they can catch and hold the public's attention, it can be confusing to see an artist whose stage production is built around her outstanding vocal performance."

Whitney's 1991 world tour was far from a disaster, but the reaction of the paying customers was mixed - not surprising after the relatively poor sales of her third album. In the New York Times, Peter Watrous was scathing in his review of her return bout at Madison Square Garden in July. Nothing that the venue was far from full, he claimed that the concert-goers were "mostly underwhelmed" and suggested that Whitney displayed a distinct lack of commitment to the performance. She "isn't a natural performer", he said, "and she hasn't in any way mastered the large-scale rhetoric of passion needed to convince a huge hall of her sincerity. In a form that demands acrobatics, she's ungainly at best, looking distinctly ill-at-ease, as if she had suddenly awakened to find herself in someone else's body." The same critic sourly described her band as "clattering around like a drunk in a kitchen," and felt that they "managed to drown out any singing she might have wanted to do, which apparently wasn't much anyway". Watrous did concede that those songs that features Whitney's characteristic "deep blues gospel tonalities" were distinctly different, proving "that in the right circumstances she can be as athletic a singer anybody in pop music."

When show moved to the UK a month later - with huge light show, back-projections, video screens, moving catwalks, firework displays and all - some of the critics were less than charitable. In the Guardian, Caroline Sullivan pointedly controversy: "originally planned for Spring, Whitney Houston's tour was postponed when the little contretemps in the Gulf gave her a sore throat. "The gigs at Birmingham's NEC and Wembley Arena in London were almost sold out, but Sullivan compared the show to a cabaret: "In her sparky catwoman suit she could have been Shire Bassey giving it some at the Palladium."

Robert Baresfold Brown was just 14 years old when new Edition hit the UK Number 1 spot with 'Candy Girl'. The five-piece group from Boston, Massachusetts was an Eighties answer to the Jackson 5: lightweight, radio-friendly pop singers with universal appear. Splitting from their manager - pop entrepreneur Maurice Starr - in 1984, they signed a major recording deal with MCA Records. New Edition released four albums featuring Bobby Brown: Candy Girl (1983), New Edition (1984), All For Love (1985) and Under The Blue Moon (1986). The records spawned several hit singles, including the US Number 4 'Cool It Now' and a revival of the Doo-Wop standard 'Earth Angel', which reached Number 3 in the States.

Although remaining with MCA, Bobby Brown went solo in 1986. His first album King Of Stage (1986) made little impact. although the single 'Girlfriend' was a massive R&B chart hit. However, his next album, Don't be Cruel (1989) producered by LA Reid & Babyface, topped the US chart, and on the strength of the US Number 1 single 'My Prerogative' it remained in the album chart for 97 weeks. On the crest of a wave of success, Bobby brown toured the States extensively in 1989, wowing audiences with his relentless dance routines. The US Number 3 hit single 'Every Little Step' was followed closely by 'On Our Own' tied in with one of the summer's major films Ghostbusters 2, which made a UK and US Top 5 hit. 'Every Little Step' was the winner of the year's Grammy Award for best R&B Vocal performance. Another sell-out world tour followed in 1990, which included eight nights at Wembley Arena in London. His most recent album, Bobby, features deeper, more introspective lyrics and broad range of Nineties dance sounds.

Bobby Brown has a reputation. Having fathered three illegitimate children before first meeting Whitney at the Soul Train awards in 1989, it seems fair to say that Bobby had lived life to the full. So has Whitney really tamed the wild man of rap? If she can be believed, the answer is no - he was never the wild man to begin with. 'I just want people to understand something," she said in 1993." My husband has never, never disrespected any woman...he's a respectable human being. He was raised with respect. And I just wish they would stop trying to make him out to be this man who just goes around and arbitrarily says: "I want her, and I'm gonna screw her.'" However "they" - meaning newspapers and magazines, of course - are never likely to stop their speculation, as she knows. Sensational weekly American tabloid magazine the National Enquirer ran a story as recently as December 1993 with the headline "Whitney Houston Blasts Cheating Hubby". In it, "insiders" claimed that Whitney had accused Bobby of adultery with at least one of his old girlfriends and a "beautiful black TV actress". The same magazine has on more that one occasion accused Whitney of having a gay relationship with her close friend Robyn Crawford, whom she met at summer camp at the age of 17.

On July 18, 1992, Whitney Houston was married to Bobby brown at her estate in New jersey. The bride and groom both wore white. The ceremony was followed by a reception for 800, after which the happy couple jetted off for Nice, via London, traveling by Concorde. So far they have collaborated musically only once, in duet, 'Something In Common', released as a single in January 1994. Rolling Stone said simply: "This duet shouldn't work. The fact that they're mismatched - vocally that is - forces them to feel each other out, testing their stylistic limits." Not only does the song challenge their very different talents, it is also a landmark in their romance, as Bobby sings "Girl you know it's you that I adore," to which Whitney replies, sweetly: "And there's no one in this world that I love more."

Back in September 1987, Rolling Stone magazine reported Whitney's interest in a complementary career: "Now that topping charts has become old hat, Whitney wants to establish herself as an actor. 'It's inevitable,' she says. 'I'm sure that music will turn into acting. it could happen at any point.'" Apparently, Whitney had been offered a part in a movie version of the hit Broadway musical Dreamgirls, but this was not destined to be her silver-screen debut.

Kevin Costner emerged from the Eighties as Hollywood's most important and versatile suprrestar. His first job as a director on the epic western Dances with Wolves, a breathtaking film in which Costner plays a soldier alone on the frontier, learning the ways of the Sioux Indians. The spectacular three-hours film was widely praised by critics. Working on a limited budget (he gave up part of his fee to reduce production costs), Costner made Dances with Wolves into an unforgettable cinematic experience, and at the US Academy Awards in 1991 he took away the Oscar for Best Picture and best Director. Only days after the completion of Dances with Wolves, Kevin started shooting Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Costner's next role was in the controversial political thriller JFK directed by Oliver Stone (Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July), in which he reconstructed District Attorney Jim Garrison's investigation into the assassination of President Kennedy. Like so many of Costner's most successful characterizations, Garrison was seen to have a higher purpose than mundane detective work. he had a quest, an all-encompassing purpose in life. For Elliot Ness in The Untouchables, the motivation was Likewise in The Bodyguard, in which Costner played poker-faced Frank Framer, the hero's reason for living is complete dedication to work - he was the paragon on professionalism,ready to die to save the life of his employer. Costner's on-screen power seems to come from a brooding inner drive - on the surface he may be distant, insensitive, officious or angry, but deep inside his character always have a strongly intuitive sense of right and wrong. So, although the good guy does not always win, at least the audience is left knowing who the hero really is. Despite achieving cumulative box-office taking throughout his career of $1.3 billion, much of the boyish, down-to-earth personality shines through the glitter. Costner's 15-year marriage to his wife Cindy has lasted longer than most Hollywood careers. He has three children, Annie, Lily and Joe. He has his own filmmaking company, Tig Productions, which was responsible for both Dances with Wolves and The Bodyguard. Somehow, amid the extraordinary world of Hollywood, Kevin Costner remains just an ordinary guy.

When Kevin Costner's offer came along, it seemed too good to be true. Whitney told Rolling Stone: "I got a call saying that there was a script that Kevin Costner had, called The Bodyguard, that he wanted me to do. I went, 'Yeah, sure'" Was she really ready to perform alongside the biggest Hollywood star of the moment? "I wanted to do some acting, you know." Whitney told US movie magazine Premiere in 1992, "but I didn't think it would be this major." It took a considerable time for Kevin to persuade Whitney to be his leading lady. "I was scared," she told Rolling Stone in 1993. "It took me two years to decide to do it. I kind of waited too long for Kevin. I think it got on hid nerves. He called one day and said, 'Listen, are you going to do this movie with me or not?' I told him about my fears; I said: 'I'm afraid. I don't want to go out there and fall.' He said 'I promise you I will not let you fall. I will help you.' And he did."

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