UB Soul Friday: Celebrating ‘Waiting to Exhale’ SDTK 30th Anniversary

The album debuted at #1 on Billboard, and has sold 11 million copies worldwide.

“UB Soul Friday,” spotlighting artists, albums, singles and videos that left a mark in R&B and Soul music!

In 1995, Whitney Houston starred alongside Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine and Lela Rochon in the film “Waiting To Exhale“, about four Black women struggling with relationships.

Whitney plays the lead character “Savannah“, a TV producer who moves to Phoenix to find a new man, but ends up in love with a married man.

It marked Whitney‘s first time portraying a character who wasn’t a singer.

The movie and its soundtrack struck a chord with Black women and is considered a cultural classic!

After opening at #1 and grossing $67 million in the U.S. at the box office and $81 million worldwide, “Waiting To Exhale” proved that a movie targeting Black audiences can cross over to a white audience and make money, while paving the way for other all Black movies.

Whitney co-produced with Babyface, the critically acclaimed cultural phenomenon “Waiting To Exhale” original soundtrack album.

Forest Whitaker approached Babyface to do the film’s soundtrack and Whitney personally selected the artists who appeared on the soundtrack.

Though Babyface originally wanted Whitney to record the entire album, she declined.

Instead, she wanted it to be an album of women with vocal distinction to go along with the film’s strong women message.

Initially, Babyface and Whitney Houston, wanted to try to find producers each singer was used to working with. “But as I was seeing different scenes of the movie,” he stated, “I just started writing songs until I had written everything. Then I had to produce it all.”

Babyface watched the scenes over and over until the lyrics came to him, “Every song was written to the actual film,” Face stated at the time. “When I looked at the clips, I had to write what I kind of heard at that point.”

As a result, the album featured a range of contemporary R&B female recording artists including Toni Braxton, Aretha Franklin, TLC, Mary J. Blige, Chaka Khan, Patti LaBelle, SWV, Brandy, Sonja Marie and DeDe O’Neal.

Whitney herself contributed three songs including the smash “Exhale (Shoop Shoop).”

After debuting at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, the song spent a record 11 weeks at the #2 spot.

Whitney also contributed: the Top 10 hit “Count On Me“, a duet with friend CeCe Winans and the Top 30 hit, “Why Does It Hurt So Bad.”

“Waiting to Exhale,” won Babyface a Grammy for Producer of the Year and Whitney Houston one for “Exhale (Shoop Shoop).”

The soundtrack went on to win other awards including; Soul Train & Lady of Soul Awards, MTV Movie Award, and American Music Awards.

Whitney Houston was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding Actress In A Motion Picture“, her co-star Angela Bassett won.

The album debuted at #1, has since been certified 7 times platinum in America and has sold 11 million copies worldwide.

Seven singles were released from the album; “Exhale (Shoop Shoop),” “Sittin’ Up in My Room,” “Not Gon’ Cry,” “Count On Me,” “Let It Flow,” “It Hurts Like Hell,” and “Why Does It Hurt So Bad.”

With the “Waiting To Exhale” soundtrack, Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds joined the lofty ranks of Quincy Jones, Henry Mancini and Burt Bacharach – as one of the prune creative architects in popular culture.

As the producer and chief songwriter on the soundtrack, Babyface crafted an elegant collection of songs that promised to become timeless classics…and 30 years later, they are!

The release of the soundtrack marked the realization of one of his long-tune goals.

He stated to an industry trade at the time, that working on it gave him a new level of satisfaction. “Being able to construct the music for a film from start to finish was a challenge that I’ve always wanted to experience. However, until this movie came along I hadn’t been offered any projects that I felt were right. When Forrest approached me with the offer to score the film I knew that I had to do it. The film deals with love and a lot of the same subjects that I focus on with my music, which made working on it a delight.”

To prepare for his score, Kenny made numerous visits to the Arizona film set where he gathered information and acquired a greater feel for the direction in which he wanted to take the music.

Deciding that the tone of the soundtrack would be best served by featuring only female artists, Kenny then went about the task of assembling the talent lineup featured on the album.

“With so many talented vocalists out there I had a difficult tune making a final selection as to which artists to use,” he recalled. “I knew immediately that I wanted to work with Whitney. Besides the fact that she’s in the film, I knew that she would bring just the right vibe that I was looking for the project to convey. The other artists as well brought to the project a level of sensitivity and emotional depth that I was looking for. It’s been amazing to make this thing happen and, although it required a great deal of hard work, I would do it again in a minute.”

The label devised an impressive marketing plan to insure that the soundtrack received the widest possible exposure.

Working closely with the film’s distributor, Twentieth Century Fox, Arista planned to aggressively cross-promote the soundtrack from the film’s December 22nd, 1995 release date.

Industry pundits believed that “Waiting To Exhale” benefitted from the star power of legendary late great Whitney Houston and the fact that it was a film that features Blacks in an upscale light and was not as the gun-toting, liquor swilling, drugged and otherwise dysfunctional minions – that had inhabited many Black films achieving box office success during the 90s.

First time feature film director Forest Whitaker, already was a respected actor, and with Oscar-nominee Angela Bassett along with Gregory Hines, Wesley Snipes, Wendell Pierce, Michael Beach and others all contributed to the quality of the film, and in varying degrees brought fan followings to the theatres.

But for Whitney Houston, who made her big screen debut with the love story/thriller “The Bodyguard,” and turned the Arista soundtrack to that film into a multi-platinum mint, Exhale further solidified her status as a double threat with the ability to successfully “open” a film and make people open their wallets for her music.

The movie’s soundtrack, was released November 14th, 1995 – five weeks prior to the film’s December 22nd premiere and was available for purchase in both CD and cassette formats at every theater in the General Cinema chain.

In addition, Whitney‘s music video from the soundtrack, “Exhale (Shoop Shoop),” was being shown as a trailer prior to the beginning of various films on 450 General Cinema screens in major U.S. media markets.

While the album was also being played in the theaters before the lights were dimmed.

What The Women of Exhale SDTK Said About Working with Face:

“Exhale (Shoop Shoop)”
“Why Does It Hurt So Bad”
“Count On Me”

“Whenever Kenny and I get together, it clicks, it works – it’s magic! All the songs on the soundtrack speak of the friendship of the four ladies in the film. An equally talented group of ladies are on the soundtrack and I’m just glad they agreed to do it.” — Whitney Houston

“Not Gon’ Cry”

“I called him ‘Mr. Face’ because of the tremendous amount of respect I have for him and his talent.” – Mary J. Blige

“Sittin’ Up in My Room”

“It was my dream come true to work with Babyface as well as being involved in the same project as Whitney Houston.” – Brandy

“Let It Flow”

“It was a pleasure, as always, working with Babyface. I am honored to be a part of his all female ensemble.” – Toni Braxton

“Kissing You”

“I found the Babyface song to be so real, and applicable in my own life’s situations that I was able to record the song in one take.” — Faith Evans

“It Hurts Like Hell”

“I quite enjoyed working on the Exhale soundtrack, and I’m sure Whitney and Angela will give us some great viewing. Had a ball! Working with Babyface and the song that he brought me for the soundtrack was every bit as sweet as the welcome to Detroit sweets I brought him.” – Aretha Franklin

“My Funny Valentine”

“‘My Funny Valentine’ is one of my all-time favorites — as well as the book Waiting To Exhale. I must say how honored I was to work with ‘Face’ and how equally surprised I was at his overall self assured, knowledgeable expertise. He produces with a savvy I’ve only witnessed in much older, or should I say ‘seasoned’ producers. He has a way of calmly bringing out the best in a singer. It was a joy and I hope I have the pleasure again.” – Chaka Khan

“My Love, Sweet Love”

“Babyface is so nice, to be as successful as he is. I enjoyed recording at his home, which is so classy. I really enjoyed the iittle recording studio which is right behind the kitchen. That’s perfect for me. If I put a studio in my house, that’s where I would put it. I loved his rapport with me. He’s very laid back and not overanxious. It was a pleasure working with him. He heard what he wanted and he kept it. He didn’t make me sing, sing and sing. I had a really fun time there. It wasn’t like going to a session. It was like singing in my kitchen.” – Patti Labelle

“This Is How It Works”

“We feel privileged to work with such wonderful artists. We hope our fans like our song. It was great working with ‘Face’ as always. We know that the soundtrack will be the bomb and we are really excited about the project. We are proud of him not only is he the producer of the album – He’s ours. We love you, Kenny.” – TLC – T-Boz, Left Eye, Chilli

“Wey U”

“It was an honor and a privilege to work with a producer of his caliber and one so experienced in all aspects of production. The album is multifaceted as are his talents and the composition of the soundtrack and artists included on it. It will be a further privilege to work with him again and again and again…” – Chante’ Moore

“Love Will Be Waiting at Home”

“It was a pleasure working with Babyface on the soundtrack of ‘Waiting To Exhale.’ We didn’t know what to expect, but Babyface was cool and we would love to work with him again. It was really an honor to work with Babyface and be on the same soundtrack with such great female artists.” — For Real

“All Night Long”

“I enjoyed working with him. He made me feel at home. I always thought he was a nice person, he proved me to be right. I’ve learned a lot from him.” – Coko from SWV

“I loved it. He’s the ultimate professional and he’s cool which made it easy for us to work with him (plus he’s cute too). He’s everything I thought he would be. I like meaningful lyrics and good music. I would love to work with him on future projects.” – LeLee from SWV

“It was great! I’ve always enjoyed his music, but what I didn’t expect to see him do is eat soul food. I thought he would eat some type of exotic dish, hut he ate collard greens with us. I thought that was funny. He’s so sweet!” – Taj from SWV

“How Could You Call Her Baby”

“I feel that it is a wonderful blessing to be part of such a project. Working with Babyface was ‘work.’ He cracked me up with laughter. It was an experience never to be forgotten. Thank you, Jesus!” – Shanna

“And I Gave My Love to You”

“It was an outstanding experience as an upcoming artist to work with musical geniuses Babyface and Patrice Rushen.” – Sonja Marie

“Count On Me”

“I was honored to work with one of the best producers in the world, Babyface, and one of the greatest female vocalists of all time, Whitney Houston. Their talents are huge, but small compared to their hearts.” – CeCe Winans

Take A Trip Down Memory Lane with “Waiting to Exhale!”

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