The song, “Higher Love”, was originally recorded in 1986 by Stevie Winwood

“Higher Love” is a song written and recorded by British singer Stevie Winwood (b.1948) for his 1986 album “Back In The High Life”, along with writer Will Jennings (later to compose “My Heart Will Go On”) and the legendary Chaka Khan on backing vocals. It was released as the lead single from the album and topped the US and Canadian singles chart, his first number one ‘across the water’, as well as topping the US Mainstream Rock chart for four weeks. The single performed well throughout the rest of the world, with the exception of his home country, the United Kingdom, where it stalled at No.13. The album would go on to sell over three million copies in America, one of two million-plus sellers for Winwood in the 1980’s there.

In 1990, singer Whitney Houston (1964-2012) recorded a version of the song for her third studio album “I’m Your Baby Tonight”, although this was only to see the light of day on the Japanese edition of the album as well as being performed by Houston during the supporting tour there. In 2019, Norwegian producer Kygo (real name Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll) remixed the song and released it as a single. It became a huge hit across the globe, reaching No.2 on the US Dance chart and No.63 on the singles chart as well as attaining a top ten placing across much of Europe including the UK, where the song became Houston’s first top ten hit since “Million Dollar Bill” ten years earlier and also charting higher than Winwood’s original.

But which is best? STEVIE WINWOOD’s original or WHITNEY and KYGO’s new version?

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