How Whitney Houston nailed the most iconic version of the "Star Spangled Banner" ever in 2 takes

One of Whitney Houston's collaborators discussed how the six-time Grammy-winner nailed the national anthem in two takes in the recording studio.

• Whitney Houston's version of the national anthem remains iconic over 30 years after she performed it.
• One of Houston's producers shared how the singer nailed the song in the recording studio.
• "She knew innately what to do, and that's the magic," producer Rickey Minor said at a pre-Grammys event.

More than 30 years after Whitney Houston's performance of the national anthem at Super Bowl XXV, and it's safe to say her rendition remains iconic. 

Rickey Minor, who helped produced the song, recalled how Houston's performance came together at a pre-Grammys event in Los Angeles honoring Houston last week. 

The singer had traveled to Los Angeles in 1991 after doing a screentest for "The Bodyguard" and recorded the track per the NFL's request. Despite the NFL's protests, however, Houston, Minor, and bassist-arranger John L. Clayton had slowed down the song, ostensibly in an effort to showcase Houston's vocals more and infuse the song with a more dramatic flair. 

To prepare for the recording, Minor asked Houston if she needed anything.

"She said, 'No, just put it [the song] up — it'll be fine,' So I played it one time, and she listened," Minor said at the event. "She said, 'Okay, got it. She goes, and she does it, and there's nothing really to do. So I just had to do it a second time, just because she was already warmed up. And I used just a little of that second track because 'rockets red glare' was a little more powerful than the first time. That was the only change."

Stadium and TV audiences around the world would actually hear the pre-recorded track when Houston performed at the Super Bowl. As Minor previously revealed to ESPN in 2016, Houston sang into a dead mic while the pre-recorded track played — a move that was done out of sheer necessity. 

"There's no way to rehearse the sound of the crowd coming at you," Minor said then. "You don't know where the first note begins."

Regardless, Houston's performance of the national anthem would be regarded as one of the best, if not the best, in the years and decades to come, with Helena Andrew-Dyer of The Washington Post writing Houston's version "voided all other versions." 

In reflecting on her historic performance, Minor credited Houston, who won six Grammys during her career, for her unique and natural ability to sing and interpret music. 

"She had that instinct," Minor said at last week's pre-Grammys event. "She knew exactly what to do. You didn't have to tell her anything. She knew innately what to do, and that's the magic. Each time that she sang, it's different every single time, because she's singing from a deeper place — not from her head but from her heart. It was a bigger place." 

Although Houston would be criticized for singing along to a prerecorded track of the national anthem at the Super Bowl, the singer silenced her critics when she sang the national anthem live later that year during a televised concert to raise funds for soldiers fighting in the Persian Gulf War.