Gerry Griffith, Music Executive Who Discovered Whitney Houston, Dies at 87

Gerry Griffith, the music executive who discovered Whitney Houston while serving as vice president of A&R at Arista Records, died on November 5th after a five-year battle with dementia, his family has confirmed. He was 87.

Griffith, born in Chicago and an Army veteran, first saw Houston perform in New York, and he subsequently brought her to the attention of Clive Davis, who signed her to a record deal in 1983 before she’d rise to global superstardom with generational hits including “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me),” “I Will Always Love You” and “Greatest Love of All.”

While Houston’s discovery would be Griffith’s career-defining achievement, in his time at Arista, he also worked with a collection of superstars including Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick and Carlos Santana, the latter of whom he worked with on his later career resurgence with Supernatural and the album’s major hit “Smooth.”

Houston’s estate posted a brief message earlier this week across Houston’s social media pages to honor the executive.

“We mourn the passing of Gerry Griffith, the Arista Records music executive who first heard Whitney and brought her to the attention of Clive Davis,” Houston’s estate wrote. “May he rest in peace.”

Along with recordings, Griffith had worked on the soundtracks for films including Pretty Woman and The Bodyguard, the latter of which launched “I Will Always Love You.” After his time at Arista, Griffith lead A&R at Manhattan Records, where most notably, he worked with Richard Marx.

“Gerry never got the accolades he so deserved for discovering Whitney Houston but we knew the Real Deal,” Brenda Andrews, the former senior vice president of Rondor Music International, said in a statement. “He gave me two hits out of the box with her,: “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” and “How Will I Know.” He knew HIT SONGS! All of us will miss him. May he rest peacefully with all of our brothers and sisters that have made their place in Heaven.”

As music manager and publisher Deirdre O’Hara wrote: “Early in my music publishing career, I was very fortunate to connect with Gerry Griffith. One of my proudest moments was urging Gerry to see Whitney Houston and he subsequently brought Clive Davis to see her, and the rest is history.”