1989 · Behind the Songs
A late-80s duet that paired soul royalty with rock royalty — and split the critics.
Released March 28, 1989 on Arista, “Through the Storm” was the second single from Through the Storm, Aretha Franklin’s thirty-second studio album. It was written by Albert Hammond and Diane Warren, and produced by Narada Michael Walden — the man who had steered Franklin’s mid-1980s comeback, including Who’s Zoomin’ Who? and Aretha.
The pairing was deliberate. Two years earlier, Franklin’s duet with George Michael, “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me),” had gone to No. 1, and the album doubled down on the strategy: it also features a duet with Whitney Houston, “It Isn’t, It Wasn’t, It Ain’t Never Gonna Be.” Elton John was the natural partner — two piano-playing stars, two outsized voices.
It reached No. 16 on the Hot 100, No. 3 on Adult Contemporary, No. 17 on R&B, and the top 10 in Norway. The British press was less kind — Record Mirror called it “a lumpy dirge,” and NME and Melody Maker were similarly unmoved — though Number One magazine made it their single of the week.
Heard today, the record is a time capsule of the late-1980s duet era: big drums, bigger choruses, and two legends meeting in the storm. Whatever the critics said, the pairing itself was the statement.