Thirty years ago, Whitney Houston made history as the first major Western recording artist to perform in the newly unified, post-apartheid nation of South Africa, following President Nelson Mandela’s historic election win. Over a three-concert series to celebrate the occasion, Houston would perform in front of more than 200,000 attendees, unifying a nation unlike ever before.
The Johannesburg concert aired in an HBO special in 1994, but the Capetown and Durban shows have never been seen before — until now. Fans were able to watch the Durban show in select theaters in October. To commemorate the anniversary, Houston’s first-ever live album, also named Whitney Houston: The Concert for a New South Africa (Durban), will be released on Nov. 8.
In the concert performance, Houston is at her peak. Her voice is pristine, and her dance moves are smooth. She goes in between song and choreography effortlessly as she trades smiles and winks with her background dancers, who despite not being the main event, also steal the show. Shane Bobb, Carolyn Brown, Merylin Mitchell and Saleema Mubaarak serve as central characters in the show. The dancers, iconically known as MECCA, are pioneers of the hip-hop and pop dance world of the ’90s, having danced for the likes of Mary J. Blige and Michael Jackson as well as Houston.
Before becoming performers for Houston, the foursome began as background dancers for Houston’s then-husband, Bobby Brown. In the Johannesburg version of the South Africa concert, Houston tells the audience that she asked Brown to borrow MECCA for her tour. From there, they continued working with the star — some of them for nearly a decade.
“My initial reaction to that was, it was amazing just that Whitney even looked at us like that [when she asked us to be her dancers]. Brown said in an interview with Blavity. “She saw something in us that she wanted to be a part of her show. I think with us being from New York and New Jersey, it was a little camaraderie right there.”
Transitioning from Bobby, who was more urban and hip-hop-based, to Houston, who was more pop-based, allowed MECCA to offer Houston some grit with their choreography. “When we danced with Whitney, we did things to show her how she could be. They used to say Whitney was rhythmless nation. Whitney was not rhythmless nation. She had the wrong people dancing around her. So when she got around us, she felt like, ‘Oh my God, yo, they fly like yo, they like me.’”
Interestingly, it was MECCA who choreographed all the routines seen in the concert and even beyond. Bobb said they were known for choreographing their own routines, even when they worked with other artists.
“We did all of that. I think we’ve always done all the choreography for all the artists that we work for,” Bobb told Blavity. “It was a collaboration. … One person would put this step here, the other will say, ‘I think this step should go here,’ and we just worked really well together. The steps came together, and it worked well with Whitney. We made the steps easy enough for her to come in, come out, and still hit those high notes.”
Throughout the show, there are routines with MECCA that also feature four mini dancers: sisters Vanity and Mistey Randham, Fajallah Harper and Sylvia Enriquez, all of whom were already dancing with Houston before MECCA entered the fold. Going from working just together to having to create and teach younger performers may seem like a daunting task, but Mubaarak said the transition was a smooth one.
“It was fun. They caught on to everything. It wasn’t like we had to take somebody aside and [teach them separately], everybody gelled perfectly. It was awesome,” Mubaarak told Blavity. “They even showed us some things. It was a collaboration.”
“They were professionals,” Mitchell said. “These kids, they’ve been dancing all of their lives. They looked like the type that had been to dance school, so they picked up routines [quickly].”
Rehearsals for the three concert series took three weeks. It was the first time they’d all traveled to South Africa. Throughout the show, Houston talks about how emotional it is being in the motherland. Despite the anticipation to perform, Mitchell said the weight of what they were doing was felt from the moment Houston hit the stage with her opening number “Love’s in Need of Love Today.”
“I think when she started with ‘Good morn or evening friends,’ I was bawling. When you look into the audience, everybody had their lighters up, and the whole place was just lit up. That is when I got the chills and started crying. I was so glad that we didn’t have a dance number yet because I needed to pull together,” Mitchell told Blavity.
Houston believed in MECCA so much that they were one of the first acts signed to her record label. Johnson said they received singing lessons from the singer coined as “The Voice,” which Mitchell said was the hardest thing she’s ever had to do. Houston even allowed them to showcase their musical abilities in her show, specifically in her The Concert for a New South Africa series, by incorporating rap verses in “My Name Is Not Susan.”
“For her to just give us a mic …Whitney Houston gave us a live mic, and we killed it,” Brown said. Hilariously, Bobb is the only one who remembers her verse.
Critics, and many of Houston’s associates, have deemed the concert one of her greatest works. It’s something Mitchell agrees with. “They caught her at her finest and happiest time in her life. I think her happiest times were with us. There was nothing better than after the show. She’d say, ‘All right, y’all get to the room, let’s put on our pajamas and have cocktails,’” Mitchell remembered fondly. “It was sitting on the floor, just laughing and talking about stuff that we forgot on stage. … She was down to earth. She was a real person.” She added that Houston was “humble,” while Brown and Mubaarak recalled happy memories swimming and going shopping with the singer.
Check out the full interview above to hear MECCA dish on more behind-the-scenes moments working with Houston and learn what they’re up to currently in their respective careers. The Concert for a New South Africa (Durban) was released in select theaters on Oct. 23 and Oct. 27. The digital album, vinyl and other merchandise are available to purchase online.
