Four songs that should have won Record of the Year at the Grammys

1987 Grammy Record Of The Year Nominations 

• “Addicted To Love” by Robert Palmer
• “Greatest Love Of All” by Whitney Houston
• "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel
• “That's What Friends Are For” by Dionne Warwick & Friends
• “Higher Love” by Steve Winwood

Have another guess at the winner from these nominations just a few years later. It's a tough one with several big hits in there. Perhaps surprisingly again given that list, the winner was “Higher Love” by Steve Winwood. There was also a Grammy for the record as best-engineered recording and for Winwood as Pop Male Vocalist. To be fair it's a good song and was a big part of Winwood’s renaissance in his career during the 1980’s.

Surely though the stunning “Greatest Love Of All” by Whitney Houston deserved the Grammy more. It was the centerpiece of her smash hit self-titled debut album. Even that early in her music career Houston was at a peak with her voice, and she took the song through several high points as it builds in intensity. 

Perhaps it was affected by the back story of it being a cover of George Benson's 1977 hit. Or its slow start as a Houston single release, initially as a B-side before becoming its own A-side. None of which should matter but may have swayed voters. Houston did gather eight Grammy awards in her short lifetime, “Greatest Love Of All” as Record Of The Year should have made it nine.