Eighties duo Boy Meets Girl continue to be stunned by the success they achieved writing hit singles for Whitney Houston.
Best known for their 1988 smash Waiting For a Star to Fall, Shannon Rubicam and George Merrill initially appeared in the spotlight as writers for other artists, penning tracks such as the diva’s classics How Will I Know and I Wanna Dance With Somebody.
Speaking in RETROPOP’s February 2023 edition, the pair recall hearing via their publishing company that a young Janet Jackson was looking for material for her third album. Keen to get involved, they penned a track and sent it over for consideration.
“We just quickly wrote How Will I Know and sent that to Janet Jackson’s people,” says Shannon, “but she was working on her ‘Control’ album, which is a very high concept, definitive album.”
They passed on the track, but it soon found its way into the hands of Whitney’s team, who selected it for inclusion on her debut record. It went on to top the US charts and remains one of the iconic songs of the eighties, with Shannon and George penning another cut – I Wanna Dance With Somebody – for her follow-up record.
Of the enduring legacy of the tracks, Shannon smiles: “There’s no way ever to have predicted any of this, because you don’t really picture a song that you write going on to have a four decade ride – or longer. So it’s been as much of a surprise to us as it has to anyone else, probably.”
“In the case of Whitney Houston, she was at the helm of that and, of course, so unusually gifted and talented,” adds George.
In 2021, Boy Meets Girl returned with their ‘Five’ EP – featuring their own Martini Mix of How Will I Know – and now they’re back on a creative streak, with George insisting there’s more to come. “The ideas are coming and we’re hungry to get back in the studio,” he shares, with Shannon adding: “We hope to start writing a new batch of songs in January, which will probably be another EP!”
There’s also plenty left in the vault that the duo is hoping to revisit, as George teases: “I just set up a new studio over the summer that’s going to allow us to go back and pull out the archives and do good high quality transfers of them to share with everybody and we’re really excited because we found a lovely backlog of stuff that nobody’s ever heard so we can’t wait to share it.”
‘Five’ is out now on Boy Meets Girl Music.
Read the full interview in the February 2023 edition of RETROPOP, out now. Order yours or subscribe via our Online Store, use our Store Finder to locate your nearest stockist, or get Digital Copies delivered direct to your devices.
