Is Naomi Ackie Singing in I Wanna Dance With Somebody? Here's What to Know (2024)

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Is Naomi Ackie Singing in I Wanna Dance With Somebody? Here's What to Know? ›

While Ackie told PEOPLE she did "a lot of rehearsal" for the big musical numbers, ultimately, most of the singing you hear in the film is Houston herself. "My singing voice was only for moments that needed to be filled, like an emotional beat," she explained to PEOPLE.

She told Yahoo UK, “I sing the first song that you hear in the film, when she's a big younger and needed to be refined. But most of it is Whitney. I just sing for the dramatic beats, so I sing in one of the office scenes, when she's choosing a track. But I don't do it too much.

Ackie lip-synched to Houston's songs, though she does her own singing in a few early scenes.

Houston had a voice like no other. So, it's fitting then that 22 songs in the 144-minute film are sung by Whitney herself, with the filmmakers obtaining the original recordings of her hits and remixing them so they sound just as breathtaking in a movie theatre as they do on a car stereo. Houston died at 48 in 2012.

In a new behind-the-scenes featurette shared exclusively with PEOPLE, Ackie sheds light on the painstaking ways she mastered the movements and mannerisms of the late singer, as well as her voice, for the film Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody.

Houston released her fifth studio album, entitled Just Whitney in December 2002. The singer co-wrote the lead single, "Whatchulookinat", which was co-produced by her husband, Bobby Brown. The song is a response to how Houston considered herself to be a victim of unwanted media attention.

While Ackie told PEOPLE she did "a lot of rehearsal" for the big musical numbers, ultimately, most of the singing you hear in the film is Houston herself. "My singing voice was only for moments that needed to be filled, like an emotional beat," she explained to PEOPLE.

What started off as romantic turned into a decades-long friendship between the singer and her closest companion. The time: Summer of 1980. The place: A community center in East Orange, New Jersey.

Bobby Brown

Whitney Houston / Husband (m. 1992–2007)

John was a former Army serviceman who later became an administrator under the Newark mayor. Houston was given the nickname "Nippy" by her father. Houston's parents were both African-American.

Was Kevin Costner in I Wanna Dance With Somebody? ›

I Wanna Dance With Somebody opted not to cast someone to play Costner, and instead the film only shows us videos of the actual Costner from the actual Bodyguard movie. So Costner's idea to have Houston sing the song is mostly represented through the verbal exchange between her and Davis.

Ackie's six-month-long vocal training allowed her to perfect Houston's style so that the actress could fully embody the role, singing along to playback of Houston's biggest hits. All told, Ackie told Yahoo UK that she doesn't sing too much in the film and that “97.9% of it is Whitney.”

James United Methodist Church in Alpharetta, where the invitation-only service included grandmother Cissy Houston; Bobby Brown and his wife, Alicia; and celebrities including media mogul Tyler Perry and singer Monica.

GROSS: That's Marni Nixon on the soundtrack of the film "My Fair Lady." Audrey Hepburn played the role of Eliza Doolittle in the film, but Nixon did the singing for the role. In fact, she dubbed vocals for some 50 films.

So, that's her next step. She proves to us that she can sing, like really belt, and no one will question the brilliance of this casting. We're sure the movie will be great, unless she ends up sounding like Russel Crowe in Les Mis, otherwise it will be terrible.

She began her singing career with the Bridge Church Youth Band and performed regularly in school musical and drama productions.