Higher Ground (Barbra Streisand album)

Higher Ground
Studio album by
ReleasedNovember 11, 1997 (1997-11-11)
RecordedAugust–September 1997
GenrePop
Length56:31
LabelColumbia
Producer
Barbra Streisand chronology
Back to Broadway
(1993)
Higher Ground
(1997)
A Love Like Ours
(1999)
Singles from Higher Ground
  1. "Tell Him"
    Released: October 7, 1997
  2. "If I Could"
    Released: 1997
  3. "Higher Ground"
    Released: 1998
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Entertainment WeeklyC[2]
The Guardian[3]
Los Angeles Times[4]
People Magazine(mixed)[5]

Higher Ground is the twenty-seventh studio album by American singer Barbra Streisand, her first in four years (following 1993’s Back to Broadway). The album was inspired by and dedicated to Virginia Clinton Kelley. It was released in North America on November 11, 1997, and a day earlier in Europe.

The lead single, "Tell Him"—a duet with Celine Dion—was released on October 7, 1997, and become an international hit. Follow-up singles were "If I Could" and the title track. "If I Could" had been previously recorded by jazz singer Nancy Wilson as well as a medley of the inspirational standards "I Believe" and "You'll Never Walk Alone", later both issued as standalone recordings by the singer. The album also contains a cover of Bernard Ighner's "Everything Must Change", a song which Streisand had previously recorded in sessions for her 1974 album ButterFly but had remained unreleased.[6]

Higher Ground became Streisand's eighth number-one album in the US and has sold over five million copies worldwide.[7]

  1. ^ AllMusic review
  2. ^ Cannon, Bob (November 28, 1997). "This Week". Entertainment Weekly. Issue 407.
  3. ^ Sullivan, Caroline (November 14, 1997). "Music: This week's pop CD releases". The Guardian.
  4. ^ Hilburn, Robert (November 9, 1997). "Barbra Streisand "Higher Ground" Columbia". Los Angeles Times.
  5. ^ "Picks and Pans Review: Higher Ground". People Magazine. December 8, 1997.
  6. ^ Howe, Matt. "Barbra Streisand Archives - Higher Ground". Barbra Streisand Archives. Archived from the original on April 7, 2016. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
  7. ^ Hubbard, Kim; Gold, Todd. (Mar 9, 1998). "Perfect Harmony". People Weekly; New York Vol. 49, Ed. 9: 78-84.