{"id":2090490,"date":"2026-08-13T00:50:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T21:50:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2090490"},"modified":"2026-08-13T00:50:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T21:50:37","slug":"vanessa-williams-says-two-music-legends-passed-on-save-the-best-for-last-before-it-came-her-way-i-was-third-one-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2090490","title":{"rendered":"Vanessa Williams Says Two Music Legends Passed on \u2018Save the Best for Last\u2019 Before It Came Her Way: \u2018I Was Third One Up\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t\tTrending on Billboard\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tThe soulful pop ballad that remains the signature hit for musician\/actress Vanessa Williams could have ended up sounding completely different.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe singer recently shared that she was actually the third<\/em> artist that was offered \u201cSave the Best for Last,\u201d the romantic ballad that would go on to become her highest-charting Billboard Hot 100 hit.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tVanessa Williams Shares One of Elton John\u2019s \u2018Epic\u2019 Songs From \u2018The Devil Wears Prada\u2019\u00a0Musical\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tWilliams revealed this fact during her appearance on Jesse Tyler Ferguson\u2019s Dinner\u2019s on Me<\/em> podcast, explaining that the song had first been sent to fellow musician Bette Midler, who ultimately declined, before it was offered to powerhouse Barbra Streisand.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey gave it to Bette Midler, who passed,\u201d Williams said. \u201cThey gave it to Streisand, and she passed. And I was, like, third one up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWilliams eventually selected the song for her second studio album, The Comfort Zone<\/em>, released in 1991. \u201cSave the Best for Last\u201d was the album\u2019s third single, quickly becoming a staple song in Williams\u2019 music career and earning two Grammy nominations, including for record of the year. The song spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100, giving Williams her first \u2014 and, to date, only \u2014 chart-topper. It also became one of the biggest hits of 1992, a year that included such smashes like Sir Mix-a-Lot\u2018s \u201cBaby Got Back\u201d and Whitney Houston\u2018s \u201cI Will Always Love You,\u201d finishing at No. 4 on the year-end Hot 100.<\/p>\n

\n\tWilliams also told Ferguson about another major pop hit she wished had come her way: Amy Grant\u2019s \u201cBaby Baby,\u201d which topped the Hot 100 for two weeks in 1991. Williams said she would have loved to record that song, but it was never brought to her because of an apparent oversight.<\/p>\n

\n\tOf course, Williams\u2019 music career goes beyond \u201cSave the Best for Last.\u201d She scored additional Hot 100 hits with songs including \u201cThe Comfort Zone,\u201d \u201cColors of the Wind\u201d from Disney\u2019s Pocahontas<\/em>, \u201cThe Sweetest Days\u201d and \u201cLove Is,\u201d while simultaneously building a major acting career with roles in Desperate Housewives<\/em>, Ugly Betty<\/em> and films including Shaft<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\tWatch the full episode with Williams and Ferguson below.<\/p>\n

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[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/pop\/vanessa-williams-save-the-best-for-last-barbra-bette-passed-1236315438\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/P115WDE5-e1786575148247.jpg?w=1024″] Trending on Billboard The soulful pop ballad that remains the signature hit for musician\/actress Vanessa Williams could have ended up sounding completely different. The singer recently shared that she was actually the third artist that was offered \u201cSave the Best for Last,\u201d the romantic ballad that would go on to become her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,226],"class_list":["post-2090490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-billboard-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2090490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2090490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2090490\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2090490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2090490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2090490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}