3 of the Best (And Most Unforgettable) Pop Duets of the 1990s

Two is better than one! While there is no shortage of great pop songs from solo singers in the 1990s, something special happened when two stars of the day came together for a duet.

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That was certainly true in the cases of Rod Stewart and Tina Turner, Celine Dion and Barbra Streisand, and Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, all of whom recorded unforgettable duets during the decade.

Read on to learn about three of the best duets of the 1990s.

“It Takes Two” by Rod Stewart and Tina Turner (1991)

A cover of Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston’s 1966 track, Rod Stewart and Tina Turner’s version of the song is something special. Stewart was so fond of the recording that he made it the lead single for his album, Vagabond Heart. The track was later used in a TV ad for Pepsi. It also appeared on both artists’ greatest hits albums in the years that followed its initial release.

“Tell Him” by Celine Dion and Barbra Streisand (1997)

Celine Dion and Barbra Streisand teamed up to record “Tell Him,” a duet that wound up working so well that it served as the lead single of both artists’ 1997 albums.

In her 2001 memoir My Story, My Dream, Dion recounted how she came to work with Streisand, whom she counted as one of her idols. It all began when Dion performed Streisand’s song at the Oscars, after which the latter singer expressed her praise and suggested they team up.

Dion’s late husband, René Angélil, reached out to David Foster to pen a track for the woman. That song eventually became “Tell Him.” Later, the duet was nominated for a GRAMMY.

“When You Believe” by Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston (1998)

Stephen Schwartz wrote “When You Believe” for the animated movie The Prince of Egypt. Later he and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds tapped Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston to record the soundtrack version of the song.

“I enjoyed working with her very much,” Houston told Ebony in 1998. “Mariah and I got along very great. We had never talked and never sang together before. We just had a chance for camaraderie, singer-to-singer, artist-to-artist, that kind of thing. We just laughed and talked and laughed and talked and sang in between that … It’s good to know that two ladies of soul can still be friends.”

The track, which won the Best Original Song Oscar, appeared on Houston’s My Love Is Your Love and Carey’s #1’s.

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