Belinda Davids pays tribute to Houston control in Whitney show at York Barbican

Exposed mainly to R&B and gospel as a child, and singing professionally from her early teens, Belinda found Houston’s songs becoming a fixture in her concerts. “I think I’ve sung at least one Whitney track in almost every live show I’ve ever performed,” she says.

The ultimate realisation of her affinity with Whitney came in Hong Kong, when she so astounded an audience with her rendition of I Will Always Love You, they demanded she sing a cappella to prove she was not lip-syncing.

“I’ve essentially prepared my whole life for this tribute show and I feel privileged to be able to honour Whitney in such a way,” she says.

“The first time I heard her sing, it was the purity of her voice that attracted me; that’s what I wanted to sound like. It’s still a challenge, and I’ve been doing this show for seven years!

“I didn’t have any professional training: I did sing in the school choir and at church, so if I got any training that was it, but Whitney was always my go-to woman.”

Belinda had "an instinct" for singing in the Whitney mode, one recognised immediatey by others. "You'd hear people saying, 'oh my god, you sound just like Whitney!'. So you think, 'OK, I must really sound like her'," she says.

Carrying the torch for the late Whitney is an honour for Belinda. "That makes it much more special; that makes it much more important. That's why it becomes so challenging, because you have to be perfect; you have to be the best you can be, because the audience want to see a bit of her, hear a bit of her, and you have to bring it every time. You have to be as good as she was, or don't do it at all," she says.

What made Whitney Houston stand out? "Her control, her flow, her spectacular range,"  says tribute act Belinda Davids

"We always look at ways to make the show even better. If you're going to do a show for seven years, ten years, 15 years, you have to keep it fresh because you're constantly doing it. You have to look at ways of improving it, like when we did nine dates with the London Philharmonic Orchestra last year."

Originally from Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Belinda now lives in Cape Town. "Of course Whitney performed in South Africa, but sadly I never saw her perform," she says. So, what drew her to Whitney above all other voices? "Her control, her flow, her spectacular range," she says. "If you really want to go into the details of how she sang, her breathing was impeccable, which meant she could belt out and do falsetto in the same line. To have that control was incredible and it all came naturally to her.

"I've been listening to Whitney for 30 years, so it becomes natural to me to sing that way because I wanted so much to sing like her."

Does Belinda have a favourite Whitney song? "There is no favourite," she says decisively. "For me, it's a matter of which songs do I really enjoy Whitney singing, but the answer is I find I go back to her music and think, 'I've got to hear that one' and 'I've got to hear that one', so it's difficult, though I loved The Greatest Love Of All, but the most challenging to do is I Will Always Love You after I've belted out 20 other songs."

Belinda reflects on what message we could learn to Whitney's stellar talent and later desperate fall. "To work really hard, to practise so hard, because it's your craft. It's my craft and being able to sing even remotely like her, that is so hard to do, so you have to treasure what you've been given," she says.

"But Whitney died young because she did not take care of herself, which is the unfortunate truth. You can dance around it but that's the truth. No-one held a gun to her head. I get a glimpse of her life from doing this show, and no-one will say to me 'you will do three shows today'. It wouldn't be healthy to do that."

Tickets for tonight’s 7.30pm show are on sale on 0844 871 3024 or at yorkbarbican.co.uk.