Author Topic: Whitney Houston Dead  (Read 2622 times)

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Offline Jamesman42

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Whitney Houston Dead
« on: February 11, 2012, 06:17:37 PM »
https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/whitney-houston-superstar-records-films-dies-15565063

Quote
Whitney Houston, who reigned as pop music's queen until her majestic voice and regal image were ravaged by drug use, erratic behavior and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, has died. She was 48.

Publicist Kristen Foster said Saturday that the singer had died, but the cause and the location of her death were unknown.

At her peak, Houston the golden girl of the music industry. From the middle 1980s to the late 1990s, she was one of the world's best-selling artists. She wowed audiences with effortless, powerful, and peerless vocals that were rooted in the black church but made palatable to the masses with a pop sheen.

Her success carried her beyond music to movies, where she starred in hits like "The Bodyguard" and "Waiting to Exhale."

She had the he perfect voice, and the perfect image: a gorgeous singer who had sex appeal but was never overtly sexual, who maintained perfect poise.

She influenced a generation of younger singers, from Christina Aguilera to Mariah Carey, who when she first came out sounded so much like Houston that many thought it was Houston.

But by the end of her career, Houston became a stunning cautionary tale of the toll of drug use. Her album sales plummeted and the hits stopped coming; her once serene image was shattered by a wild demeanor and bizarre public appearances. She confessed to abusing cocaine, marijuana and pills, and her once pristine voice became raspy and hoarse, unable to hit the high notes as she had during her prime.


AP
File- In this Oct. 28, 2006, file photo,... View Full Caption

"The biggest devil is me. I'm either my best friend or my worst enemy," Houston told ABC's Diane Sawyer in an infamous 2002 interview with then-husband Brown by her side.

It was a tragic fall for a superstar who was one of the top-selling artists in pop music history, with more than 55 million records sold in the United States alone.

She seemed to be born into greatness. She was the daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston, the cousin of 1960s pop diva Dionne Warwick and the goddaughter of Aretha Franklin.

Houston first started singing in the church as a child. In her teens, she sang backup for Chaka Khan, Jermaine Jackson and others, in addition to modeling. It was around that time when music mogul Clive Davis first heard Houston perform.

"The time that I first saw her singing in her mother's act in a club ... it was such a stunning impact," Davis told "Good Morning America."

"To hear this young girl breathe such fire into this song. I mean, it really sent the proverbial tingles up my spine," he added.

Before long, the rest of the country would feel it, too. Houston made her album debut in 1985 with "Whitney Houston," which sold millions and spawned hit after hit. "Saving All My Love for You" brought her her first Grammy, for best female pop vocal. "How Will I Know," ''You Give Good Love" and "The Greatest Love of All" also became hit singles.

Another multiplatinum album, "Whitney," came out in 1987 and included hits like "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" and "I Wanna Dance With Somebody."

The New York Times wrote that Houston "possesses one of her generation's most powerful gospel-trained voices, but she eschews many of the churchier mannerisms of her forerunners. She uses ornamental gospel phrasing only sparingly, and instead of projecting an earthy, tearful vulnerability, communicates cool self-assurance and strength, building pop ballads to majestic, sustained peaks of intensity."

Her decision not to follow the more soulful inflections of singers like Franklin drew criticism by some who saw her as playing down her black roots to go pop and reach white audiences. The criticism would become a constant refrain through much of her career. She was even booed during the "Soul Train Awards" in 1989.

"Sometimes it gets down to that, you know?" she told Katie Couric in 1996. "You're not black enough for them. I don't know. You're not R&B enough. You're very pop. The white audience has taken you away from them."

Some saw her 1992 marriage to former New Edition member and soul crooner Bobby Brown as an attempt to refute those critics. It seemed to be an odd union; she was seen as pop's pure princess while he had a bad-boy image, and already had children of his own. (The couple had a daughter, Bobbi Kristina, in 1993.) Over the years, he would be arrested several times, on charges ranging from DUI to failure to pay child support.

But Houston said their true personalities were not as far apart as people may have believed.

"When you love, you love. I mean, do you stop loving somebody because you have different images? You know, Bobby and I basically come from the same place," she told Rolling Stone in 1993. "You see somebody, and you deal with their image, that's their image. It's part of them, it's not the whole picture. I am not always in a sequined gown. I am nobody's angel. I can get down and dirty. I can get raunchy."

It would take several years, however, for the public to see that side of Houston. Her moving 1991 rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" at the Super Bowl, amid the first Gulf War, set a new standard and once again reaffirmed her as America's sweetheart.

In 1992, she became a star in the acting world with "The Bodyguard." Despite mixed reviews, the story of a singer (Houston) guarded by a former Secret Service agent (Kevin Costner) was an international success.

It also gave her perhaps her most memorable hit: a searing, stunning rendition of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You," which sat atop the charts for weeks. It was Grammy's record of the year and best female pop vocal, and the "Bodyguard" soundtrack was named album of the year.

She returned to the big screen in 1995-96 with "Waiting to Exhale" and "The Preacher's Wife." Both spawned soundtrack albums, and another hit studio album, "My Love Is Your Love," in 1998, brought her a Grammy for best female R&B vocal for the cut "It's Not Right But It's Okay."

But during these career and personal highs, Houston was using drugs. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2010, she said by the time "The Preacher's Wife" was released, "(doing drugs) was an everyday thing. ... I would do my work, but after I did my work, for a whole year or two, it was every day. ... I wasn't happy by that point in time. I was losing myself."

In the interview, Houston blamed her rocky marriage to Brown, which included a charge of domestic abuse against Brown in 1993. They divorced in 2007.

Houston would go to rehab twice before she would declare herself drug-free to Winfrey in 2010. But in the interim, there were missed concert dates, a stop at an airport due to drugs, and public meltdowns.

She was so startlingly thin during a 2001 Michael Jackson tribute concert that rumors spread she had died the next day. Her crude behavior and jittery appearance on Brown's reality show, "Being Bobby Brown," was an example of her sad decline. Her Sawyer interview, where she declared "crack is whack," was often parodied. She dropped out of the spotlight for a few years.

Houston staged what seemed to be a successful comeback with the 2009 album "I Look To You." The album debuted on the top of the charts, and would eventually go platinum.

Things soon fell apart. A concert to promote the album on "Good Morning America" went awry as Houston's voice sounded ragged and off-key. She blamed an interview with Winfrey for straining her voice.

A world tour launched overseas, however, only confirmed suspicions that Houston had lost her treasured gift, as she failed to hit notes and left many fans unimpressed; some walked out. Canceled concert dates raised speculation that she may have been abusing drugs, but she denied those claims and said she was in great shape, blaming illness for cancellations.

Offline WDADU

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Re: Whitney Houston Dead
« Reply #1 on: February 11, 2012, 06:20:59 PM »
Yeah, it only went public about ten minutes ago. I was never a fan, but I always respected her voice and talent. Rest In Peace.
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Offline antigoon

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Re: Whitney Houston Dead
« Reply #2 on: February 11, 2012, 06:40:18 PM »
Huh. I'd say this was unexpected but it was just completely off my radar. Makes sense I guess. You win any $$ on this one, Barto?

Offline YtseBitsySpider

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Re: Whitney Houston Dead
« Reply #3 on: February 11, 2012, 07:54:33 PM »
Incredible power.....a huge loss
Take care everyone - Bet you all didn't even notice I was gone.

Happy Lives to you all.

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Re: Whitney Houston Dead
« Reply #4 on: February 11, 2012, 08:01:37 PM »
One of the great voices of my generation, RIP.

Offline Chino

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Re: Whitney Houston Dead
« Reply #5 on: February 11, 2012, 08:53:42 PM »
Wow, I am out of the loop. I thought Whitney Houston died
 years ago.

Offline MykeHavoc

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Re: Whitney Houston Dead
« Reply #6 on: February 11, 2012, 08:54:38 PM »

Offline reneranucci

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Re: Whitney Houston Dead
« Reply #7 on: February 11, 2012, 09:49:16 PM »

Offline rumborak

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Re: Whitney Houston Dead
« Reply #8 on: February 11, 2012, 11:15:05 PM »
Wow, I am out of the loop. I thought Whitney Houston died
 years ago.

I think it was more a function of her having disappeared completely from public life. The last thing I remember her by is "Bodyguard", and you can tell that's a long time ago by the fact that directors were still offering scripts to Kevin Costner.

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Offline AndyDT

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Re: Whitney Houston Dead
« Reply #9 on: February 12, 2012, 01:09:13 AM »
RIP. I saw a picture of her coming out of a party and didn't think any more of it.

Why are people blaming Bobby Brown for her death?

Offline hefdaddy42

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Re: Whitney Houston Dead
« Reply #10 on: February 12, 2012, 04:52:21 AM »
RIP. I saw a picture of her coming out of a party and didn't think any more of it.

Why are people blaming Bobby Brown for her death?
Her killed her career years ago.  The rest just finally caught up with her.
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Offline kirksnosehair

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Re: Whitney Houston Dead
« Reply #11 on: February 12, 2012, 05:42:17 AM »
Jeez, she was my age.   :facepalm:   Such a sad thing.  She was probably the greatest female vocalist of my generation.  I wasn't a fan in the sense that I ever bought any of her albums, but I always admired her talent.  RIP

Offline splent

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Re: Whitney Houston Dead
« Reply #12 on: February 12, 2012, 07:13:49 AM »
She had a voice that was just incredible.
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Re: Whitney Houston Dead
« Reply #13 on: February 12, 2012, 07:22:13 AM »
She had a voice that was just incredible.

This, I actually put some Whitney Houston on this morning and man, one hell of a voice.

Offline Tick

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Re: Whitney Houston Dead
« Reply #14 on: February 12, 2012, 08:23:40 AM »
RIP. I saw a picture of her coming out of a party and didn't think any more of it.

Why are people blaming Bobby Brown for her death?
Her killed her career years ago.  The rest just finally caught up with her.
Its sad she let him take her down permanently. Drug addiction is ugly.

Anyhow, she is one of the great vocalists of all time. A sad but not really unexpected end.
R.I.P. Whitney.
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Offline AndyDT

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Re: Whitney Houston Dead
« Reply #15 on: February 12, 2012, 08:35:11 AM »
She let him so I wonder why people are blaming Bobby Brown all the time?  Did he cheat on her or beat her?

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Re: Whitney Houston Dead
« Reply #16 on: February 12, 2012, 09:32:09 AM »
She let him so I wonder why people are blaming Bobby Brown all the time?  Did he cheat on her or beat her?

It's understood the Bobby Brown got Whitney into doing drugs and sent her and her career down the tubes.
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Offline AndyDT

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Re: Whitney Houston Dead
« Reply #17 on: February 12, 2012, 09:51:31 AM »
Any comment from Kevin Costner?

I liked the Bodyguard but thought it could have been better without the profanity personally.


Offline rogerdil

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Re: Whitney Houston Dead
« Reply #18 on: February 12, 2012, 10:01:57 AM »
Bobby Brown wasn't a good influence, surely, but she made her own choices.  Plus, her career was going to decline (it probably was in the process of declining by the time they married) from the huge megastardom she had in the latter half of the '80s anyway. 

Offline Tick

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Re: Whitney Houston Dead
« Reply #19 on: February 12, 2012, 10:49:17 AM »
Bobby Brown wasn't a good influence, surely, but she made her own choices.

Agreed. Who knows what would have become of her had she never hooked up with him. People who get addicted to drugs and die find a way to do it without any help. She probably would have found drugs with or without Bobby Brown, imo.
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Offline Ben_Jamin

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Re: Whitney Houston Dead
« Reply #20 on: February 12, 2012, 10:59:02 AM »
I believe it was her recent shows, knowing people walked out and you had to cancel shows. That would make me feel down, especially with the media dragging  you deeper. Then, she had this years grammys, which most likely brought up the depression and sadly this time over did it.

Sad to see talent leave without a final curtain call. But that's why you shouldn't give two shots about what people say about you because people are just that ducked up today.
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Offline masterthes

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Re: Whitney Houston Dead
« Reply #21 on: February 12, 2012, 11:13:49 AM »
RIP Whitney. Spinning some of her stuff now

Offline TempusVox

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Re: Whitney Houston Dead
« Reply #22 on: February 12, 2012, 02:57:13 PM »
I recall during an interview somewhere that drug abuse was basically a shared 'hobby' that originally brought them together. I don't have personal drug abuse experience, but all the experts agree that the worst thing an addict can do is enter into a relationship with another addict. Anyway, based on that interview a few years back, I always assumed she was ALREADY into drugs and alcohol when they got together. Everyone assumes Bobby Brown like showed up at her dresssing room one day, whispered "Psst. C'mere and check out this drug sweetheart." and she was on her way. I highly doubt that's how it happened.
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Offline El Barto

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Re: Whitney Houston Dead
« Reply #23 on: February 12, 2012, 04:14:33 PM »
Huh. I'd say this was unexpected but it was just completely off my radar. Makes sense I guess. You win any $$ on this one, Barto?
Nah,  off my radar.  I normally look for junkies and career alcoholics.  I believe she was more of a crackhead than anything else,  and that phase seemed to have ended a while ago.  Quite a few people did pick her, though,  and she earned them a lot of points due to her age.  Knocked me down about 40 spots.
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Re: Whitney Houston Dead
« Reply #24 on: February 13, 2012, 02:37:09 PM »
Great voice back in the 80s. Personally:

1. Ann Wilson
2. Pat Benatar
3. Mariah Carey
4. Whitney Houston

Offline AndyDT

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Re: Whitney Houston Dead
« Reply #25 on: February 18, 2012, 04:40:12 PM »
I really respect how Costner has kept silent until now:

Quote
'You weren't just pretty, you were as beautiful as a woman could be"

Read more: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2103103/Whitney-Houston-Funeral-Kevin-Costner-delivers-heartbreaking-eulogy-friend-Whitney-Houston.html#ixzz1mmPZ24zl

Offline KevShmev

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Re: Whitney Houston Dead
« Reply #26 on: February 19, 2012, 10:17:38 AM »
With all due respect, thank God her funeral is over so maybe the media will stop talking about this on television 24/7.  I get that she was a huge pop icon 20 years ago, but can we please stop acting like this is a big loss to the music world?  She hadn't done anything relevant in nearly two decades, and she destroyed her God-given talent (her voice) with decades of drug abuse, so he hadn't contributed anything significant to the world of music in decades.  Sorry, but I just hate this automatic hero worship every damn time a celebrity dies.

Offline AndyDT

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Re: Whitney Houston Dead
« Reply #27 on: February 19, 2012, 04:36:03 PM »
I don't know why but I've been really cut up about her death. I suppose it's the wasted potential thinking back to the Bodyguard and what that seemed to promise. I remember looking at it on the shelves over the years and wondering why there was nothing more like a sequel or as good as it. Also seeing the coffin made me think that about finality that there is no second chance to make a comeback ever. God, how can you deal with that?