2012-02-18
Whitney Houston: Going Home February 18, 2012
Many of the tributes at the ceremony were religiously inspired in the Baptist tradition, and in the face of an early death were perhaps comforting to those who wondered how a troubled passing could happen to someone so gifted.
From Whitney Houston we have learned that music, was love. When her voice started to fail during hard times, she was left without the instrument of her divinity. Everything about her comeback in recent years had to do with getting back on stage, on screen, making albums and expressing her gift to her fans.
Clive Davis, who Houston called her "industry father", remarked that she was sure to "raise the roof in heaven like no one else has done before". No doubt, she has done that on earth, especially her home state New Jersey where flags were flown today at half mast.
Brother in law Ray Watson, Houston's real bodyguard - “Uncle Ray “ reminded the world, “we don’t need to ridicule artists”. It is not just about the price of a ticket that counts to an artist, he said, but to be acknowledged with love. He explained how Whitney flew all around the world on a demanding schedule, and that she did it for the love of music and her fans. Houston learned that it was a tough business after her initial successes, which we heard in interviews with Diane Sawyer and Oprah Winfrey in recent years.
Aunt Dionne Warwick read the poem "I'm Free" by Shannon Lee Moseley in honor of her niece. This for many of her fans, family and friends was also of comfort no matter how many would have wanted Whitney Houston here today.
An excerpt:
“My life's been full, I savored much;
Good friends, good times, a loved one's touch.
Perhaps my time seems all too brief;
Don't lengthen your pain with undue grief.
Lift up your heart and peace to thee,
God wanted me now - He set me free”.
There was time for laughter too at the ceremony. Warwick joked to Houston after she sang the "National Anthem" in such an illuminating way at Super Bowl XXV, "what's next, the phone book?"
According to sister in law and former manager Patricia Houston, Whitney’s love of God was strong: "Anyway you fix me LORD; I'll be satisfied", she had said.
Patricia consoled Whitney's mother Cissy Houston, telling her that she had done her best. Pastor Marvin Winans who ended the tribute with a rousing sermon also comforted "Mama Cissy": "You brought the world to church today".
The church choir where Houston sang solo performed the introductory hymn "Grateful" by Hezekiah Walker and later accompanied gospel singer Kim Burrell. Stevie Wonder rearranged his lyrics from "Ribbon in the Sky" for Whitney, and Alicia Keyes sang a soulful ballad to Houston - "Send Me an Angel".
Kevin Costner, co-star and producer of The Bodyguard (1992), where Whitney made her film debut, spoke about holding back production for a year while Whitney was on tour to make sure she would be in it, and later supporting her through the screen test she was terrified to do for the studio. Costner spoke about the background of the title song of the film, "I Will Always Love You" which became Whitney's biggest hit and number one on the charts nationally and around the world. Costner said the song was chosen over "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted". He told the church that he and Whitney Houston shared experiences of growing up in the Baptist church on the movie set.
The "Home Going" was an important closure for Whitney Houston’s fans, family and friends. The streaming coverage on the Internet offset the media commentary we have been bombarded with this past week - rumors, insinuations, criticism and speculation.
The tribute, which as Pastor Marvin Winans remarked "had more celebrities in the room than the Grammys", did not focus on personalities but on the woman everyone came to honor. The camera was placed at the back of the church with no closeups.
CNN also covered the streamed event of the ceremony devoid of commentary until after the ceremony. As expected, the invasive style customary of mass media began. But for four hours, this sober and warm ceremony was a beautiful homage to Whitney Houston, something the public groomed on celebrity news is unused to experiencing.
"Home Going" put the life of Whitney Houston into a loving perspective and allowed us to say goodbye to the artist whose music will live on. As her golden casket was carried out of the church, “I Will Always Love You” took on new meaning for the young girl who was born with the greatest gift of all: the ability to love and express love through music. This song became her goodbye to us all.
2012-02-17
2012-02-15
Whitney Houston, we will embrace your divinity, always.
This photograph accompanied an article which appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle yesterday on Valentine's Day, February 14:
Whitney Houston: Her burden was also ours.
This article made me better understand a woman's comments today. She said she didn't want to listen to Whitney Houston because she was an addict, and didn't live the themes of her songs and made so much money off of them. She had actually never heard that addiction is an illness. This belief is still widespread and has re-surfaced with Houston's death.
Houston's later financial difficulties despite all her successes was in part due to that she only had "artist" royalties for radio spins and albums. The lion's share went to Sony and the songwriters. She didn't write the majority of her hits, she sang them.* However, she clearly had assets in the millions. The music mogul who brought the young Houston to prominence was Clive Davis. She was in Hollywood to attend his pre-Grammy party at the hotel where she died. Twenty four hours after her death 61,000 albums of her "Greatest Hits" were sold. Davis helped support her at the end of her life, and it was only right, as she made him millions of dollars.
The phenomenal vocalist was groomed for a role that she couldn't live up to in the long run, or rather chose not to. It was an image that she rejected that many still wanted her to have. We did not want the new one, the one with Bobby Brown, the reality TV shows, the erratic behavior, the using.
Addiction is an illness
Whitney Houston's early year achievements and performances from the 80's through the 90's commanded national media attention. Drug and alcohol abuse put her health in a downward spiral in the new millennium. This event gathered equally copious vigilance .
"The ride was not worth the fall".
"The rapacious creditor" thrives in the music and entertainment industry with fatal conviction: Judy Garland, 46, Michael Jackson, 51, Marilyn Monroe, 36, Jimi Hendrix, 28, Janis Joplin, 27, Jim Morrison, 28, Amy Winehouse, 28, Whitney Houston, 48. It is a widespread illness that respects no one.
Many surrounding Whitney Houston "enabled" her - kept her ill by not properly understanding what it means to be clean and sober (no substances, including alcohol). These actions included prescribing addictive substances, engaging her too quickly in the demanding work of an entertainer when she needed time to recover, inviting her to parties where alcohol was served and offering her drinks. Recovery from addiction is not about "almost having it all", it's about having it all, with conscientious help.
It is our burden as we watched helplessly, expecting her to get miraculously better on her own, and looking down on her, because she didn't have the "will power" to recover on her own. Reflecting an attitude that even the ancient Greeks understood: that substance abuse is an illness that changes a person, causing them to lose their divinity.
No one can or should recover, alone.
Whitney Houston, we will embrace your divinity, always.
* Songs written by Whitney Houston
2012-02-12
Whitney Houston: Queen of the Night, "The Bodyguard"
Special to the San Francisco - Examiner.com
February 11, 2012
by Moira Sullivan
The Bodyguard (1992) is a timeless memento of vocalist Whitney Houston. It is one of the few films she made in her extraordinary music career. Others include Forest Whitaker's Waiting to Exhale (1995) and Penny Marshall's The Preacher's Wife (1996), both where Houston was nominated for Image awards for best actress. Her new film Sparkle will be released this year about drug and alcohol abuse in the lives of three sisters who form a successful singing group. In the beginning stages of production for 2013, was a sequel to Waiting to Exhale where Houston would return to play Savannah Jackson.
At it's premiere in 1992, The Bodyguard opened to negative reviews. The criticism was aimed at the direction (Mike Jackson), script (Lawrence Kasdan), and film style --but not Houston, and certainly not her mesmerizing performance in the film. She adapted Linda Ronstadt's cover of "I Will Always Love You" written by Dolly Parton and together with Clive Davis produced the music for the film. In her phrasing, Houston shows her virtuosity and brilliance as an artist, in a song emulated by young vocalists for years.
The feature is built around pop diva, Rachel Marron (Whitney Houston), who is being stalked by a sadistic killer. The film features elaborate costume changes and stagecraft. Frank Farmer (Kevin Costner) is hired by Marron's manager to protect her but soon finds it hard to resist her charm, even though he has been trained to not respond to people with social etiquette. Marron is a vocalist who does need protection and that is what Farmer does.
The claim that the film was considered a breakthrough for interracial dating is inflated. The relationship between the two is limited since Farmer breaks it off before it even begins, and shows little personal attention to Rachel afterwards. She is, on the other hand, eternally grateful to him for saving her life, which is how the theme song "I Will Always Love You" fits with the narrative. The title song has more do with Rachel Marron's unrequited feelings of love for the man who cannot share her life.
On their one date, Farmer takes Marron to the movies to see The Seven Samurai (1954) by Akira Kurosawa, and afterwards to his home where she picks up his samurai sword. Farmer then takes the sword from her and throws her sheer pink shawl up in the air, which the sword slices like butter. This facile detail represents that Marron is no match for Farmer's raw strength, something which is proven the following morning when he calls the date a mistake. This conquest of a great star, who must be totally subjugated in order for him to protect her, endears him to her forever.
Although The Bodyguard is about the buildup and breakdown of Rachel Marron. a powerful woman who winds up falling for her bodyguard, it is more appropriately a showcase of Whitney Houston and her talents. It features the song that has become most associated with her - "I Will Always Love You", who took it to a level that the song writer never did. In her phrasing, Houston shows her virtuosity and brilliance as an artist, in a song emulated by young vocalists for years.
According to Houston's high school friend and number one assistant for many years, Robyn Crawford, Whitney had already thought about doing a cover of Dolly Parton's song before Kevin Costner approached her. "She did the movie, she did the music [co-writer of "Queen of the Night"], she did everything", said Crawford, "— and when she was done, she was done. She nailed it. The music supervisor brought her Linda Ronstadt's version of "I Will Always Love You" way before Kevin Costner brought Dolly Parton's version — and she always knew what she could do with it. So when Kevin came in and played it for her and told her he wanted her to sing it for the movie, she said, "Fine." She wasn't much for showing off what she had, except when she had to".
Houston was at the pinnacle of her career when The Bodyguard was made, and even if it isn't the best directed or best written film, it was still a popular centerpiece for the artist.
The Bodyguard shows us the strength and determination that is necessary for a beautiful soul with incredible talent to have a successful career at the expense of a fulfilling personal life. Rachel Marron's temperamental personality as a pop diva is driven by the fact that everyone wants a piece of her. We acquire realistic insights about how life can be for a major vocalist in the public eye, like Houston.
The sad news of Whitney Houston's death February 11, 2012 comes twenty years after The Bodyguard was released, when this brilliant vocalist was only 28.
February 11, 2012
by Moira Sullivan
 |
| Queen of the Night |
The Bodyguard (1992) is a timeless memento of vocalist Whitney Houston. It is one of the few films she made in her extraordinary music career. Others include Forest Whitaker's Waiting to Exhale (1995) and Penny Marshall's The Preacher's Wife (1996), both where Houston was nominated for Image awards for best actress. Her new film Sparkle will be released this year about drug and alcohol abuse in the lives of three sisters who form a successful singing group. In the beginning stages of production for 2013, was a sequel to Waiting to Exhale where Houston would return to play Savannah Jackson.
At it's premiere in 1992, The Bodyguard opened to negative reviews. The criticism was aimed at the direction (Mike Jackson), script (Lawrence Kasdan), and film style --but not Houston, and certainly not her mesmerizing performance in the film. She adapted Linda Ronstadt's cover of "I Will Always Love You" written by Dolly Parton and together with Clive Davis produced the music for the film. In her phrasing, Houston shows her virtuosity and brilliance as an artist, in a song emulated by young vocalists for years.
The feature is built around pop diva, Rachel Marron (Whitney Houston), who is being stalked by a sadistic killer. The film features elaborate costume changes and stagecraft. Frank Farmer (Kevin Costner) is hired by Marron's manager to protect her but soon finds it hard to resist her charm, even though he has been trained to not respond to people with social etiquette. Marron is a vocalist who does need protection and that is what Farmer does.
The claim that the film was considered a breakthrough for interracial dating is inflated. The relationship between the two is limited since Farmer breaks it off before it even begins, and shows little personal attention to Rachel afterwards. She is, on the other hand, eternally grateful to him for saving her life, which is how the theme song "I Will Always Love You" fits with the narrative. The title song has more do with Rachel Marron's unrequited feelings of love for the man who cannot share her life.
On their one date, Farmer takes Marron to the movies to see The Seven Samurai (1954) by Akira Kurosawa, and afterwards to his home where she picks up his samurai sword. Farmer then takes the sword from her and throws her sheer pink shawl up in the air, which the sword slices like butter. This facile detail represents that Marron is no match for Farmer's raw strength, something which is proven the following morning when he calls the date a mistake. This conquest of a great star, who must be totally subjugated in order for him to protect her, endears him to her forever.
Although The Bodyguard is about the buildup and breakdown of Rachel Marron. a powerful woman who winds up falling for her bodyguard, it is more appropriately a showcase of Whitney Houston and her talents. It features the song that has become most associated with her - "I Will Always Love You", who took it to a level that the song writer never did. In her phrasing, Houston shows her virtuosity and brilliance as an artist, in a song emulated by young vocalists for years.
 |
| Whitney, Bobby Brown, Cissy Houston,and Robyn Crawford |
Houston was at the pinnacle of her career when The Bodyguard was made, and even if it isn't the best directed or best written film, it was still a popular centerpiece for the artist.
The Bodyguard shows us the strength and determination that is necessary for a beautiful soul with incredible talent to have a successful career at the expense of a fulfilling personal life. Rachel Marron's temperamental personality as a pop diva is driven by the fact that everyone wants a piece of her. We acquire realistic insights about how life can be for a major vocalist in the public eye, like Houston.
The sad news of Whitney Houston's death February 11, 2012 comes twenty years after The Bodyguard was released, when this brilliant vocalist was only 28.
2012-02-11
"It's All About Music and the Love": Whitney Houston
This is the best rendition of this signature song of Whitney Houston, clearly showing her artistry and her creation at work in the moment before a live audience in 1999. Bless Whitney Houston for her gift to us.
This clip shows the amazing collaboration of Whitney Houston and up and coming Mary J Blige..this is a really sad day feeling all this woman gave us and how much a part of our lives her music is. Bless You Whitney Houston, my personal favorite vocalist of all time....
This clip shows the amazing collaboration of Whitney Houston and up and coming Mary J Blige..this is a really sad day feeling all this woman gave us and how much a part of our lives her music is. Bless You Whitney Houston, my personal favorite vocalist of all time....
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