Whitney Houston

[mrdee 1]

Singer Whitney Houston died today in the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel at the age of 48.

 

Whitney was found drowned in her bath by her bodyguard, and a substantial amount of prescribed medicines.

No drugs or alcohol were found, but, according to eye witnesses, the star would have had a wild party in the hotel bar the night before.

 

It is said that alcohol flowed richly at the party and Whitney and her friends were very noisy.

 

A short biography:

 

Whitney Elisabeth Houston was born in Newark, New Jersey on August 9, 1963, goddaughter to Aretha Franklin and cousin of Dionne Warwick.

 

Her mother was background and gospel singer Cissy Houston (among other things to be heard on hits by Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin).

As a teenager, Whitney toured nightclubs together with her mother.

 

In 1977, at the age of 14, Whitney sang the lead on the number "Life's A Party" by the Michael Zagers Band. Zagers arranged a recording contract for her, but mother Houston thought that Whitney should finish her school first.

 

The following years, Whitney sang backing vocals on recordings by Jermaine Jackson and Chaka Khan among others. In the beginning of the 80s, her carreer as a model got off the ground too.

 

In 1983, Gerry Griffith (who worked for the label Arista Records) saw Houston perform with her mother in a New York nightclub. Griffith brought Houston in touch with Clive Davis, the owner of the label, and after a showcase, he too was smitten by her talent, and very soon a recording contract followed. During The Merv Griffin Show, Houston made her American television debut.

 

It was not until the late 80s (1986-1987) her albums began to become successes in both the USA and Europe.

Her album "Whitney" sold 25 million copies worldwide.

 

Her career reached very impressive heights, and even made the Guinness Book of Records, with:

2 Emmy Awards

6 Grammy Awards

30 Billboard Music Awards

22 American Music Awards

In total, Whitney got 415 awards and sild 170 million records (more than for example Frank Sinatra or U2).

 

One thing that contributed to the deterioration of her career was her marriage to Bobby Brown, a torture that went on for far too long (1989 - 2007).

On March 4, 1993, Whitney gave birth to her daughter Bobbie Kristina Brown.

 

In January 2000, Houston and Brown were caught with marihuana in their luggage on an airport in Hawaï. During the 30th Anniversary Special for Michael Jackson in September 2001, a far too thin Houston appeared in front of the audience and the pictures filled the papers the days after. Houstons spokesperson commented: "Whitney suffers from stress due to personal problems within her family and because of that stress, she is not eating".

 

End 2002 thet album "Just Whitney" came out, but due to her personal attitude and poor promotion it sold "only" 4 million copies. The singles "Whatchulookinat", "Try It On My Own" and "One Of Those Days" became flops. End 2003 the Christmas album "One Wish: The Holiday Album", followed, but that did not get very high, neither.

 

After long rumours and speculations in the press, the divorce between Whitney and brown became a fact in 2006.

However, her career never came back on the rails after that: the sales of her releases kept going down and during her comeback in 2009, during the Nothing But Love World Tour, the audience booed her, and in England, people left the venue before the end of the performance, in the Sportpaleis in Antwerp, Whitney was unable to get a single high note (despite her 5 octave range) and left the chorus of some songs entirely to her backing group.

 

Some final thoughts:

 

This is a story like we have seen them before, a story of someone very talented, who, through connecting with the wrong people, and, who knows, because of not being able to pay the price of success, and not being able to cope with the stress, in other words, being a victim of her own success, became completely wasted.

 

This is the second example in a short time, an example of how not to do it, as young people look up to artists like Whitney Houston and the recently deceased Amy Winehouse.

 

Hopefully they should learn the right lessons, and along with admiring all the glamour and the glitter, also learn what not to do in order to become and remain successful.

 

Nevertheless, I want to wish Whitneys loved ones all the strength in the world.

 

RIP Whitney.

 

Sources: Het Laatste Nieuws, IMDB, The Telegraph.