By Jarrett Terrill
“Little white boys in Indiana don’t sing Whitney Houston songs… They play kickball.” That is something I likely heard in the 3rd grade when one of my all time favorite celebrities landed on my radar with the insanely bubbly (and GAY) video for “How Will I Know.” How would I know, indeed.
Over the years, Houston would fade in and out of the present tense until just this last Saturday night where she burst full throttle into the omni-present tense and onto the tip of everyone’s tongue.
It was heartbreaking to say the very least – soul crushing, in fact.
I won’t antagonize her during this long awaited and well-deserved restful sleep with my opinions about her personal decisions and recreational activities. Those are concepts for the living to struggle with. What I will address is the enduring spirit, which has been released, phoenix-like, from the heavy bondage of public opinion and crass tabloid journalism.
Don’t expect Whitney Houston to get the “Michael Jackson treatment” much longer in today’s media. She’s no mystery to most of us. She’s every woman.
Like most Americans, Whitney had financial problems. Related to those, she had family problems. Beyond her struggles with independence from her parents and her feisty rebellious marriage to Bobby Brown was an uphill battle with addiction that would end in a kind of truce with Whitney waving a white flag.
None of these descriptors should have been shameful to the songstress who was admittedly a “Queen of the Night.” Neither should they shame the countless other Americans who struggle with the exact same problems even in broad daylight.
Sadly, Whitney DID feel deep shame. I could see it on her face. I wanted to burst into Whitney’s living room and save her from the wrath of Diane Sawyer on that fateful December evening in 2002 when she was being interrogated, not interviewed.
Since that point, the very concept of a “celebrity interview” has changed. Certainly, Houston herself never rebounded after Sawyer’s awkwardly aggressive profile. Even in 2010, Caroline Sullivan wrote in the UK’s Guardian newspaper that the media, “[most] of whom were not even there,” were blindly trashing Houston’s UK tour as “the worst thing they’d ever seen.”
Celebrities are now easy prey for sensationalist reporters and counter-intuitively, our politicians are given the benefit of the doubt. There was a time, during the George H.W. Bush Administration, where this would not have happened to Houston. Whitney Houston brought our nation together with a performance of our National Anthem (during the Persian Gulf war). It likely still brings tears to the eyes of many who remember the performance itself, as well as to those who associate it with September 11th 2001–since it was re-released afterward and Houston donated 100% of her royalties to first responders, victims and their families.
Fast forward to a few wars later and Houston was once again used to rally everyone under a common cause: distraction. Houston tried her best to roll with the punches and aside from drugs, she took solace in new clothes, new hair and new friendships. She and George Michael made a quirky yet classy video together, set in a dark nightclub. It wasn’t exactly the biggest hit but it was a fun little tongue-in-cheek track that marked the beginning of the new Whitney. The Whitney who let it all hang out.
Human Whitney.
The Whitney Houston who lay under water in the bathtub of her suite at the final hour before Grammy Night was the Whitney who would probably have been further humiliated and taunted by the press, her family, her husband and her own inability to be what everyone expected of her. Jennifer Hudson, who is now also far more familiar with pain and humanity than she would like to be, graciously gave this particular Whitney a befitting farewell at the Grammy’s with her own performance of “I will Always Love You.”
The other Whitney – the Whitney who laughs, fights, sings and knows how to have a good time is still with us. This is the Whitney that gave Bobby Brown some semblance of sex appeal (he’s still not right but it’s ok).
She’s not perfect but she’s damn close –with the Billboard top selling single of all time, praise and accolades from other superstars across the spectrum (Dolly Parton, Smokey Robinson, Simon Cowell), at least a whole page of her own in every karaoke book from here to Tokyo, and near constant rotation with DJ’s throughout gay clubland.
I love the Whitney she left in our care. She’s messy and aggressive but she’s also inspiring and legendary. She may have been an “unfit mother” in some people’s estimation – but she’s our child forever now. Let her laughter remind us of how we used to be.
Sony (Almost) Cashes in on Singer’s Death Party Doesn’t Stop for Whitney’s Colleagues
In what is being viewed as a major PR gaff and money grab, Sony Music has officially apologized for raising the price on two Whitney Houston albums during the first hour after the legendary singer’s death. Calling the price hike “unintentional,” the label issued a statement saying, “Whitney Houston product was mistakenly mispriced on the U.K. iTunes store on Sunday. When discovered, the mistake was immediately corrected. We apologize for any offense caused.”
By coincidence—or maybe not– the two albums struck by the pricing mishap, Ultimate Collection and Greatest Hits, were Houston’s compilation discs, the two most likely to be purchased by nostalgic or mourning fans. Ultimate Collection jumped 60 percent above its regular list price (from $7.85 to $12.50), while the Greatest Hits album saw a 25 percent increase in its cost (from $12.50 to $15.67).
The record company was already under fire for “insensitivity” over the fact that its Chief Creative Officer, Clive Davis, went ahead with his planned pre-Grammy party at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, site of Huston’s demise, mere hours after her death. Davis is expected to attend the singer’s funeral, to take place in Newark, New Jersey on Saturday at the New Hope Baptist Church, where the icon first performed as a child.
While Houston’s ex-husband, singer Bobby Brown, has been reportedly banned from attending the funeral, va roster of other celebrities are said to be among the guest list of 1,500 who will attend. Among them: gospel singer Marvin Winans (who will give the eulogy), Houston’s godmother Aretha Franklin (who will perform), Houston’s cousin, singer Dionne Warwick, singer Chaka Khan, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson.