The Whitney Houston Thread

We have a saying here..not sure if it's also the same in America (or other countries): "Dying is still the best carreermove". It's meant to be cynical.

It's so sad but true, and we all know that future releases are already in the works. I must admit though that I would love to see a proper hits collection. Her label released a few (one in the states and maybe a couple overseas) but none of them cover her hits and career very well at all. Whitney's "The Greatest Hits" is a very piss poor collection and she deserved better than that. But yeah, it is tacky but as has already been stated - in death, everyone wants a piece of you.
 
12 Things You Didn’t Know About ‘I Will Always Love You’

<cite class="byline vcard" style="font-style: normal; color: rgb(119, 119, 119); font-size: 11px; display: block; font-family: arial; vertical-align: middle; ">

By Chris Willman | Stop The Presses! &#8211; <abbr title="2012-02-14T19:27:44Z" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; ">4 hours ago</abbr></cite>

You probably already knew that Whitney Houston's recording of "I Will Love You" is one of the biggest singles of the last 25 years... and the song that defined her legacy, as proven by its use as the lone ballad of homage to Houston at Sunday night's Grammys. Maybe you even know that a not-so-behind-the-scenes songsmith named Dolly Parton wrote and first recorded it, almost 20 years before Whitney spent a then-record 14 weeks at the top of the singles chart in 1992-93 with what turned out to be her signature song.

But did you know that Kevin Costner is the one who found the song for Houston? That a cash dispute scotched an Elvis Presley recording of the tune? Or that Saddam Hussein was also a huge fan? Here are a dozen lesser-known facts about the power ballad that America and the world will always love:

Dolly Parton wrote it about a professional breakup, not a personal one.

When Parton wrote it in 1973, it was as a farewell to her mentor, producer, and longtime duet partner, Porter Wagoner, with whom she never had a romantic relationship. Wagoner was reluctant to have her go solo, to say the least. "It's saying, 'Just because I'm going don't mean I won't love you. I appreciate you and I hope you do great and I appreciate everything you've done, but I'm out of here,'" Parton told CMT. "And I took it in the next morning. I said, 'Sit down, Porter. I've written this song, and I want you to hear it.'... And he was crying. He said, 'That's the prettiest song I ever heard. And you can go, providing I get to produce that record.' And he did." She even sang it on one of her last appearances on Wagoner's TV show in 1974.

Kevin Costner effectively usurped the role of music supervisor on "The Bodyguard," forcing it into the movie when another intended song didn't work out.

The big finale of "The Bodyguard" was supposed to be a cover of "What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted." But when Costner found out that was being used in "Fried Green Tomatoes," he had to go back to the musical drawing board. That's when he came up with the Parton tune, which had previously only been associated with country-rock. It was also Costner's idea to begin Houston's version of the song a cappella. "I thought using no music at the beginning was a stupid idea," producer David Foster admitted to ABC News. But Costner insisted, and Foster said he was never so glad to be proven wrong.

Clive Davis didn't think the song would work for Whitney... at first.

According to Costner, the reaction was less than unanimously enthusiastic when he told execs at Arista Records what the movie's big closing ballad would be. "When I said to Whitney, 'You're gonna sing "I Will Always Love You,"' the ground shook," Costner said. "Clive Davis and those guys were going, 'What?!'

<embed allowscriptaccess="never" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" id="uvp_fop" width="600" height="355" src="http://d.yimg.com/m/up/fop/embedflv/swf/fop.swf" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="id=v2153012&eID=1301797&lang=us&ympsc=4195329&enableFullScreen=1&shareEnable=1">

It was Linda Ronstadt's cover version that was really responsible for Whitney Houston's cover
.
Ronstadt was the first major artist to cover the song, in 1975, bringing it to rock audiences a year after Parton had a hit with it. Some music fans still consider Ronstadt's version the loveliest. Costner certainly had a fondness for it: It was Linda's recording he knew and was a fan of, and her version that he took to Houston and Foster.

<iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/D090T2MSxKY" width="420"></iframe>


There was yet another version of the song in "The Bodyguard," that was even also released as a single... by a punk-rock singer
!
The song is first heard in the film in the background when Costner and Houston enter a bar. That version was by John Doe, singer for the L.A. punk band X and a frequent film actor in his own right. Funnily enough, though Doe also frequently works in the country idiom, his version was neither punk nor country but straight-ahead pop. The John Doe recording wasn't included on the blockbuster soundtrack album, but it was briefly released commercially... as a cassette single!

<iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/VH4dFoVwqNw" width="420"></iframe>


Houston recorded two different versions of the song &#8212; one for the movie, one for the soundtrack album
.
Not everyone realizes that separate renditions of the tune were sung by Houston on celluloid and wax. Some Houston fans continue to insist the actual movie version, which was never released on CD, is superior.

"The Bodyguard" wasn't the first time the song had been a smash movie theme.
Six years after she'd first had a country hit with the song in '74, Parton re-recorded it to add some seriousness to the otherwise levity-filled score of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, the 1982 movie musical she starred in with Burt Reynolds.

Not only did Dolly Parton hit No. 1 with it, she did it twice, with separate recordings in separate decades.
The Best Little Whorehouse version also hit No. 1 on the country chart, like her earlier rendition &#8212; the first and still only time that's ever happened. (Parton recorded it in a third decade, too, in the '90s, as a duet with Vince Gill... but that third Parton version only reached the top 10.)

<iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Dy_7-ACO6Ac" width="420"></iframe>

Elvis Presley was going to record it, but the deal was nixed over Colonel Parker's insistence on taking half of Parton's publishing.
Parton thought it was a dream come true when Presley decided to cut the song, and she was even slated to visit him in the studio when he did. Then she was informed that Elvis wouldn't be recording it unless he got half the publishing royalties &#8212; a mercenary custom instigated by manager Colonel Tom Parker that, sadly, kept Presley from getting to record a lot of great material later in his career. Parton refused the deal, which was heartbreaking at the time but ultimately served her well. "'I think stories like that are the reason why younger female artists say I've influenced them," she said.

"I Will Always Love You" was Saddam Hussein's re-election theme song!
In 2002, the Iraqi leader held a bogus "referendum" on his leadership, blitzing election broadcasts on the airwaves of the nation's three government-controlled TV stations with "I Will Always Love You." Sadly, neither Houston nor Parton nor Ronstadt got the honor of helping Saddam keep his stranglehold on power. He used an Arabic version by Syrian star Mayyada Bselees. Like a lot of Americans before him, the soon-to-be-forcibly deposed leader didn't seem to get that "I Will Always Love You" is a breakup song.

Parton serenaded the intended recipient of the song, Porter Wagoner, with an in-person rendition, decades later, not long before he died.
At a salute to Wagoner celebrating his 50th anniversary on the Grand Ole Opry in April 2007, Parton came out to sing the song to the honoree. "It was the most emotional night that I've ever spent at the Opry in my whole life," Wagoner told me at the time. "And Dolly of course sang that song 'I Will Always Love You,' and they had me sitting on a stool, and she just came out and wiped some of the tears away... She meant it for me, and wrote it for me, she said. That's a wonderful thing that she stood there and sang it for the whole world to see. And the evening was unbelievable." He died in October of that year.

<iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wBLJIcaVC1w" width="420"></iframe>
Houston is about to have a top 10 hit with it again, 20 years later.

Perhaps needless to say, Houston's single has been No. 1 on iTunes almost from the moment word got out about her death. It's a shoo-in to re-enter the Billboard Hot 100 in the top 10, with a shot at recapturing its chart-topping status.


http://music.yahoo.com/blogs/stop-the-presses/12-things-didn-t-know-always-love-192744564.html
 
Last edited:
That article is wrong about Houston's song returning to the charts in the top 10 - Billboard doesn't allow it. I don't know the exact reasoning but if that were the case then half off MJ's catalog of hits would of been in the top 10 after his passing. ^
 
That article is wrong about Houston's song returning to the charts in the top 10 - Billboard doesn't allow it. I don't know the exact reasoning but if that were the case then half off MJ's catalog of hits would of been in the top 10 after his passing. ^

AFAIK, Billboard changed its rules, and NOW, I think any album or song can enter the official charts, thats why Bollbiard doesnt have its pop catalog chart, and yes, before no MJs album was allowed in official charts, only in pop catalog chart.
Now, any album can enter the charts based only on record sales!
There was one week after MJ passing Michael had all top 10 with his albums in pop catalog chart! Records sales would have enter half of them top 5 in official album chart
 
^ I think they changed their policy at the end of 2009, maybe after seeing what happened with mj. Billboard still has their catalogue chart, it's just that it's incorporated into the 200 album chart as well.
 
AFAIK, Billboard changed its rules, and NOW, I think any album or song can enter the official charts, thats why Bollbiard doesnt have its pop catalog chart, and yes, before no MJs album was allowed in official charts, only in pop catalog chart.
Now, any album can enter the charts based only on record sales!
There was one week after MJ passing Michael had all top 10 with his albums in pop catalog chart! Records sales would have enter half of them top 5 in official album chart

They changed their rules for the Billboard 200 album chart, not their Hot 100 singles chart. Unfortunately, Whitney cannot and will not be re-charting any songs in the top 10 no matter how much she sells.
 
They changed their rules for the Billboard 200 album chart, not their Hot 100 singles chart. Unfortunately, Whitney cannot and will not be re-charting any songs in the top 10 no matter how much she sells.

I thought the same as you, but apparently the change is for the hot 100 too - whitney is at no 7.

Edit- there's a thread on the subject.
 
Aretha did a little tribute to Whitney at one of her concerts:



So did LeAnn Rimes:




New Edition's 'tribute'




Chaka khan talks about Whitney and her death:




Deepak Chopra talks on Whitney:

 
I thought the same as you, but apparently the change is for the hot 100 too - whitney is at no 7.

Edit- there's a thread on the subject.

Yes, I caught it. They did indeed change the rules for the singles chart. I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's great to see Whitney in the top 10 but there's something about it that bothers me. I feel like it could possibly open up the doors for a flooding of old catalogs and not really represent what is fresh, now, and current as the Billboard Hot 100 is supposed to be a reflection of. I have mixed feelings. Regardless, I'm happy for Whitney.
 
I think it's fine, the charts should represent what is popular and being bought, doesn't mean only new music can be popular, I do wish it happened before MJ passed otherwise he would have owned the top 100 for months, but it is what it is.
 
Do any of you guys know where I can find any Live concert audio of Whitney?

You can find a few concerts on Youtube, which you could use sites like clip.dj to download the audio from:

Moment of Truth World Tour:



The Bodyguard Tour:



Nothing But Love Tour audio (amateur):



The Pacific Rim Tour audio:



My Love Is Your Love Tour audio:



Atlantic City 2000 audio:

 
I like it, but I prefer Whitney's version, its one of my favourites of hers recently R Kelly wrote it, I think he's a great writer :)
 
Whitney Houston: First Woman With Three Albums In Billboard 200's Top 10


This week, the late Whitney Houston becomes the first woman to place three albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart at the same time.

"Whitney: the Greatest Hits" holds at No. 2 with 174,000 (down less than 1% according to Nielsen SoundScan), "The Bodyguard" soundtrack jumps 38-6 (47,000; up 176%) and "Whitney Houston" motors 37-9 (30,000; up 72%).

She's also found at No. 16 ("I Look to You," 19,000; up 109%), No. 30 ("My Love Is Your Love," 15,000; up 312%), No. 39 ("I'm Your Baby Tonight," 13,000; up 262%), No. 105 ("The Preacher's Wife," 5,000; down 30%), No. 126 ("Just Whitney," 4,000; up 57%), No. 133 ("Whitney," 4,000; down 43%). One more title is at No. 73. It's a three-CD bundle of "Baby," "My Love" and "Just Whitney." It sold 7,000 (up 423%).

HOUSTON'S ALBUM SALES CLIMB

In total, for the week ending Feb. 26, Houston's albums sold 320,000 (up up 29% compared to the previous week's haul of 247,000). She also sold 373,000 tracks this week -- down 75% compared to the week previous (1.5 million). Since her death, she has sold 668,000 albums and 2.76 million tracks.

As physical stock of Houston's albums are finally reaching retail outlets, we see some of those older catalog sets make moves up the list. Since her death on Feb. 11, the bulk of her album sales have come from digital downloads, as most retailers didn't have physical copies of her albums on-hand.

This past week, downloads made up 8.4% of her total album sales. That's a steep drop from her digital share the week previous, when downloads were 54% of her overall album sum.

A HISTORIC TOP 10

Houston's placement of three titles in the Billboard 200's top 10 amazingly marks the first time in almost 44 years that an act has accomplished the feat.

The last time an act scored three simultaneous top 10 sets was on July 6, 1968, when Simon & Garfunkel were at Nos. 1, 2 and 10. That week, "Bookends" was tops, followed by "The Graduate" soundtrack in the runner-up slot and "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme" at No. 10.

Billboard launched its first all-encompassing pop albums chart on Aug. 17, 1963 -- which combined both mono and stereo albums. Previously, we had separate tallies for mono and stereo recordings.

Since then, aside from Houston and Simon & Garfunkel, the only other acts to net three albums in the top 10 at the same time were the Beatles; Peter, Paul & Mary and Herb Albert & the Tijuana Brass. (All did it on various weeks between 1964 and 1966).

Herb Albert & the Tijuana Brass holds the record for the most concurrent top 10 albums on the Billboard 200, with four (April 4, 1966).

DON'T FORGET THE KING OF POP & THE FAB FOUR

Presently, the Billboard 200 ranks the week's biggest-selling albums in the U.S. -- regardless of their age. Thus, this is why Houston's self-titled 1985 debut is among more recently-released in the top 10 this week.

However, as of the chart dated Dec. 5, 2009, the Billboard 200 altered its rules to let older albums -- also known as "catalog" titles -- to chart alongside newer releases.

Thus, it must be noted that had the Billboard 200 allowed catalog albums to chart previous to then, both Michael Jackson and the Beatles would have claimed three simultaneous top 10 titles that year.


On the now-defunct Top Comprehensive Albums chart (which ranked both new and old albums), Michael Jackson posthumously notched three or more of the top 10 for seven different weeks after his death on June 25. For two of those frames (July 25 and Aug. 1) he owned an incredible six of the top 10 best-selling albums of the week.


Later that year, on Sept. 26, 2009, after the Beatles' reissued and remastered its studio albums on CD, the fab four earned five of the top 10.


http://www.billboard.com/news/whitney-houston-first-woman-with-three-albums-1006321352.story#/news/whitney-houston-first-woman-with-three-albums-1006321352.story

Overall, Houston is now up to nine titles in the Billboard top 200:

  • 002. Whitney: The Greatest Hits (174,000)
  • 006. The Bodyguard (47,000)
  • 009. Whitney Houston (30,000)
  • 016. I Look to You (19,000)
  • 030. My Love is Your Love (15,000)
  • 039. I'm Your Baby Tonight (13,000)
  • 073. I'm Your Baby Tonight/My Love is Your Love/Just Whitney (7,000)
  • 105. The Preacher's Wife (5,000)
  • 126. Just Whitney (4,000)
  • 133. Whitney (4,000)


 
[h=1]Whitney to Sony: &#8220;I Will Always Owe You&#8221;[/h]
There have been numerous media reports since her untimely death that Whitney Houston passed away &#8220;dead&#8221; broke. In January a Whitney insider told Radar Online &#8220;Whitney&#8217;s fortune is gone. Music industry heavy hitters are supporting her and her label is fronting her cash against her next album, but no one knows when that will be released. She might be homeless if not for people saving her&#8230;She is broke as a joke. She called someone to ask for $100. It is so sad. She should have Mariah Carey money, and she&#8217;s flat broke.&#8221;
Stories in the mainstream media claiming she died near bankruptcy continued to appear in spite of reports that insisted Whitney had made $36 million from her last tour a couple of years ago and, of course, her huge new $100 million dollar record deal with Sony Music in 2002.

How in God&#8217;s name could she, or anyone, have blown through that much dough?


The answer is simple, according to one source who was close to Whitney. &#8220;It takes a lot of money to maintain that lifestyle&#8221;.
Then again, Sony never wrote out a check for $100 million either.


According to a very highly placed industry source who is very familiar with the Whitney situation, the deal most likely looks like every major superstar recording contract like these days. The deal would look something like this: 4 studio albums and 2 compilation album (Greatest Hits, Number One&#8217;s, something like that) with a $25 million advance for the first album (Just Whitney) and a $10 million advance for the second album (I Look To You). Tacked on to that advance would be the costs of the music videos at approximately $500,000 each (there was a total of 6 music videos produced under the new deal which would total approximately $3 million in costs). That would bring the total amount of money that Whitney Houston would owe Sony to approximately $38 million. Maybe more. Her royalty rate was most likely $4 per album, and the new deal would have reset all future royalty payments on past catalog. Any deficits in her royalty account up to that point were more than likely wiped out, according to the source, basically giving Houston a fresh start. This means that Whitney would have to sell at least 9.5 million albums to repay here advances and start to get royalty checks.


Now we have to look at what she has sold. The first album under the new deal, 2002&#8242;s Just Whitney, has sold 763,188 in the US. The second album, I Look To You from 2009, sold 992,904. That&#8217;s a total of 1,756, 092. Let&#8217;s round it off at 1.76 million. Now let&#8217;s double it to account for foreign sales. That brings the total to approximately 3.51 million. Now let&#8217;s add in her Christmas album from 2003, One Wish: The Holiday Album, which sold 490,00 units. That brings here total sales to around 4 million units under her last deal.


Now, according to Billboard Magazine, &#8221;The late Whitney Houston has two of the three biggest jumps on the Billboard 200 this week. Her &#8220;The Preacher&#8217;s Wife&#8221; soundtrack runs 183-90 (up 93 slots) and &#8220;I Look To You&#8221; flies 118-65 (up 53 positions). &#8220;The Preacher&#8217;s Wife&#8221; sold 7,000 (up 46%), while &#8220;I Look To You&#8221; did 9,000 (up 81%). Houston, who died on Feb. 11, sold a collected 247,000 albums last week (ending Feb. 19) &#8212; the first full sales week after her death. Her biggest seller was &#8220;Whitney: the Greatest Hits,&#8221; with 175,000 (up 174%). Overall, Houston&#8217;s albums earned a 144% sales increase in the week ending Feb. 19, compared to the 101,000 sold in the week ending Feb. 12.&#8221; Clearly that sales pace will slow considerably. But let&#8217;s add the sales of the last 2 weeks, even though the Soundscan figures quoted above for Just Whitney and I look To You have already been factored in. That would come to 348,000. That brings her total album sales under the 2001 $100 million deal to approximately 4.35 million units.


Let&#8217;s now subtract the 4.35 million albums she&#8217;s sold since 2001 from the 9.5 million albums she would have to sell for Sony to recoup its investment, and that leaves us with over 5 million. Let&#8217;s assume that going forward Whitney: the Greatest Hits will be the biggest seller as it has been since her death. It sold 175,000 units at the peak of the Whitney buying surge. If that could continue, which it certainly won&#8217;t, Whitney would most likely occupy the Number One position on the Billboard album charts every week for the next six months! As one label executive familiar with Sony&#8217;s accounting said, &#8220;That ain&#8217;t going to happen. The reality is that her estate probably won&#8217;t see a royalty check from Sony in our lifetime&#8230;at least&#8221;.


On top of the millions of advances, one of my insiders says that throughout her career Whitney consistently took out loans from the label with Clive Davis&#8217; assistance. The last big loan was reportedly from Clive for $1.2 million, though everyone knows it came from Sony and not from Clive. &#8220;No way Clive would ever reach into his own pocket for anyone&#8217;&#8221; said one former label employee.


Let&#8217;s not forget that Whitney didn&#8217;t write any of her own songs nor produce her own records, thus excluding many millions more in royalties. Also she didn&#8217;t have a lot of endorsements or ongoing revenue streams like a Beats by Dr. Dre.


One Whitney insider said that there&#8217;s yet a bigger problem. Evidently the Whitney estate doesn&#8217;t have the brain trust that Michael Jackson&#8217;s has. &#8220;They just don&#8217;t have a smart guy like John Branca who would have marched into Sony the day after Whitney died and renegotiated the deal,&#8221; he said. &#8220;You can bet that the estate doesn&#8217;t even have coupling rights, and that&#8217;s something a guy like Branca would have gotten right away.&#8221; Another Whitney loyalist said that since she broke with her manager/father John Houston, there has been no other industry professional looking after het career&#8211;no one on a day-in-day-out basis to exploit any revenue opportunities or even coordinate with agents, the label, marketing departments, etc. &#8221;Do you have any idea how much she could have gotten for her sync rights? Nobody ever even thought about it&#8221;, he said.


If Whitney did die broke, as so many reports claim, many people assumed that her heirs would be well off from her record royalties alone. That&#8217;s just not the case. Not for a while, at least. She&#8217;ll be in hock to Sony for quite a long time. It&#8217;s almost like instead of a &#8220;death tax&#8221; Whitney will be paying a &#8220;Sony tax&#8221;.

http://www.themusicvoid.com/2012/02/whitney-to-sony-i-will-always-owe-you/
 
The toxicology report is in.

The Los Angeles County coroner's office has determined that Whitney Houston's official cause of death is: "drowning and effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use."

The singer was found in the bathtub of her Beverly Hilton Hotel room on Feb. 11, hours before a pre-Grammy party. She was 48.

The coroner's office also said the manner of death was an "accident."

However, the toxicology report adds that "Cocaine and metabolites were identified and were contributory to the death. Marijuana, Alprazolam (Xanax), Cyclobenzaprine (Flexeril) and Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) were identified but did not contribute to the death."

An autopsy was conducted the day after she died. Capt. John Kades of the Los Angeles County coroner's office said at the time there was no indications of foul play and no obvious signs of trauma on Houston's body. Prescription pill bottles were found in her room, but the number of pills were "not in alarming amounts," said officials.

Dionne Warwick said earlier this month she suspected her cousin died of a "heart attack."

Was hoping that drugs wouldn't have been a contributor, but it was inevitable :(
 
I wonder if they will ever known what happened. how did she drown? fall asleep?
 
I am glad that billboard article above mentioned about Michael and how the rules were changed after he died because he had albums in the the top 10 too and they were not counted like it is now.

As for Whitney, I not surprised by the findings. I thinks it's just it's all very sad.
 
The toxicology report is in.

The Los Angeles County coroner's office has determined that Whitney Houston's official cause of death is: "drowning and effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use."

The singer was found in the bathtub of her Beverly Hilton Hotel room on Feb. 11, hours before a pre-Grammy party. She was 48.

The coroner's office also said the manner of death was an "accident."

However, the toxicology report adds that "Cocaine and metabolites were identified and were contributory to the death. Marijuana, Alprazolam (Xanax), Cyclobenzaprine (Flexeril) and Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) were identified but did not contribute to the death."

An autopsy was conducted the day after she died. Capt. John Kades of the Los Angeles County coroner's office said at the time there was no indications of foul play and no obvious signs of trauma on Houston's body. Prescription pill bottles were found in her room, but the number of pills were "not in alarming amounts," said officials.

Dionne Warwick said earlier this month she suspected her cousin died of a "heart attack."

Was hoping that drugs wouldn't have been a contributor, but it was inevitable :(

Very sad.... :(





I wonder if they will ever known what happened. how did she drown? fall asleep?

I wonder about that too. I think she may have been taken ill and fainted (?) ... or not, we will never know. :(
 
apparently her biopsy or information on her death is out today. ugh...difficult very difficult.
 
Back
Top