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In reply to the discussion: Whitney Houston - my brief encounter many years ago [View all]rocktivity
(44,576 posts)14. DING DING DING! Iscooterliberally, you're our grand prize winner!
Last edited Wed Nov 17, 2021, 01:48 PM - Edit history (7)
She became so famous so fast that IMHO she had no chance to live a 'normal' life...She seemed so vulnerable when I saw her...She spent her teens singing with her mother Cissy Houston at nightclubs, recording backing vocals (including Chaka Khan's I'm Every Woman), and modeling after being spotted by a fashion photographer. Unlike singers having to start from the bottom with no connections, she had access to her parents (her father was a music industry executive), Dionne Warwick, and Aretha Franklin. When you're young and vulnerable, and you have so many "advantages" at your disposal, not being good enough (never mind screwing up) can feel like original sin.
And it doesn't sound like she was looked out for financially, either. Her record album income was based on recording and performing the songs of others, not writing, composing, or producing her own; she had to fight off a lawsuit from her own management company; she had to sell two multi-million-dollar homes. No wonder she became so reliant on movies, commercial jingles, exhausting tours -- and too many drugs.
rocktivity
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It's too bad we can't turn back time and make it so she'd never meet Bobby Brown.
Arugula Latte
Feb 2012
#4
You were lucky it wasn't Dionne Warwick or Martina McBride. Both can be very imperial.
alfredo
Feb 2012
#5
You should rely on whatever artistic "power" you have -- and it ABSOLUTELY shouldn't be race-based
rocktivity
Feb 2012
#21
Martina was more than a bad day thing. Dionne's treatment of orchestra members was
alfredo
Feb 2012
#39
The pressure is enormous. You start off in hock to the record companies, and you have to work you
alfredo
Feb 2012
#44
By the way, if you need a Whitney fix, watch "Waiting to Exhale" on Netflix streaming
closeupready
Feb 2012
#25
Hotel jumping and airport running does not sound like an appealing way of life to me.
lonestarnot
Feb 2012
#27
I have a photographer friend who worked on a shoot with her some years back . . .
markpkessinger
Feb 2012
#28