Whitney Houston, seen here on the set of upcoming film Sparkle, passes away at 48
News of the singer's passing comes on the eve of music's biggest night with The Grammy Awards. It is not known at this time how the singer, who once reigned as Grammy queen, will be honored at the impending ceremony tomorrow night.
From the mid-1980s into the late 1990s, Whitney Houston was one of the world's best selling musical artists. She also parlayed those talents into numerous film roles, and served as an influence to a whole generation of upcoming singers ranging from Christina Aguilera to Mariah Carey, and many in the spectrum in-between.
Houston dropped her debut album in 1985 with the self titled "Whitney Houston", which sold millions across the globe and brought her Grammy number one for "Saving all My Love For You." She was also awarded Best Female Pop Vocalist of 1985. Her second album "Whitney" went multi-platinum in 1987, and once again racked up a number of hits including "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" and "I Wanna Dance with Somebody". She would go onto win four more Grammies for a total of six spanning her entire career. Whitney also stands as the only artist to have ever charted seven consecutive No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.
Her first acting role came with the 1992 Kevin Costner thriller The Bodyguard. She also contributed to the soundtrack, which was awarded the 1994 Grammy for Album of the Year. Her lead single off The Bodyguard sountrack, "I Will Always Love You", a reworking of the classic Dolly Parton song, became the best-selling single by a female artist in music history. With this album, she also became the first act of any kind to sell more than a million copies of an album in a single week.
Throughout her acting career, the singer also appeared in the popular dramas Waiting to Exhale, starring opposite Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine, and Lela Rochon, and The Preacher's Wife, the soundtrack of which became the best selling gospel album in history. She recorded seven solo albums in total, the final of which was "I Look to You" in 2009.
During the success of The Bodyguard, Whitney Houston caused controversy within the music community for marrying wild child R&B singer Bobby Brown. The relationship ship saw both parties spiral out of control, with Whitney Houston admitting to a hard-to-break drug habit that resulted in many arrests on charges ranging from DUIs to failure to pay child support. As the couple seemed to slip into madness, they launched their own 2005 reality series Being Bobby Brown, which helped to solidify their growing reputation as hasbeens. The two got divorced in April of 2007, after 16 years of marriage.
Whitney Houston's career seemed to be on the turn around in recent years. In September of 2011, it was announced that the singer would star in a remake of the 1976 film Sparkle. The movie has been completed and is currently in post-production. It is scheduled for release on August 10th of this year.
Whitney Houston is survived by her daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown.
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Titanictom
Stupid is as stupid does. -Forest Gump
3 months agoby @titanictomFlag
incmob
@moviegeek i can see your point, but it is not that i dont value life to some degree, just the fact that the choices you make will ultimately be the road less traveled, or the highway to hell. Personally, i dont think because she was an entertainer, that she changed the world. Maybe she inspired others to go into the same field as her, but change the world... no. of course i guess that is how a person actually defines "changing the world".
John Lennon... there is a man that tried changing the world... yes he did drugs, yes he cheated on his first wife, and some might say he broke up the beatles... but when he died, it was not by the choices he made, it was by the choice of someone else. that is a life i can celebrate, and how he was more indifferent than the hendrix's, and morrison's and houston's and jackson's of the world. personally i can see how people might have this connection to whitney houston, and she will be remembered through her music, or forgotten with time. but i cant sympathize or mourn the loss, maybe i could have, had she passed by some form that she could not have controlled.
"there is no fate but what we make for ourselves"
4 months agoby @incmobFlag
Gina39
celli like your quotes. i was reading some of the quotes that people are writing it seem like a lot of people are pissed off about the media attention which is kind of a double standard because movieweb is a site that embracing movies , tv , music etc. and we admire the celebrities and the work they do. so its not a surprised that whitney would get this kind of media attention after all she was a icon in the media world. so to say that whitney is getting too much media attention is kind a hypocritical statement due to the fact that she got all this media attention because of us. the people who buy their movies/music and watch these celebrities become icons in the media world but yet she dies and she is getting too much media attention because we need to focus on africa or our troops in a country that is fighting an endless battle. Tom morrow you will see ET, Showbiz hollywood, etc talk about whitney over and over till she is buried .
I personally believe that a lot of the anger is not so much about whitney's life its more about the media creating a story for ratings and targeting their demographics on people like us who watch movies and tv and listen to music THIS IS WHERE WE WILL GET OUR RATINGS because these *SSHOLES who talk about whitney and hate the coverage will continue to watch because they want to know what happen. that is what networks like CNN, CBS, ETC are thinking and doing every day when they are covering tragic story like this.
4 months agoby @gina39Flag
CelluloidDreams
A human life is a story told by God. ~Hans Christian Andersen
4 months agoby @2movieguysFlag
CelluloidDreams
"When you look back at your past, look tenderly and gently at all you have been through. Look with the eyes of the soul. See that each experience was necessary to bring you home to your heart."
Author: Unknown
4 months agoby @2movieguysFlag
ejk1
@bruce-ha It's not ridiculous to be sad about the deaths of those who have had their lives taken involuntarily, it's ridiculous that you're politicizing her death. I'm not mourning Whitney Houston because she was famous, I'm mourning for a person that gave me at least a few good times throughout my life. And no one is asking you to be more saddened by her death than anything. You asked a question: "Why her death is more noteworthy than starving children in Africa is beyond me." I simply gave you the answer, which you apparently don't like. Oh well. What has your ass done for the starving children? Did you go over there and give them some bread? Did you watch that commercial with the bearded old guy and send them some money? Or are you just using Whitney's death to make some sort of grand political statement about the world's problems and denouncing "hero-worship" at the same time? Don't get me wrong, I feel bad for those starving children, but I'm not spilling tears over anyone that hasn't had an impact on my life. And no, those 30 second commercials don't count. Sorry. Call me callous if you want, I don't care. I know what I have done for the people in my little corner of the world. I can't help everyone, and see know reason why I should feel guilty for knowing that fact. If you can't see where I'm coming from, then you should probably pull your head out of your *sshole.
4 months agoby @ejk1Flag
bruce_ha
@ejk1 Why is it ridiculous to mourn people who get their lives taken away from them, involuntarily? Maybe the word that i chose to describe it is off, maybe sad is better suited as you pointed out. I didn't say you meant her to be an uber class person, it's the way the media are portraying the celebrities. Slightest little detail of their life are getting the biggest headlines. That's the way with all celebrities. I just don't get it.
I'd rather think about and feel sad about those innocent children lives being taken away from them than Whitney Houston, EVEN THOUGH i enjoyed her music. Even though i enjoyed her music doesn't mean i would feel more sad about her death than those starving children. That's what i'm critical of.
Okey, she was a singer that many people have heard about, but does that really mean that she should have bigger headlines than children dying in Africa out of starvation and out of neglect from corrupt governments?
If you can't see why i feel this way about these headlines than too bad for you. Go bother someone else with your BS about people actually mourning Whitney Houston worldwide.
4 months agoby @bruce-haFlag
ejk1
@bruce-ha I think you're on f*cking drugs, lol. I'm only saying this one more time, and then I'm done. It's not that she's an "uber class" human. No one over the last ten years of her life would have wanted to be her. People mourn her because they know something about her. You say you mourn the deaths of serial killer victims, starving children, etc. Seriously? Let's be real here. You don't mourn them. You maybe sad for their plight, but to say you mourn all those people is ridiculous. You don't know them, hell you can't name almost 100% of those people. Again, you're missing my point. Whitney Houston is being mourned worldwide because she contributed something to the lives of people around the world. Some people may mourn her because they had their first dance to one of her songs, or they even used her song on their wedding day. And those people remember her. And that's why she is mourned; people will miss her on a personal level for what she contributed to their lives.
4 months agoby @ejk1Flag
moviegeek
@incmob Idk, man. I don't want to go all Mr. Rogers on you, but it seems like any life lost is just as tragic as the next, ya know? I get what you're saying about people praising her because she was a great singer and left positive footprints there and maybe shutting out the rest. But that's what I would want when I die? People thinking about how I positively changed the world. Not pointing fingers at me saying how what I did screwed up my life, therefore my life ought to be just forgotten. I can see where you come from, I just look at it differently, I guess.
4 months agoby @moviegeekFlag
bruce_ha
... even though death is a very vague subject. I mean, how do you even begin to describe what death actually means? Some people believe in afterlife scenario and some in the "it just goes black and that's that".... It's just an unknown that will probably be unknown for quite some time.
Sometimes, i ask myself... why do we even mourn? Does it even matter? The dead are dead, no mourning will change that.
Bit deep i know, but still...
4 months agoby @bruce-haFlag
bruce_ha
@ejk1 I'm critical over the fact that it's getting ridiculously over saturated with these headlines of these "uber class" humans . Why are we supposed to mourn a celebrity's death when i already am mourning the death of starving children, serial killer victims, drug war victims? They are of flesh and blood, just like you and me. Even if she has made a great career of singing and acting. What difference does it make? She lived her life, and even if some choose to ignore the starving children around the world doesn't mean they stop starving. It is unfortunate, that we today are mourning people who support (by buying their drugs) the drug business, the same business that kills thousand of innocent every day. I have zero sympathy for her and the likes of her. Irony is that she probably died from an overdose.
Mourn those faceless entities instead Ejk1, because that's what you yourself are. Even though i haven't seen some of the faces of those innocent victims dying i still choose to mourn them over Whitney Houston. Will continue to do so over any celebrity. My grief goes to those in need, not to those living in paradise only to f***k it up later on.
4 months agoby @bruce-haFlag
incmob
@moviegeek you are absoloutely right... but they should not be celebrated for their mistakes either. if people werent defined and held somewhat accountable for the mistakes they have made, then it would not make much sense to even have a judicial system. noone feels sorry for the 16 year old girl that runs away from home, gets into prostitution and slams dope for years before being beaten and thrown in a ditch only to be found a few years later. but a celebrity that ultimately leads just as careless of a life, because they can or dont care winds up making headline news for her talent... find one article that doesnt include her being an addict... that is what she will become famous for... her death, and the past 15 years of her life, not what she accomplished but what she died for. for most musicians or film artists this has become a trend. however the men and women that fight for our country and die for it, are on the back pages of the newspaper and are as forgotten as quick as they are enlisted. I am not morbid, or insensitive, i just feel that there are much bigger losses we have everyday then just another celebrity found dead in a hotel.
4 months agoby @incmobFlag
ejk1
@bruce-ha I didn't say she made an impression on the music or movie industry, but on lives. Yeah, there are people starving all over the world. But there is not one face that stands out. No name to go along with that face. It's an entity that unfortunately goes unidentified, allowing many to ignore it. Whitney had that face. People know who she was and were touched by her presence in their lives, whether through her music, movies, whatever. She was something that the faceless people are not: known to strangers. And this doesn't just go for the starving; they're only in this conversation because you brought them up. Many people you do not know die everyday. They are mourned by those that loved them, not by those that were ignorant of their existence. Whitney, like Michael Jackson et al, was well known in the world. That is why the magazines and newspapers report on her death. She touched many lives. Being critical of that fact is ridiculous.
4 months agoby @ejk1Flag
bruce_ha
@ejk1 Don't do that... Don't say things like that man. "Faceless entity".... as if starving children are faceless because we don't see them in our everyday life on big posters and CD's like Whitney. Even if she made an impression on the music industry or movie industry, those things are materialistic things compared to what real life is about. These kids who are starving everyday, because some government authority uses the money that's being sent by aid from other countries on things like weapons manufacturing etc., aren't given the choice of living a normal life.
I'm not saying everyone is perfect and they don't make mistakes. But when she passes away, every news site on the web has her face on the front page with enlarged fonts. I'm not about to grief on someone who threw their life away, ESPECIALLY "celebrities". Not when they had every door in life opened and every seconds opportunity to make their life better. She wasn't at home starving to death, she was taking a bath in her hotel room alone(probably overdosing on some drug) when she was found dead.
Can you imagine how it must feel, to starve to death? To slowly having all your internal organs shut down before your heart stops?
Fu***k celebritism (made up my own word, seee!!!)
4 months agoby @bruce-haFlag
SpaceCowboy
Just in time for the Grammy's. Sorry, that was very inappropriate. It is very sad news. Rest in peace, Whitney.
4 months agoby @SpaceCowboyFlag
CUPID
Sad news :(
4 months agoby @cupidFlag
ejk1
@bruce-ha Her death is more noteworthy because she is not a faceless entity--we knew her, if not on a traditionally personal level. If you heard any of her songs or saw any of her films, then she contributed something to your life. She was a part of what made your world, even if it was an insignificant part.
As far as her death, I'm not sure how much blame I'm willing to dispense on her. I still believe Bobby Brown is as much, if not more responsible for Whitney's downfall. I feel she was driven so far down by him that she could never have gotten back up, which makes her tragedy somewhat more sympathetic in my eyes than say, Heath Ledger's.
4 months agoby @ejk1Flag
Bryan Yentz
Yup. Had it all; had every advantage--and still made the choice to piss it all away.
4 months agoby @bryanyentzFlag
moviegeek
@incmob no one should be defined by the mistakes they make.
Guess tonight really won't be "Adele's night". RIP.
4 months agoby @moviegeekFlag
Stansfield
@incmob
F*cking A man.
4 months agoby @StansfieldFlag
incmob
again, another celebrity who's life becomes more important in death than in life, we live to forget them, until they pass, then they become relevant again. i understand she struggled with addiction but i cant celebrate a life of bad choices just because of her talent. Even if drugs were not involved the effects of them had taken there toll on her life, and she was barely recognizable in talent and form from what she once was in the 80's and 90's. Unfortunately it takes a death to realize this.
hopefully she can rest better now, than she did in life.
4 months agoby @incmobFlag
Brian Rogers
The rock star cliche plays itself out again. Of course we'll find out later is was drugs or alcohol or a combination of both...or at least something like this being the C.O.D Why do all these performers go SO wrong?
4 months agoby @Brian-RogersFlag
CelluloidDreams
Sad!! Very Shocked! Saw her in concert in the 80's!
Do not grieve at the passing of mortality, for life's but a thing of terrible gravity. And the planets gravitate around you, and the stars shall dance about you, and the angels in heaven adore you, and the saints all stand and applaud you.
So faraway, so faraway and yet so close.
Nick Cave, "Far Away, So Close".
4 months agoby @2movieguysFlag
Stansfield
@bruce-ha
I couldn't agree more. I am not glad she is dead in any way shape or form, but I was never a fan and I believe that when you have it all and flush it(including your life) down the drain then we really shouldn't be celebrating this person. She was talented, I will give her that. She also had money and access to help that most crack heads don't have. So yeah...R.I.P. Whitney, but I won't feel sorry. I never understood why our society picks and chooses the "important" people.
4 months agoby @StansfieldFlag
bruce_ha
Humans die. Why her death is more noteworthy than starving children in Africa is beyond me. These poor children never had a chance. Whitney had it all, and still she f***ed it up by getting in to drugs and alcohol.
4 months agoby @bruce-haFlag
TheFury
Ding Dong the junkie's dead. Celebrate.
4 months agoby @TheFuryFlag
SpideR-OnE
sad news R.I.P
4 months agoby @spider-oneFlag
Bill Louis
RIP
4 months agoby @Bill-LouisFlag
JasonKat
@bawnian-dexeus
same here dude, i too wasnt a fan of hers either, 'the bodyguard" was like the only thing of hers that caught my atention, good songs, movie ect. but after that, i never cared about her or who she was, (not in a mean way) just 1 of those, "wow great actor/actress, cool song" but thats all. Its always sad seeing people go. like MJ who was an icon. johnny cash, and many others,
Im almost 100% sure this was over drugs or "past reasons"
I really hate how lots of stars or/and artist get so into this sh*t, drugs, drinking, bad habits, I dont drink, smoke or do any kinda drugs (unless prescribe by a doctor such as flu or medcation like that) i dont do pain killers, i dont need stufff to make me sleep. So really these people who do know, and r on it, should think about changing their lifes stop b4 its to late, get help. find a way to stay off them, get doctor's checkups yearly to b sure they r doing ok "inside" But no people dont like it when you tell them whats right from wrong, , they always tell us to fuk off and let them live their lives however they want, (understandable) but still i think its lame if the life they chose to live ..is a bad 1.
We yet not know wat killed her, but if this is the case.. other fame stars should see the light b4 its to late.
Whitney Houston will b missed for all the wrong reasons same as MJ. most important... their success. RIP W.H. :(
4 months agoby @jasonkatFlag
Major Tom
Truly tragic news. It's always terrible when we lose icons this young. Rest in peace, Ms. Houston, you will be sorely missed.
4 months agoby @movie-nutFlag