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CD'S
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I'm Your Baby Tonight
At the age of 27, Whitney Houston has the world at her feet, and a string of supremely impressive statistics to her name. This third album follows in the steps of a first LP which made its mark as the best-selling solo debut album of all time, and a second which saw her become the first female artist to debut at Number 1 in the US album chart. Add to that a catalogue of worldwide hit singles like Where Do Broken Hearts Go, I Wanna Dance With Somebody and Didn't We Almost Have It All (and a record-breaking string of seven consecutive Number 1 hit singles in the States), and you begin to appreciate the sheer popularity of this gospel-trained cousin of Dionne Warwick. Listen to more than a few bars of this album's opening hit-single title track and you swiftly begin to appreciate the absolute and utter professionalism which has been at the heart of Whitney Houston's success. Her seemingly effortless range and phrasing turn an up-beat bubbler of a tune from in-demand writer/producers LA Reid and Baby Face into instantly seductive, high-class pop soul of the first order. This ability is the key to Whitney Houston's talent, and if a duet with Stevie Wonder on the LP's best track We Didn't Know (written and produced by Wonder) reveals the limits of her ability as a real soul singer in its accepted, expressive sense, there is no doubting that this album confirms her right to sit atop her own particular pile. Click here for more information or to order this CD.
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The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack
Album [SOUNDTRACK]
At the time of its release, this was the watershed for soundtracks, selling a kazillion copies. It documents Whitney Houston's character in the Kevin Costner movie, which required Houston to play only herself (although one hopes she wouldn't end up with someone as smarmy as Costner). The album is as much a testament to the production of Babyface who, through the mid-1990s, actually was the mainstream of contemporary hit music. Houston's singing is much better than her acting, and almost every song enjoyed a long tenure at the top of all the charts. Along with "I Will Always Love You" and five other Houston songs, the soundtrack also features Lisa Stansfield, Kenny G with Aaron Neville, and Joe Cocker with Sass Jordan. Click here for more information or to order this CD.
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My Love Is Your Love
Rumors of a greatest-hits package had been flying, but as millions of converts held their breath, Whitney Houston headed into the studio only to emerge--amid a flurry of drama screaming "diva" (a live Web broadcast of the international press conference revealing the album, and a veil of secrecy shrouding the new material)--with her first nonsoundtrack album in eight years. So is it worth all the hype and hoopla? Probably. There are no real surprises (typical ballads such as "You'll Never Stand Alone," obligatory writer-producer-singer cameos from Babyface, Wyclef Jean, Missy Elliott, Faith Evans, and Kelly Price--this time in a worthy attempt to slot into the late-'90s soul scene), but she does try to defend her marriage on the Elliott-produced "In My Business." Elliott's other effort, the slow-burning "Oh Yes" is a high point, but the hands-down driving force of this record is the multiplatinum, multi-octave power pairing of Houston with Mariah Carey on "When You Believe." Click here for more information or to order this CD.
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Whitney Houston
When Whitney Houston arrived on the scene as a fresh-faced ing(nue in 1985, few could have predicted the level of superstardom she'd achieve or how fast she'd do it. Certainly the voice was there--supple, soulful, and when called upon, explosive. But the material on her debut album--and those that followed it, for that matter--was bland pop pap that mostly wasted her gift. Still there were numerous hits on Whitney Houston, including a trio of ballads: "You Give Good Love," "Saving All My Love for You," and the extraordinarily vapid "Greatest Love of All." The up-tempo "How Will I Know" was a mere trifle, perhaps, but it's one of her most winning performances. And that video. That dress. 'Nuff said. Click here for more information or to order this CD.
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Whitney
Whitney Houston had a lot to live up to from the moment
Saving All My Love For You and its shiny video went public. Its unabashed
upward mobility and soft soul beat cast her as a woman who understood
the hard-nosed but still sensitive gogetter of the time. The album that
followed was a different matter entirely. The strength of purpose of the
single was lost as a quartet of unsympathetic producers shoved her in
as many unsuitable directions, and, for the most part, by ignoring Saving's
careful construction her voice was left sounding little more than average. The most disastrous track on the first album was her cover of The Greatest Love Of All, cumbersome Andrew Lloyd Webber arrangements removed any heart and made the singer look inadequate as she struggled to stay in front of the assembled pomp. For some reason, Whitney Houston believes this is where her future lies, and half this album's tracks would be more at home in a lavish West End musical. Didn't We Almost Have It All, Where Are You, You're Still My Man and Where Do Broken Hearts Go all hang heavy with melodrama as they build up to climaxes so far out of reach she shouts rather than sings the final lines. This arms aloft, head thrown back approach has become so painfully familiar by the end of the album that its closing with a cover of I Know Him So Well comes as no surprise. Whitney Houston is clearly no Barbra Streisand but the remaining tracks show her to be not much else either. Three uptempo numbers, I Wanna Dance With Somebody, Love Is A Contact Sport and So Emotional, are so late '70s in style that any sparkle dulls instantaneously. They come over like the creaky, cliched disco music that folk who have never danced in their lives think is groovy. Only once does she approach the sensuality of Saving. Just The Lonely Talking is silky without being lush, its rumbling bass, sparing electric strings and what sounds like a pedal steel guitar allow plenty of space, leaving Whitney Houston free of any pressure from behind. Now she can prove she knows how to phrase and swell a ballad, while her urgent, breathy tones gain rather than lose out to the fact she sings from her throat and not her chest. But this is only one song, and rather than relieving the others it simply frustrates. Whitney Houston needs to loosen up a bit, to act her age. At the moment she sounds like a lonely little kid who has spent too much time with grown ups, and has picked up a lot of their habits before she has fully understood their ways. This is probably the case. As the daughter of Cissy Houston and cousin of Dionne Warwick, family sing-songs on Boxing Day must've been enough to turn any young girl's head. Click here for more information or to order this CD.
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VIDEO'S
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This 1992 crowd pleaser made almost as much money for Whitney Houston as its chart-busting soundtrack. A high-wattage star vehicle as only Hollywood can make, The Bodyguard stars Houston as a pop-music diva (now there's a stretch) and Kevin Costner as the stern bodyguard who is assigned to protect her after the singer receives some nasty death threats. Pop star and bodyguard don't hit it off at first, but they wear down each others' defenses, and before long Houston is baring her tonsils with a rousing rendition of the Dolly Parton chestnut "I Will Always Love You." The film, written by Lawrence Kasden, was originally intended for Steve McQueen, but the script languished for years before Houston took an interest in the project. A proposed sequel would potentially have starred Costner and Princess Diana, until Diana's tragic death precluded that possibility. Click here for more information or to order this Video.
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Classic fairy tale about girl finding Prince Charming at ball. Lavishly produced update of Rodgers/Hammerstein musical sure to please old and young romantics with appealing performances, spectacular singing, eye-popping visuals.
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This tedious remake of the classic Christmas movie The Bishop's Wife falls on its face by significantly altering the careful design of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert E. Sherwood's story for the original film. In Sherwood's version, a rather wooden, inept bishop and his lonely wife unknowingly take into their lives a heaven-sent angel who aids the former and ends up falling in love with the latter. In this unnecessary update, an inner-city preacher (Courtney B. Vance) and his estranged spouse (Whitney Houston) are visited by a celestial goof (Denzel Washington), whose unsolicited offer of help is enough to galvanize Vance's character to fix his own problems. What that means is this: by the second act, there's no reason to have Washington's angel in the story. Even his infatuation with the missus isn't enough to warrant his hanging around this movie; the change is a colossal blunder by director Penny Marshall. Vance ends up stealing the film from Washington, but it's a Pyrrhic victory; for the most part this movie just seems like a series of random scenes between opportunities for Houston to belt out songs. Click here for more information or to order this Video.
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Magnificent Whitney Houston, magnificent songs, excellent video! I love the latest songs by Whitney Houston! Click here for more information or to order this Video.
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Sentimental Hollywood ensemble drama about four women's struggles to find love. A hit with female audiences looking for a mainstream, escapist, uplifting tearjerker.
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DVD'S
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This 1992 crowd pleaser made almost as much money for Whitney Houston as its chart-busting soundtrack. A high-wattage star vehicle as only Hollywood can make, The Bodyguard stars Houston as a pop-music diva (now there's a stretch) and Kevin Costner as the stern bodyguard who is assigned to protect her after the singer receives some nasty death threats. Pop star and bodyguard don't hit it off at first, but they wear down each others' defenses, and before long Houston is baring her tonsils with a rousing rendition of the Dolly Parton chestnut "I Will Always Love You." The film, written by Lawrence Kasden, was originally intended for Steve McQueen, but the script languished for years before Houston took an interest in the project. A proposed sequel would potentially have starred Costner and Princess Diana, until Diana's tragic death precluded that possibility. Click here for more information or to order this DVD.
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Click here for more information or to order this DVD.
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CLICK HERE FOR CONCERT TICKETS & MORE
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SEARCH HERE FOR SHEET MUSIC
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BOOK'S
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Good Girl, Bad Girl : An Insiders
Biography of Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston is a show-business phenomenon and one of Hollywood's most sought after black actresses. Here is the first-ever behind-the-scenes book about her life and career, 16-page photo insert. Kevin Ammons, who has seen Whitney Houston at her best and worst, "tells all" in this insider's view of the star. Ammons spent time around Whitney during his four-year affair with the singer's publicist--and he maintains that beneath her glamorous image lies a troubled woman who has let success go to her head. photos. A profile of singer Whitney Houston discusses her childhood achievements, her behind-the-scenes personality, the effect her success has had on her life, and her relationships with her staff and other celebrities. Click here for more information or to order this Book.
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Whitney Houston (Black Americans of
Achievement)
The story of a reigning pop music queen, this sensitive biography follows Whitney Houston's ascent to the top of the charts as a vocalist and her emergence as a Hollywood box-office sensation in such films as "The Bodyguard, Waiting to Exhale" and "The Preacher's Wife". Lavishly illustrated with photos and memorabilia. Click here for more information or to order this Book.
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Whitney Houston (Black Americans of
Achievement)
The story of a reigning pop music queen, this sensitive biography follows Whitney Houston's ascent to the top of the charts as a vocalist and her emergence as a Hollywood box-office sensation in such films as "The Bodyguard, Waiting to Exhale" and "The Preacher's Wife". Lavishly illustrated with photos and memorabilia. Ages 9 - 12 years. Click here for more information or to order this CD.
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![The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album [SOUNDTRACK]](whitney2.gif)
The
Bodyguard (1992) 
Cinderella
(1997) 
The
Preacher's Wife (1996) 
The
Star Spangled Banner (1991) 
Waiting
to Exhale (1995) 
Waiting
to Exhale (1995) DVD 
