Mark Bego - Whitney Houston! The Spectacular Rise and Tragic Fall of the Woman Whose Voice Inspired a Generation

WHITNEY HOUSTON!

The Spectacular Rise and Tragic Fall of the Woman
Whose Voice Inspired A Generation

WHITNEY HOUSTON!

The Spectacular Rise and Tragic Fall of the Woman
Whose Voice Inspired a Generation

MARK BEGO

Skyhorse Publishing

Copyright 2012 by Mark Bego

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.
ISBN: 978-1-62087-254-3

Printed in the United States of America

DEDICATION

To Susan Gilbert
Thank you for coming to my rescue so many times!

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author would like to thank the following people for their help and encouragement with this book:

PROLOGUE

GRAMMY EVE, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2012

I t was the day prior to the fifty-fourth annual Grammy Awards presentation in Los Angeles. Without a doubt, this is the most exciting and dramatic weekend of the year in the music business. All week, musicians, technicians, and superstars had been converging on the City of Angels for the parties, the celebrations, and the awards themselves.

With the Grammy Awards presentation set to take place on February 12 at The Staples Center in downtown L.A., master record executive Clive Davis was amidst plans for his own annual celebration at The Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel: his exclusive pre-Grammys party which draws the Alist of music business heavy hitters, and a glittering roster of guest star performers every year. This year was going to feature an elite crowd including Tony Bennett, Jane Fonda, Joni Mitchell, Tom Hanks, Richard Branson, Sean Diddy Combs, John Fogerty, Kim Kardashian, Serena Williams, Neil Young, Britney Spears, Brandy, Monica, Alicia Keys, Swizz Beats, Adam Lambert, Ray Davies of The Kinks, and Sly Stone. Also expected at the event was Clive Daviss prized star and dear friend: Whitney Houston.

So that she could have a room right on the site of Clives party, Whitney Houston took a suite at The Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel. That way she could be in the middle of all the action, and when it came time for her to arrive at the gala party she could simply sweep down on the elevator and make a grand entrance.

On Thursday night, February 9, Whitney was in town, and showed up for a performance by her friend Kelly Price at a local nightclub. The event was billed as: Kelly Price and Friends Unplugged: For the Love of R&B Grammy Party at Tru Hollywood.

In the middle of Kellys show, Whitney briefly got up on stage and together she and Price sang part of the song Jesus Loves Me. The video footage from the event depicts a sweaty and slightly-disheveled Houston in a simple black dress, looking like she was enjoying an evening with friends, and letting her hair down. No one could have guessed at the time that this would go down in history as Houstons final public singing performance.

On Saturday, February 11, Whitney was at The Beverly Hilton Hotel, which is located at the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Wilshire Boulevard. She had made herself right at home there on the luxurious fourth floor. She had taken a spacious corner suite: room number 434.

Usually she was surrounded by members of her personal entourage. This evening, however, she was left alone for a while, and she had decided to take a relaxing bath before the party.

According to the Beverly Hills police reports, it was a member of her entourage and two bodyguards who discovered Whitney Houstons lifeless body in the bathtub. She was unconscious and unresponsive to their efforts to rouse her. The entourage member telephoned 911 for help at 3:43 PM, Pacific Standard Time. Fortunately, the Beverly Hills Police Department and Fire Department were already on the premises, and they responded immediately. The emergency response personnel were completely unable to revive her, and Whitney Houston was officially pronounced dead at 3:55 PM.

INTRODUCTION

DIDNT SHE USED TO HAVE IT ALL?

T here are few people in the world of show business who have achieved the kind of career heights that Whitney Houston had attained. She is one of the top recording artists in the history of popular music, having reached her creative high point in 1992 with the phenomenal international Number One hit I Will Always Love You. At her peak, she was personified as having beauty and talent, and she was one of the most successful women ever to sing and act. She won countless awards, and amassed a vast fortune. She also had one of the longest and deepest falls from grace ever chronicled.

After Whitney married former singing star Bobby Brown in 1992 she began a twenty-year streak of bad luck and self-destructive behavior. Houston had one of the longest career and personal meltdowns ever recorded in the press.

Since the year 2000, every album and every career move she made was viewed as a new comeback. However, it seemed that for Whitney, every great career resurrection was directly followed by another misstep or another personal tragedy.

Thanks to her 2009 album I Look to You, which hit Number One on the charts, Whitney Houston had one of the greatest temporary career revivals ever staged. It was no easy feat, butfor a short period of timeshe seemed to pull off an incredible return to form with newfound strength, style, and flair.

However, by the time her 20092010 world concert tour came to an end, scathing press reports of lackluster performances, poor voice, no voice, and even no-shows, signaled the true beginning of the end of Whitney Houstons once glorious singing career, as well as her role as a concert performer.

From 2010 to 2012, Whitney Houstons life became a harrowing roller coaster of temporary triumphs, and of deep disappointments. In 2011 she made one last attempt at rehabilitation for her drug dependencies, and she filmed a role in the remake of the hit 70s musical movie Sparkle. However, for Whitney, 2012 began with press rumors that she was about to go broke, and that her drug abuses were worse than ever. Her sudden and tragic death on February 11, 2012 was especially sad and disappointing for her millions of worldwide fans, because she had fallen from such an extreme height of achievement. Since her 1980s debut on the music charts, she had become a recording star, a movie star, and a glamorous show business icon. She had all of the trappings of stardom and success, and still they did not always bring her happiness. What happened? Where did it go wrong? Didnt she used to have it all?