James Robert Parish - Whitney Houston: Return of the Diva

Few individuals are given the opportunity for a second chance in life. Even fewer take that option to make matters better the new time around.

Superstar Whitney Houston, after years of personal and professional chaos that made headlines around the globe, is today embarked on a strong professional comeback. Now in her mid-forties, she follows in the path of other great vocalists such as Judy Garland, Tina Turner, and Cher who each powered their way through one or more resurgence in their own amazing and lengthy singing careers. Whitney certainly has the talent and the stamina to succeed again. For one thing, she has shed several negative aspects in her personal life, including her troubled marriage to entertainer Bobby Brown. These changes have given the veteran diva renewed strength to pursue her career. For another thing, she is a determined survivor who has demonstrated repeatedly that she can overcome obstacles, including those self-induced distractions that, in the past, deterred her professional and personal growth.

In assessing the success potential of Whitney Houstons muchtouted return to the limelight, several factors are at play. For example, the music industry and the technology available today for listening to music has changed greatly since Whitney first burst into singing mega-stardom in the mid-1980s. In this new era of expanded multimedia, especially on the Internet, major record labels no longer control, promote, and foster to the same degree those who become major attractions for music lovers. Neither does MTVs airing of music videos nor radio stations broadcast of songs impact as heavily on the publics tastes as they once did. These days, with the vast array of web sites, blogs, and the Twitter phenomenon, the public itself has many alternative pathways to discovering singers and, in turn, to spread the word about their musical likes and dislikes. Then too, todays teens and twenty-somethings who make up a key portion of the music listening/buying audience have developed an allegiance to popular young performers such as Leona Lewis, Beyonc, Kelly Clarkson, Rhianna, Miley Cyrus, Vanessa Hudgens and Britney Spears. It is with this current crop of music stars that Whitney must now compete.

However, even taking all these factors into account, Houston has a devoted fan base who can bring her back onto the high road of mainstream success if she successfully delivers for them. Whitneys enthusiasts want her to succeed, and just as they have often forgiven her past mis-steps, they are ready to support her re-launch. They respond to the vulnerability that lies beneath Houstons seemingly tough veneer. They empathize with her various falls from grace, and champion her potential to once again become an important music world presence. They appreciate her survivor qualities and her enunciation of such gritty, I-aint-down-for-the-count comments as, Tell em that Whitney Houston still loves entertaining as much as she did when she was nineteen. And she probably still will when shes ninety-nine. They admire the spunk the star has displayed over the years by marching to her own beat. As Whitney said once, Listen, I always move. Nothing can stop me from movin. What didnt kill me made me stronger, sweetie.

Whitneys new album, I Look to You, and the painstaking choice of material it contains, reflects strongly the traumatic life and professional transitions the singing star has undergone in recent years. As she says, That makes it real, the changes that we go through, the transitions that we go through, the tears that we go through, being a mother, becoming a single mother. It all has its ups and its downs, but for the most part, I kept my faith and I kept my head up I took my time Hopefully not only does it inspire me, but inspires a whole lot of other people.

Clearly, for an artist whose albums, singles, and music videos to date have sold over 170 million copies and who has won well over 400 music awards, anything seems possible for her. That makes studying the life, times and achievements of this outstanding artist so very fascinating. She could, conceivably, become a role model for a whole new generation.