LGBTQ news and entertainment
During a recent appearance on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live, Rosie O’Donnell told Andy Cohen that she knew about Whitney Houston’s longtime romance with Robyn Crawford.
“Everyone sort of knew it,” said O’Donnell, who also expressed surprise that Houston recording empresario Clive Davis had feigned ignorance about the relationship. “I don’t believe that for one minute,” she said.
Watch below.
In honor of the 25th anniversary of The Bodyguard, a special collection of Whitney Houston live and studio recordings I Wish You Love: More From The Bodyguard is being released November 17.
The collection will also include special features and events.
Some highlights from the album include:
• an alternate mix of “I Will Always Love You” with spoken word intro of Whitney as “Rachel Marron”
• an acapella never before heard version of “Jesus Loves Me”
• a live recording from The Bodyguard World Tour 1993-1995 of “Run To You”
Plus, film and live versions of “I Will Always Love” You,” “I Have Nothing,” “Queen of The Night” and more.
Originally released on November 17, 1992, The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack racked up sales of more than 45 million copies worldwide and took home the top prize of Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards.
The soundtrack was also the first album verified by SoundScan to sell a million units in a single week.
Look for I Wish You Love: More From The Bodyguard on November 17.
Track Listing:
1. I Will Always Love You (Alternate Mix)
Spoken word intro as Rachel Marron dedicated to Frank Farmer
The iconic recorded performance of “I Will Always Love You” captured on the first take
2. I Have Nothing (Film Version)
As featured in the scene with Rachel Marron performing “I Have Nothing”
3. I’m Every Woman (Clivilles & Cole House Mix I Edit)
Alternate edit of the Clivilles & Cole House Mix
4. Run to You (Film Version)
As featured in the scene with Frank Farmer watching the video of “Run to You”
5. Queen of the Night (Film Version)
As featured in the scene with Rachel Marron performing “Queen of the Night”
6. Jesus Loves Me (Film Version)
As featured in the scene with Rachel Marron and Nicki Marron at Herb Farmer’s Lakefront Cabin
7. Jesus Loves Me (A Capella Version)
8. I Will Always Love You (Film Version)
As featured in the scene with Rachel Marron and Frank Farmer at the airport and the performance of “I Will Always Love You”
9. I Have Nothing (Live)
Private concert at Jerudong Park Amphitheatre: Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei for Princess Rashidah, the eldest daughter of the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah on August 24, 1996
10. Run to You (Live)
Recorded at Radio City Music Hall: New York City on September 28, 1994, during 1993-1995 The Bodyguard World Tour
11. Jesus Loves Me / He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands (Live)
Recorded at Estadio Vélez Sarsfield: Buenos Aires, Argentina on April 17, 1994, during 1993-1995 The Bodyguard World Tour
12. Queen of the Night (Live)
Recorded at The Spectrum: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on June 23, 1994, during 1993-1995 The Bodyguard World Tour
13. I Will Always Love You (Live)
Recorded at Earls Court Exhibition Centre: London, England on November 5, 1993, during 1993-1995 The Bodyguard World Tour
14. I’m Every Woman (Live)
Recorded at Deutschlandhalle: Berlin, Germany on October 14, 1993, during 1993-1995 The Bodyguard World Tour
The new documentary, Whitney: Can I Be Me, offers viewers a behind-the-scenes peek into the life and early death of the late pop music legend Whitney Houston.
Including never-before-seen footage from Houston’s 1999 world tour, the documentary provides insight into the final days of the six-time Grammy Award winner.
The pop icon’s sudden death in 2012 at the age of 48 left her millions of fans around the world devastated.
The documentary explores, in part, Houston’s relationship with her childhood friend, Robyn Crawford, that fueled much speculation about her sexuality.
Whitney: Can I Be Me debuts Friday, Aug. 25, 2017, on Showtime.
Twenty-four years ago today, Whitney Houston made her cinematic debut in The Bodyguard, also starring Kevin Costner, which went on to gross $441 million worldwide making it the second-highest earner of 1992.
I remember seeing the flick that Thanksgiving weekend on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with my bff, Carlye. We loved her. We loved him. At a particularly climactic moment – when Costner dove through a window to save Whitney, a group of African-American women behind us in the audience screamed and then yelled, “My man Kevin!!!!”
The soundtrack is the best-selling of all time, notching over 45 million copies sold worldwide.
The soundtrack features five songs which were hit singles for Houston: “I Will Always Love You”, “I’m Every Woman”, the two Oscar-nominated songs, “I Have Nothing” and “Run to You”, and “Queen of the Night”.
Sit back and enjoy the glorious vocals from the Dolly Parton-penned lead single, “I Will Always Love You,” which showcases Houston arguably at her zenith.
Take a Friday brain-break with Ariana Grande’s awesome tribute to Whitney Houston on the season finale of ABC’s Greatest Hits.
While it’s true we’ll never see another Whitney Houston, I do think Ariana’s powerful vocals and stage presence makes for a pretty terrific tribute for the artist Ariana has called one of her greatest inspirations.
In the latest issue of US Weekly, Bobby Brown confirms that Whitney Houston did indeed have a longtime secret romance with bestie/assistant Robyn Crawford:
“I know,” Brown, 47, tells Us exclusively of his ex-wife’s relationship with Crawford, 55. “We were married for 14 years. There are some things we talked about that were personal to us.”
Houston and Crawford met as teens when they both worked at a community center in East Orange, New Jersey, and Crawford became her assistant and later creative director, traveling the world with the Bodyguard star.
The New Edition frontman alleges in his new book, Every Little Step, that Houston was bisexual. “I’m a man and she was attracted to me!” he tells Us.
Although the “I Will Always Love You” singer strongly denied the claims, Brown alleged it could have been because her family, including her mother, Cissy Houston, didn’t approve of the lesbian relationship — even insisting Crawford be fired.
Cissy, 82, revealed to Oprah Winfrey in 2013 that it “absolutely” would have bothered her if her daughter was gay, and she would not have condoned it.
“I really feel that if Robyn was accepted into Whitney’s life, Whitney would still be alive today,” Brown says. “She didn’t have close friends with her anymore.”
Out singer/songwriter Matt Zarley continues his UnCOVERED series with Whitney Houston’s final hit track “I Look To You.”
At the end of Houston’s career, her incredible gifts were somewhat diminished through neglect or abuse. Zarley’s voice soars here as the song finally seems to have found it’s true destiny. I fully believe that this is closer to what Houston would have delivered, if she had been able.
You’ve just gotta love a power ballad for #TBT, don’t you?
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| Bobbi Kristina Houston with grandmother Cissy and mother Whitney |
Bobbi Kristna Brown, daughter of Whitney Houston, passes away at 22.
From CNN:
Brown, the daughter of late superstar Whitney Houston and singer Bobby Brown, died Sunday at the age of 22, a representative of the Houston family said in a statement.
“Bobbi Kristina Brown passed away Sunday, July, 26 2015, surrounded by her family,” the statement said. “She is finally at peace in the arms of God. We want to again thank everyone for their tremendous amount of love and support during these last few months.”
Goodbye little one. It wasn’t your fault.
From ETOnline:
“She is finally at peace in the arms of God,” the Houston family said in statement to ET. “We want to again thank everyone for their tremendous amount of love and support during these last few months.”
On Jan. 31, Bobbi Kristina was found unresponsive in her bathtub, and was then taken to North Fulton Hospital in Roswell, Georgia, where she was put on a ventilator to assist her breathing. She was later placed in a medically induced coma at Atlanta’s Emory University Hospital.
— Allison Bourg (@abourg_abc2) July 27, 2015
Celebrities react to the tragic death of #BobbiKristina. http://t.co/jHzGgvJFEV pic.twitter.com/w6fkyCalm5
— Perez Hilton (@PerezHilton) July 27, 2015
— CELEBUZZ (@CELEBUZZ) July 27, 2015
Second in out singer/songwriter Matt Zarley’s “UnCOVERED” series, he takes on Whitney Houston’s last single – “I Look To You” from her album of the same name.
I’m a huge Whitney fan, and loved this song written specifically for Whitney by R Kelly. But while the recording was good, it didn’t soar the way you wanted it to.
The album was meant to be a kind of “comeback” for Whitney to show she still had it, but while the voice was still quite the gift it clearly showed wear and tear by years of abuse.
I remember Whitney appearing on Good Morning America to celebrate the album release, and she performed this song. For the first verse, the cameras were close up on Whitney as she sang live, but once the song got going it was clear the recording’s vocal was dropped in and the cameras switched to long shots to help hide the lip sync. I think she just wasn’t able to handle the song live by that point.
I think the song finds it’s “destiny” in Zarley’s cover here. It builds and takes off the way you really want it to.
This is a lovely tribute to Whitney.
A senior producer at CNN has reported that Bobbi Kristina Brown, daughter of Whitney Houston, is on a ventilator and the status of her brain function is not known until sedatives can be safely reduced.
According to reports, Brown was found yesterday in a bath tub unconscious and not breathing.
From CNN:
Brown “was not breathing” when a man identified as her husband found her Saturday morning inside her townhouse in the Atlanta suburb of Roswell, Georgia.
He called 911 and performed CPR until public safety officers arrived and took over, said police spokeswoman Lisa Holland.
The spokeswoman said when Brown was found, she was “unresponsive, meaning not breathing, no heartbeat.”
In scanner traffic, emergency services could be heard describing an “ECHO-level response” — urgent and life threatening — with “possible cardiac arrest.”
“Twenty-one-year-old female in the bathtub, facedown. PD’s (police department’s) en route.”
Brown was taken to a local hospital, where “she is still alive and breathing. Other than that, I don’t know her condition,” Holland said Saturday.
Nobody knows what caused Brown’s unresponsiveness, Holland said, but police consider it a medical incident at this time. She said investigators had found nothing to indicate it was drug- or alcohol-related.