Tag: Whitney Houston

Select movie theaters nationwide will be celebrating the 20 year anniversary of the release of Whitney Houston/Kevin Costner film “The Bodyguard.”

NCM Fathom and Warner Bros. present The Bodyguard – 20th Anniversary Event on Wednesday, March 28th at 7:30PM (local time) in Select Movie Theaters Nationwide. Re-experience one of the most memorable movies of the 90’s on the big screen for only one night.

Click here to buy tickets and find out where The Bodyguard is playing in a theater near you.

I was asked today, in light of the very public memorial of Whitney Houston, what my thoughts were regarding the “media circus” that became a part of the memorializing this week. And also, how Whitney’s struggles of late had factored into her last years.

The conversation was polite, but seemed to question ‘why celebrate someone so publicly who had stumbled so long ago?’

I was glad I was asked because I haven’t spoken much about Whitney’s passing. The day it happened caught be sideways and I was a bit surprised at how emotional I was.

I was a big fan of Whitney Houston’s talent all the way back to the beginning of her spectacular career. I would sit with my friend Matt Zarley and thrill when she’d sing in public or on TV.

And I was touched that immediately after the attack of 9/11, Whitney re-released her 1991 rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” with proceeds going to the New York Firefighters 9/11 Disaster Relief Fund and the New York Fraternal Order of Police, both benefiting the departments and families affected by the attack at the World Trade Center.

Yes, I admired her incredible talent. So when I am asked what I think of all this – this is my answer:

When someone has touched so many, many lives – especially with music which is so personal to us all – we feel connected. We feel they are a part of us. Now a part of us is gone. And we feel the need to grieve and say goodbye.

Fortunately, we have Whitney’s music and films to remind us of how brightly she shined.

A few comments have been made in the media and on the internet that, of late, “she wasn’t what she had been” and “she let drugs do her in.”

I honestly don’t know any true details about the struggles we’ve all read about.

But I do know this: I would hate to be judged at the end of my life purely by my darkest days and worst decisions. No one is perfect. I’ve made many mistakes – more than I can count. I’ve also tried to do some good things as often as possible.

I think that’s probably Whitney Houston’s story too.

And in being who she was, she was perfectly human. And her humanity was a big part of her incredible gifts.

The video above is how I will always love her. And I think the lyrics say it best:
“You’re a winner for a lifetime, if you seize that one moment in time.”

We were touched by Whitney for more than just a “moment” in time. And for that, she will feel eternity.

From TMZ: Whitney Houston’s family was told by L.A. County Coroner officials the singer did not die from drowning, but rather from what appears to be a combination of Xanax and other prescription drugs mixed with alcohol – this according to family source

Apparently the Coroner’s officials informed the family there was not enough water in Whitney’s lungs to lead to the conclusion that she drowned.

Sources say the family was told Whitney may well have died before her head became submerged.

And family sources say it was actually Whitney’s aunt, Mary Jones, who discovered Whitney’s body in the bathtub. Mary had laid out Whitney’s dress for the evening on the bed and then left for about a half hour. When Whitney didn’t come out of the bathroom, Mary entered, pulled Whitney out of the tub and began administering CPR.

Whitney’s mom has arranged to have the singer’s body flown back to Atlanta, as early as tomorrow. The family was told the Coroner has no problem releasing the body because there is no evidence of foul play — and unless cops put a hold on the body, it can be flown back East.

Very, very sad.

USAToday is reporting Whitney Houston, who reigned as pop music’s queen has died. She was 48.

Over the span of her career, Houston sold more than 170 million albums, singles and videos, and won two Emmy, six Grammys, and 30 Billboard Music Awards.

Houston became one of music’s most successful singers in the late 1980s and 1990s, with hits such as “Saving All My Love for You”, “How Will I Know”, “Greatest Love of All” and “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me).” She had seven straight Billboard No. 1 hits in the 1980s.

Publicist Kristen Foster said Saturday that the singer had died, but the cause and the location of her death were unclear.

At her peak in the 1980s and ’90s, Houston the golden girl of the music industry and one of the world’s best-selling artists.

Her success carried her beyond music to movies, where she starred in hits like “The Bodyguard” and “Waiting to Exhale.”

I choose to remember the greatness, the grace, the brilliance of her talent.

My best friend Matt Zarley and I would make an event of her late 80s/early 90s TV appearances. We revered her. I adore her voice. At the height of her career, she was the greatest pop voice ever heard.

It is my great and sincere wish that she has found peace.

“The greatest love of all is easy to achieve.
Learning to love yourself, it is the greatest love of all.”