NaughtyKitty said:

BitetheBeat said:

Elton's in, so are Jay Z, Beyonce, Tyler Perry, Winans Family, Rev Jesse Jackson and R. Kelly.

Interesting. I wonder if Mariah Carey will be there--werent she and Whitney also good friends? And if Janet is also attending...I wonder if Jermaine or any of the other Jacksons attending. I know Whitney & Jermaine were close at one time, and Whitney said she was close with the Jacksons on the Oprah interview. Wonder if Brandy, Monica or Jennifer Hudson will attend.

Forgot Brandy and Ray J will be there. She was close with the Jacksons and Janet will be there. I know Jermaine called in to speak on her but no words on the funeral. If the rest of the Jacksons aren't there its no big deal IMO. But Mariah, thats interesting! No words on her being there.

[Edited 2/17/12 8:05am]

BET News and CENTRIC to Broadcast Live Coverage of Whitney Houston's Funeral Services

Febraury 17, 2012

Beginning at 11:30AM ET/8:30AM PT, BET News and Centric, along with on-air correspondents April Woodard and Lola Oguinake will bring viewers complete live, in-depth coverage of the legendary pop singer's funeral from her childhood church, New Hope Baptist Church, in Newark, New Jersey.

Later that evening at 7:00 PM*, BET News correspondent Bevy Smith sits down with confidants and colleagues of the Queen of Pop including Kim Burrell, Kelley Price, Faith Evans, Ledisi, India.Arie, Tisha Martin Campbell and Tichina Arnold to share tender memories of the superstar's greatest qualities as a vocalist, mentor, mother and friend.

Link

I can only imagine what the tabloids are going to say over the next 7 months!!

You are going to see Nippy on every cover the next time to you're at the Supermarket and Newsstand.

Really, how can they get away with publishing such lies and rubbish and people actually

PAY FOR IT!!?? - - Worst than that, they beieve it!!

[Edited 2/17/12 9:06am]

^Its really heartbreaking! I know tabloids have been around but it seems we now especially live in such negative times! People love the bad ish 1st and if they can't find any they will make some up.

Whitney Houston - My Love Is Your Love (ft Bobbi Kristina)

Whitney Houston- My Love Is Your Love (Rosie O'Donnell Show)

This song is so far removed from alot of her early work ... but i think it's one of her best records... maybe its the lyric more than the vocal ... and the element of truth about her life.

[Edited 2/17/12 9:22am]

Aretha on the Today Show this morning. I think they're showing it again at 10 tonight.

http://todayentertainment...ey-houston

Aretha Franklin 'Jumped Up Off the Bed' after Hearing of Whitney Houston's Death

Whitney Houston's death on Saturday at age 48 came as a shock to fans around the world, and was particularly devastating to her godmother, Aretha Franklin – who said she heard about the loss through a TV news report.

The Queen of Soul, 69, was enjoying a quiet night watching The Descendants in a hotel room in Charlotte, N.C., when she heard the news.

"Maybe two minutes after I [turned off the movie], it came across the screen," Franklin, 69, told Al Roker on Friday's Today show. "I jumped up off the side of the bed ... I just said, 'Oh my God. That's not good.' "

Franklin, a longtime Houston family friend, said she was convinced Whitney was on the verge of a comeback after seeing a clip from her last film Sparkle.

Houston appeared "fresh, she looked healthy and she looked gorgeous," according to Franklin. "And I thought, yes, she has conquered her challenges and was on the way."

Regarding Houston's ex-husband, Bobby Brown, Franklin said he needs "to step up to the plate and be responsible" in caring for the couple's daughter, Bobbi Kristina, 18.

In the end, Franklin told Roker, she hopes her goddaughter will be remembered for her vocal legacies and not the strange behavior she exhibited in recent years.

"She was having her problems, she was having her challenges, but a lot of people have challenges of all kinds," said Franklin, who plans to sing at Houston's funeral Saturday in Newark, N.J. "You cannot define a person on just one thing. You can't just forget all these wonderful and good things that a person has done because one thing didn't come off the way you thought it should come off."

"She left home with all the right things," Franklin said. "She just kind of lost her way along the way somewhere."

The Associated Press will stream Whitney Houston's private funeral service Saturday on its Livestream site, which will be available on PEOPLE.com

[Edited 2/17/12 9:18am]

^^The coolest thing about that song outside of the fact she branched out, it was the mother-daughter connection! I find it really sweet and refreshing. I bet it really will continue to greatly move Bobbi after this tragedy. I hope she feels the love whenever she hears it.

[Edited 2/17/12 9:46am]

BitetheBeat said:

^^The coolest thing about that song outstide of the fact she branched out, it was the mother-daughter connection! I find it really sweet and refreshing. I bet it really will continue to greatly move Bobbi after this tragedy. I hope she feels the love whenever she hears it.

[Edited 2/17/12 9:18am]

I agree, if any song will give that poor girl hope ... we hope it's this one (it seems to have given WH hope ..when she was not in a good place) ...... she will have money and alot more than most ... but unless she can handle the pressure and the legacy ... it will not do her any good...

Here's hoping she get's on a plane out of the US and travels the world doing charity work ... and leaves the bubble of hollywood

Whitney Houston - My Love Is Your Love - Birmingham 2010 - Panasonic TZ7 DMC-ZS3

I hope she does leave LA! I think its best she sticks to her mothers side of the family as well. I just saw Rain Pryor on CNN and she reached out to her(online & on the show)! She really does seem sincere. So I hope she takes her up on her offer. She's just so young, I dont think she is ready for world travels and world saving. She has to save herself first and try to help out her aging grandma. Best of luck to her.

[Edited 2/17/12 9:51am]

http://www.radiofacts.com/WhitneyHoustonTribute.pdf

TRIBUTE PROGRAM

[Edited 2/17/12 9:52am]

BitetheBeat said:

I hope she does leave LA! I think its best she sticks to her mothers side of the family as well. I just saw Rain Pryor on CNN and she reached out to her(online & on the show)! She really does seem sincere. So I hope she takes her up on her offer. She's just so young, I dont think she is ready for world travels and world saving. She has to save herself first and try to help out her aging grandma. Best of luck to her.

[Edited 2/17/12 9:51am]

Honestly, after this tragedy, I think it might be hard for Cissy Houston to let Bobbi Kris out of her sight. I know she will do all in her power for as long as she lives to prevent her granddaughter from spiraling out of control.

This thought brings me to a memory. It was an awards show (can't remember which one, but I believe it was either early or mid 00's), Whitney was accepting an award and her mother was standing off to the side behind her. Whitney was clearly high as a kite, but the expression on her mother's face spoke volumes. Cissy had this strong look of concern on her face, as if she couldn't believe her eyes. This could had been around the time when Whitney (later) spoke of when she said her mother brought either the sheriff or the police to her house and vowed to take her out of home and to rehab to get cleaned up. So if Ms. Cissy had the power and the strength to take things that far into her own hands to save her family, she surely wouldn't have a problem doing the same for her granddaugther (God forbid it comes to that).

Paul Mooney said it the best. California is a DANGEROUS place. Get out while you can.

missfee said:

BitetheBeat said:

I hope she does leave LA! I think its best she sticks to her mothers side of the family as well. I just saw Rain Pryor on CNN and she reached out to her(online & on the show)! She really does seem sincere. So I hope she takes her up on her offer. She's just so young, I dont think she is ready for world travels and world saving. She has to save herself first and try to help out her aging grandma. Best of luck to her.

[Edited 2/17/12 9:51am]

Honestly, after this tragedy, I think it might be hard for Cissy Houston to let Bobbi Kris out of her sight. I know she will do all in her power for as long as she lives to prevent her granddaughter from spiraling out of control.

This thought brings me to a memory. It was an awards show (can't remember which one, but I believe it was either early or mid 00's), Whitney was accepting an award and her mother was standing off to the side behind her. Whitney was clearly high as a kite, but the expression on her mother's face spoke volumes. Cissy had this strong look of concern on her face, as if she couldn't believe her eyes. This could had been around the time when Whitney (later) spoke of when she said her mother brought either the sheriff or the police to her house and vowed to take her out of home and to rehab to get cleaned up. So if Ms. Cissy had the power and the strength to take things that far into her own hands to save her family, she surely wouldn't have a problem doing the same for her granddaugther (God forbid it comes to that).

I remember that night like it was yesterday. It was the 2001 BET Awards when she was accepting her Lifetime Achievement.

In lieu of flowers, please forward all donations to:

THE WHITNEY E. HOUSTONAcademy of Creative and Performing Arts

P. O. BOX 835

South Plainfield, New Jersey 07080

missfee said:

BitetheBeat said:

I hope she does leave LA! I think its best she sticks to her mothers side of the family as well. I just saw Rain Pryor on CNN and she reached out to her(online & on the show)! She really does seem sincere. So I hope she takes her up on her offer. She's just so young, I dont think she is ready for world travels and world saving. She has to save herself first and try to help out her aging grandma. Best of luck to her.

[Edited 2/17/12 9:51am]

Honestly, after this tragedy, I think it might be hard for Cissy Houston to let Bobbi Kris out of her sight. I know she will do all in her power for as long as she lives to prevent her granddaughter from spiraling out of control.

This thought brings me to a memory. It was an awards show (can't remember which one, but I believe it was either early or mid 00's), Whitney was accepting an award and her mother was standing off to the side behind her. Whitney was clearly high as a kite, but the expression on her mother's face spoke volumes. Cissy had this strong look of concern on her face, as if she couldn't believe her eyes. This could had been around the time when Whitney (later) spoke of when she said her mother brought either the sheriff or the police to her house and vowed to take her out of home and to rehab to get cleaned up. So if Ms. Cissy had the power and the strength to take things that far into her own hands to save her family, she surely wouldn't have a problem doing the same for her granddaugther (God forbid it comes to that).

The BET Awards in 2001. Cissy had that look like she wanted to snatch Whitney up and slap some sense into her.

Cissy dont play so if Bobbi sticks with her it will be okay! I just trust them more than the Brown's no offense. Plus I don't see them exploiting her b/c the Houston's are better off financially.

***The family is having a private viewing of her today. That leads me to think what I originally thought....the casket will be closed or atleast not DIRECTLY shown to us. They will have all the time to see her today .

[img:$uid]http://s16.post.../img:$uid]

[Edited 2/17/12 10:16am]

musicjunky318 said:

Paul Mooney said it the best. California is a DANGEROUS place. Get out while you can.

L.A. will devour her whole. Too many hanger-ons, fake friends and zombies in this city for someone in ther fragile state to handle. They will feast on her like captive prey, and toss her aside as if she was nothing.

Ray J Releases A Statement

Feb 17, 2012

Link

''Over the past few days I've tried to process the emptiness that I am experiencing. What my heart feels cannot be expressed in words. The world lost an icon but I lost my close friend. Nippy I miss you so much! You were so happy and full of love. Your smile will live in my heart forever."

This story goes back to the old sayings ............ Never come between a Woman and her Man

Whitney Houston - My Love Is Your Love (R.I.P)

Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston: A Love Story

By Rob Kenner | Feb 14, 2012 | 4:08 pm | Permalink

Say what you will about Whitney and Bobby, but they were devoted to each other.

The night of Whitney Houston’s death, I typed her name in Spotify, hoping that her voice might fill the empty space. As often happens after artists pass away, her work seemed suddenly transformed, resonating with new layers of meaning.

The song “Heartbreak Hotel” brought to mind the Beverly Hilton where the singer’s body was discovered in a fourth-floor bathroom—and where Clive Davis’s pre-Grammy party went on as scheduled later that evening. “I Have Nothing” was almost too much to bear, with Whitney singing “Don’t make me close one more door; I don’t want to hurt anymore.”

But perhaps the most wrenching song of all was “My Love Is Your Love,” from her 1998 album of the same name—the strongest of Houston’s later recordings. Hearing young Bobbi Kristina say “sing, Mommy” at the top of the song was hard enough, but then Whitney went ahead and sang these words: “If tomorrow was judgment day, and I’m standing on the front line, and the Lord asked me what I did with my life, I will say I spent it with you.”

Those poignant lyrics sent my mind flashing back to the evening of August 28, 2004. I had been invited to dinner with Whitney and Bobby—along with Bobby's brother Tommy and his father "Pops"—by Tracey Baker and Wanda Shelley, the producers of the hit reality show Being Bobby Brown. What was clear to me then remains clear now.

And on this bittersweet Valentine's Day, which falls just three days after Whitney's Houston's tragic passing, and one day after Bobby faced a ravenous mob of reporters while trying to get to his daughter's bedside, it is worth repeating the truth: In good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, Bobby and Whitney were hopelessly devoted to each other—truly, madly, deeply.

Upon entering the dimly lit Atlantic Seafood restaurant in Alpharetta, Georgia, the R&B star once known as “King of the Stage” greeted me with a warm handshake. He was wearing a black fitted cap, baggy jeans, black boots, and a black Iceberg shirt with the Tasmanian Devil cartoon character on it. “Hi! I’m Bobby Brown,” he said. “Have you met my wife?”

At first it seemed like a ridiculous question—his wife was, after all, one of the most famous recording artists in history—but on second thought I realized that the correct answer was “no.”

Whitney’s hair was up and her tight jeans had light-blue Japanese characters artfully scattered here and there. She looked fit and beautiful, her model physique still very much intact at age 40. But she also seemed restless. There was no trace of inner calm, that “greatest love of all” that she sang about finding inside of her so many years ago.

“My wife will have salmon and steamed rice,” Bobby told the waitress. When his sushi platter arrived, Bobby politely sent it back so the eel could be cooked a bit more. Then the couple got back to discussing their daughter’s ambition to follow in her parents’ footsteps and become a singer. “She’s ready to record now,” Bobby said with fatherly pride—at which point Whitney, who hadn’t been saying much until then, shook her head and said “NO!”

“Whitney doesn’t want it,” Bobby continued.

“Sheee-it,” Whitney whispered loudly, leaving unsaid all the hard lessons she had learned since signing her first recording contract at age 20.

Bobby kept going: “I don’t think there’s a better industry—only because I love it. I love it. I love everything about it. I got caught up in the press part of it, you know, the bad press, the good press. It really doesn’t matter. As long as you spell my name right, talk about me. It doesn’t matter to me. As long as [Whitney] knows who I am... it really doesn’t matter what other people think about me.”

Whitney then looked up and said, “You would think he is a bad man—a bad, bad man.”

“You’d really think I was a bad person,” Bobby chimed in.

Then, making the sound of a game-show buzzer, Whitney added: “I’m the crazy one!”

Whitney Houston was a stunning woman blessed with an impossibly powerful voice who became an international superstar. She released an unprecedented seven No. 1 singles in a row—from ”Saving All My Love For You” to “Where Do Broken Hearts Go”—and starred in hit movies like The Bodyguard and Waiting To Exhale. But somewhere along the way, she descended into drug dependency and despair.

The standard explanation was that she had been led astray by her husband. Check out the first sentence of her Associated Press obituary: “Whitney Houston, who was pop music's queen until her majestic voice was ravaged by drug use and her regal image was tarnished by erratic behavior and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, has died on the eve of the Grammy Awards she once reigned over.”

This “Beauty and the Beast” theory of Houston’s decline was reinforced by an infamous Bobby-bashing Oprah Winfrey interview—part of the press roll-out for Houston’s attempt at a comeback album, I Look To You, which debuted at No. 1 in 2009. But breaking up with Bobby Brown didn’t actually solve her problems. She began missing tour dates for “exhaustion” and the whole cycle of denial and enabling began all over again.

Bethann Hardison, who had known Whitney ever since she was a 16-year-old fashion model at Click Agency, told me back then that Bobby and Whitney were “soul mates” who were meant to be together, despite the difficulties they faced. “I have such great respect for their relationship,” Hardison said. “There’s a serious, serious bond between them.”

Despite widespread speculation that Bobby was responsible for ruining Whitney’s life, Bethann Hardison, for one, was not buying it. “Bobby is a lovely guy with an extraordinary heart,” she said then. “He is truly not the reason for Whitney’s troubles, whatever they are.”

Part of this perception came from Houston’s carefully controlled image. “Whitney was always a pretty girl, and she comes off as more of an American darling,” Hardison explained. “No one can sit back and say, Aw man, you think she can sing well? It’s not debatable. You think she’s cute? It’s not debatable. She has done things that no one can deny. And people feel that once you’ve touched them, they have something to say about you. So they couldn’t understand what she saw in Bobby. With all the good looking guys around—why him? With all the people who may have a certain stature—why him?”

Whitney wore a ring with an ice-cube-sized rock on it that night in the restaurant. Although she didn’t talk much, she would sometimes use her hands to pound drum rolls on the table or play air piano. From time to time, Bobby would reach over, put his hand on her neck and say, “Calm down, baby.”

Asked about an old photo of Bobby and Whitney with Biggie, Whitney responded immediately. “That was at a club,” she recalls. “He was waiting outside and we took that picture. He was a real gangster,” Whitney said, repeating the phrase “real gangster” for emphasis. “I was familiar with Faith, cause we both grew up in Newark,” Whitney added. “She was no joke. She went to church right up Clarendon Avenue and I would see her sing in my church and she would see me sing in her church. She was a good friend of mine.”

Atlantic Seafood happened to be the same restaurant where Bobby had been arrested a year or so prior after the couple snuck out on the last night of Bobby’s house arrest—the result of various probation violations stemming from a seven-year-old drunk-driving case.

“The funny thing about it is that we knew we shouldn’t have went out,” Whitney said, laughing.

“We shouldn’t have gone out that night,” Bobby agreed with a toothy grin. “I don’t know what we were thinking.”

“I was in the house going like this,” Whitney recalled, clenching her fists. “We had been in the house. He couldn’t go out and I was like, Yo...”

“It was my last day though,” Bobby said.

“It was the last day,” Whitney affirmed. “Last day of the house arrest... So we tested the waters and thought, ‘Oh Nooo. Fuck it.’”

One of the patrons in the restaurant saw them that night and pulled out her cell phone—but not to take a picture. The Atlanta evening news played a tape recording of her 911 call. “Uhh, what are you supposed to do if you see somebody who has a warrant for their arrest?” asked a female voice with a syrupy Georgia drawl.

“Just report it ma’am,” the police dispatcher replied, “and we’ll come right over.”

“Well, I see Bobby Brown in here,” his fellow diner said as if she’d just spotted a terrorist.

“I live not even four blocks from here.” Bobby recalled. “Four cops came and got me, guns drawn. They walked me out.”

“Then this is me on the side,” Whitney added, laughing, “I’m going, 'Come on baby! Jump in the car! Fuck it! We’ll make an escape!'”

“They’ve got me,” Bobby told her. “Don’t you see?”

“I was like, No! We can do it! Let’s run!” Whitney recalled, speaking loudly and laughing so hard at the story that she began to cough. “I was fuckin’ nusto. I was like ‘Yo, we can do this. Let’s go. Jump in the car.’”

“And the police have guns in hand,” Bobby confirms. “Mr. Brown can you step outside?”

“I said, ‘Why you got your guns drawn?’ I was like, ‘Sir, I’m not gonna run, I’m not gonna do nothing like that.’ I said, ‘This is actually for a traffic ticket. You all don’t need to come to me and approach me like that.’

But I was calm about it. I said, ‘Just can you give me one minute and let me just take my jewelry off, and you know, have my food wrapped up and give it to my wife so that when I get back…’”

Suddenly Whitney focused on my tape recorder and became uncomfortable with the presence of a journalist at the table. I told her that if she wanted the recorder turned off I would turn it off, but she told me forget it.

“Darling, I have been quoted, misquoted, misread, misled, the whole nine yards,” she said, turning her eyes toward the ceiling. “What the fuck? You know what? All I want to do is fucking sing. That’s all I wanna do. You know? And make people happy.”

Bobby leaned over to lay his hand on his wife’s shoulders. “Calm down, calm down,” he said. “Take it, take it, take it.”

“My mother told me to breathe,” Whitney said, lowering her head.

“Take the breath,” Bobby told her. “Take the breath.”

“Exhale, bitch,” Whitney told herself. “Exhale.”

“There’s a song about that, right?” I asked, trying to lighten a tense moment.

“Shoop,” Whitney replied.

“Shoop Shoopy doop,” Bobby chimed in.

I told Whitney that when that single from the Waiting To Exhale soundtrack first came out, I cut out all the lights in my office and turned the track up to 11.

“It’s a mellow song,” Whitney said. “Isn’t it mellow?”

I agreed with her, adding that I had been very stressed when I first heard the song.

“Me too,” Whitney said. “I do relate.”

“What you talking 'bout baby?” Bobby asked her with a laugh. “What you mean you were stressed out?”

“It was shit going on,” Whitney replied. “A lot going on. You know, I was a movie star. I really didn’t wanna be one. I was raising my daughter. My husband, I wasn’t with my husband. I had to be in Phoenix. And it was like Yo—fuck this. I don’t wanna do this…”

Bobby listened attentively as his wife poured out her blues. He understood as well as anyone how success has strained their relationship. In three more years, he pointed out, they would be marking their 15th wedding anniversary.

“Still got the cake,” Bobby revealed, explaining that the top layer of their wedding cake had remained in the freezer of their New Jersey estate. Whenever somebody pulled out a popsicle, those two little marzipan figures of the bride and groom would be right there, staring back at them. “It don’t look like me,” Bobby complained, grinning. “He got a dumby—not a gumby. It’s all flat on one side.”

The original plan was to take out the cake and cut it to celebrate their tenth anniversary, but that year they didn’t feel much like celebrating. That was the year Bobby was arrested for marijuana possession, Whitney gave her infamous Diane Sawyer interview, and John Houston sued his daughter for $100 million. “It was like, Nah…” Bobby said. “We ain’t cutting that shit.”

“I’m sure every time you open the freezer,” Bobby’s father Pops said with a laugh, “They be in there saying ‘When you gonna cut me so I can get out of here?’”

“Twelve year-old cake?” said Bobby’s brother Tommy, aghast. “Who gonna eat that?”

“It’s still the same as it was,” Whitney said. “It’s lasted a long time. Yeah, baby. Like us.”

Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston never did make it to that next anniversary. Two years later they broke up for good. Nobody had given them much a chance of making it for the long haul. Bobby told me that some of their own wedding guests had been wagering about how long the marriage would last. But one night after our dinner together, I witnessed a moment that made Whtiney’s “My Love Is Your Love” lyric “it will take an eternity to break us” ring true.

I had just finished interviewing Bobby, and our conversation had been taped for possible use in the reality show. As the lights were being switched off, and the cameras packed away, the sound of music floated in to the restaurant.

Someone was playing the grand piano out in the lobby and the sound was uncommonly sweet. The guests of the Westin hotel continued chatting among themselves, unaware that the woman seated at the black piano bench with her hat pulled down low was the multiplatinum, Grammy Award winning superstar Whitney Houston. She spoke quietly to herself as she felt her way through the chords of a timeless love song, summoning keyboard skills learned in church.

She said that she’d like to record a gospel album “because that’s where I’m from,” but that she knew “Clive ain’t trying to hear it.” Still, judging by this impromptu recital, Alicia Keys was not the only Clive Davis signee capable of throwing down on the ivories. “I’ve got more to give,” Whitney said later. “They just don’t know it yet. I like to hold a little back.”

She got so absorbed in her playing that she didn’t begin to sing until near the end. Only then did a few hotel guests look up and start to take notice. She sang a song about instant, abiding love, made famous by Roberta Flack, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” And before the song was over, Whitney found her voice, which was disarmingly quiet and delicate.

“Your face,” she sang in rising tones, piano chords gathering strength for a final flourish. There was nothing tentative about her playing now. Seeing the music flowing freely through her was a joy to behold.

“Your faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace—I saaaw…” and here Whitney added an effortless little riff that could break your heart. “Your face,” she concluded, the last chords reverberating in the air as Whitney finally exhaled.

[Edited 2/17/12 10:24am]

[Edited 2/17/12 10:28am]

November said:

missfee said:

Honestly, after this tragedy, I think it might be hard for Cissy Houston to let Bobbi Kris out of her sight. I know she will do all in her power for as long as she lives to prevent her granddaughter from spiraling out of control.

This thought brings me to a memory. It was an awards show (can't remember which one, but I believe it was either early or mid 00's), Whitney was accepting an award and her mother was standing off to the side behind her. Whitney was clearly high as a kite, but the expression on her mother's face spoke volumes. Cissy had this strong look of concern on her face, as if she couldn't believe her eyes. This could had been around the time when Whitney (later) spoke of when she said her mother brought either the sheriff or the police to her house and vowed to take her out of home and to rehab to get cleaned up. So if Ms. Cissy had the power and the strength to take things that far into her own hands to save her family, she surely wouldn't have a problem doing the same for her granddaugther (God forbid it comes to that).

The BET Awards in 2001. Cissy had that look like she wanted to snatch Whitney up and slap some sense into her.

Yep! This is exactly it.

^They've had run-ins as lots of mothers & daughters do. At the end of the day Cissy isn't a push over and she loved her only daughter.

missfee said:

BitetheBeat said:

Off topic but do you know if he was at the funeral of Don Cornelius?! He created that wonderful Soul Train song on the show way back.

Hmm I'm not sure.

I don't think Stevie was there. Then again, not too many celebrities were there to pay their final respects to Don from what I read. And maybe Don would've wanted it that way. Whitney's funeral is already turning into a fucking circus.

Cinnamon234 said:

Timmy84 said:

And this is ONE reason I'm glad I'm not a famous figure so I won't have motherfuckers televising me in a closed or open casket. Fuck that shit.

I hope they have respect for her and do not have an open casket. At least not televized that is. Whitney's dead body doesn't need to be plastered across every tv screen and magazine.

Even if it was closed casket, I wouldn't have cameras in it. Call me insensitive to "celebrations" but televised memorials? Please.

G3000 said:

I can only imagine what the tabloids are going to say over the next 7 months!!

You are going to see Nippy on every cover the next time to you're at the Supermarket and Newsstand.

Really, how can they get away with publishing such lies and rubbish and people actually

PAY FOR IT!!?? - - Worst than that, they beieve it!!

[Edited 2/17/12 9:06am]

They've been publishing any kind of rumor on Whitney for 25 years, what would make anyone think death would stop them from doing so? Remember how many tabloids run the train on Michael following his death especially rumors he was actually on smack? Oh believe me, it'll get just as bad with Whitney...

Watch her sales jump after this. I remember after Michael's he did a million the following week.

musicjunky318 said:

Jay-Z, Beyonce, Elton John, Oprah Winfrey to attend Whitney Houston's funeral

— Elton John and Oprah Winfrey will lead a parade of celebrities expected to attend Whitney Houston's funeral at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark Saturday, according to two people with knowledge of the family's plans.

Rock star David Bowie is also expected to attend the services for the 48-year-old pop queen, a source said this afternoon. Earlier today, a source told The Star-Ledger the rap mogul Jay-Z, songstress Beyonce, comedian Bill Cosby and singer Chaka Khan planned to attend Houston's funeral.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to make the guest list public.

While he refused to disclose the guest list, Newark Police Director Samuel DeMaio said Wednesday that officers will provide motorcycle escorts to many of the celebrities who are expected to arrive in Newark this weekend. The funeral will otherwise be a private affair, with police shutting down a six square-block area around the New Hope church. There will be no procession of Houston's body from Whigham Funeral Home to the church Saturday, and no outside video screens erected so fans can mourn publically, DeMaio said.

The area remained public this afternoon, however, and Houston's cousin Dionne Warwick was seen at the church where she is believed to be practicing for Saturday's service with the New Hope Baptist choir.

Mayor Cory Booker is also expected to attend the services, according to his spokeswoman, Anne Torres. Currently, he is the only Newark dignitary to publicly receive an invitation. On Wednesday, several city council members said they had not been extended an invitation to the event.

Booker also announced that Newark will lower flags at its municipal buildings to half-staff in honor of Houston tomorrow, mirroring Gov. Chris Christie's decision to do the same at state facilities which drew criticism yesterday.

“Our City is mourning the loss of one of its native daughters and one of music’s shining stars. Whitney Houston inspired so many people, and although she went from a Newark church to the global stage, she always remained a deep part of our city’s pride and collective heart. Our prayers continue to be with her family during this difficult time,” he said in a statement.

E! News also reports that Kevin Costner, who starred alongside Whitney Houston in the blockbuster "The Bodyguard," is expected to speak at the funeral, along with Houston's mentor Clive Davis, although Costner's publicist told The Star-Ledger he could not confirm this.

Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder are both expected to sing in memory of Houston. Invitations to the private service have reportedly been extended to singers Chaka Khan, CeCe Winans, Brandy, Darlene Love and songwriter Diane Warren, according to E!

Fans will have to content themselves with a TV and Internet feed from inside the church, where Pastor Marvin L. Winans will give eulogy over the service. Winans tells CNN's Anderson Cooper that the family wanted to bury Houston "with dignity." "This is not a break or an opportunity," he told Cooper. "We are really hurting and seriously grieving, and it amazes me the insensitivity of the media when it comes to things like this ... We loved her when she was Nippy in New Jersey. The world loved her because of her voice. But if Nippy could not sing, the Houston family would love her, and I knew that Mama Houston would do it the way she wanted it done. We're going to church, and we're not going to be worried about if the world can get in."

http://www.nj.com/enterta...speak.html

Given all the recent "news" about the funeral arrangements, dosen't this statement seem a bit contradictory? Maybe it's just me.

Dreamer2 said:

This story goes back to the old sayings ............ Never come between a Woman and her Man

Whitney Houston - My Love Is Your Love (R.I.P)

Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston: A Love Story

By Rob Kenner | Feb 14, 2012 | 4:08 pm | Permalink

Say what you will about Whitney and Bobby, but they were devoted to each other.

The night of Whitney Houston’s death, I typed her name in Spotify, hoping that her voice might fill the empty space. As often happens after artists pass away, her work seemed suddenly transformed, resonating with new layers of meaning.

The song “Heartbreak Hotel” brought to mind the Beverly Hilton where the singer’s body was discovered in a fourth-floor bathroom—and where Clive Davis’s pre-Grammy party went on as scheduled later that evening. “I Have Nothing” was almost too much to bear, with Whitney singing “Don’t make me close one more door; I don’t want to hurt anymore.”

But perhaps the most wrenching song of all was “My Love Is Your Love,” from her 1998 album of the same name—the strongest of Houston’s later recordings. Hearing young Bobbi Kristina say “sing, Mommy” at the top of the song was hard enough, but then Whitney went ahead and sang these words: “If tomorrow was judgment day, and I’m standing on the front line, and the Lord asked me what I did with my life, I will say I spent it with you.”

Those poignant lyrics sent my mind flashing back to the evening of August 28, 2004. I had been invited to dinner with Whitney and Bobby—along with Bobby's brother Tommy and his father "Pops"—by Tracey Baker and Wanda Shelley, the producers of the hit reality show Being Bobby Brown. What was clear to me then remains clear now.

And on this bittersweet Valentine's Day, which falls just three days after Whitney's Houston's tragic passing, and one day after Bobby faced a ravenous mob of reporters while trying to get to his daughter's bedside, it is worth repeating the truth: In good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, Bobby and Whitney were hopelessly devoted to each other—truly, madly, deeply.

Upon entering the dimly lit Atlantic Seafood restaurant in Alpharetta, Georgia, the R&B star once known as “King of the Stage” greeted me with a warm handshake. He was wearing a black fitted cap, baggy jeans, black boots, and a black Iceberg shirt with the Tasmanian Devil cartoon character on it. “Hi! I’m Bobby Brown,” he said. “Have you met my wife?”

'[Bobbi Kristina] is ready to record now,' Bobby said with fatherly pride. At which point Whitney, who hadn’t been saying much until then, shook her head and said 'NO!'

At first it seemed like a ridiculous question—his wife was, after all, one of the most famous recording artists in history—but on second thought I realized that the correct answer was “no.”

Whitney’s hair was up and her tight jeans had light-blue Japanese characters artfully scattered here and there. She looked fit and beautiful, her model physique still very much intact at age 40. But she also seemed restless. There was no trace of inner calm, that “greatest love of all” that she sang about finding inside of her so many years ago.

“My wife will have salmon and steamed rice,” Bobby told the waitress. When his sushi platter arrived, Bobby politely sent it back so the eel could be cooked a bit more. Then the couple got back to discussing their daughter’s ambition to follow in her parents’ footsteps and become a singer. “She’s ready to record now,” Bobby said with fatherly pride—at which point Whitney, who hadn’t been saying much until then, shook her head and said “NO!”

“Whitney doesn’t want it,” Bobby continued.

“Sheee-it,” Whitney whispered loudly, leaving unsaid all the hard lessons she had learned since signing her first recording contract at age 20.

Bobby kept going: “I don’t think there’s a better industry—only because I love it. I love it. I love everything about it. I got caught up in the press part of it, you know, the bad press, the good press. It really doesn’t matter. As long as you spell my name right, talk about me. It doesn’t matter to me. As long as [Whitney] knows who I am... it really doesn’t matter what other people think about me.”

Whitney then looked up and said, “You would think he is a bad man—a bad, bad man.”

“You’d really think I was a bad person,” Bobby chimed in.

Then, making the sound of a game-show buzzer, Whitney added: “I’m the crazy one!”

Whitney Houston was a stunning woman blessed with an impossibly powerful voice who became an international superstar. She released an unprecedented seven No. 1 singles in a row—from ”Saving All My Love For You” to “Where Do Broken Hearts Go”—and starred in hit movies like The Bodyguard and Waiting To Exhale. But somewhere along the way, she descended into drug dependency and despair.

The standard explanation was that she had been led astray by her husband. Check out the first sentence of her Associated Press obituary: “Whitney Houston, who was pop music's queen until her majestic voice was ravaged by drug use and her regal image was tarnished by erratic behavior and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, has died on the eve of the Grammy Awards she once reigned over.”

Four cops came and got me, guns drawn," said Bobby.“Then this is me on the side,” Whitney added, laughing, “I’m going, 'Come on baby! Jump in the car! We’ll make an escape!'

This “Beauty and the Beast” theory of Houston’s decline was reinforced by an infamous Bobby-bashing Oprah Winfrey interview—part of the press roll-out for Houston’s attempt at a comeback album, I Look To You, which debuted at No. 1 in 2009. But breaking up with Bobby Brown didn’t actually solve her problems. She began missing tour dates for “exhaustion” and the whole cycle of denial and enabling began all over again.

Bethann Hardison, who had known Whitney ever since she was a 16-year-old fashion model at Click Agency, told me back then that Bobby and Whitney were “soul mates” who were meant to be together, despite the difficulties they faced. “I have such great respect for their relationship,” Hardison said. “There’s a serious, serious bond between them.”

Despite widespread speculation that Bobby was responsible for ruining Whitney’s life, Bethann Hardison, for one, was not buying it. “Bobby is a lovely guy with an extraordinary heart,” she said then. “He is truly not the reason for Whitney’s troubles, whatever they are.”

Part of this perception came from Houston’s carefully controlled image. “Whitney was always a pretty girl, and she comes off as more of an American darling,” Hardison explained. “No one can sit back and say, Aw man, you think she can sing well? It’s not debatable. You think she’s cute? It’s not debatable. She has done things that no one can deny. And people feel that once you’ve touched them, they have something to say about you. So they couldn’t understand what she saw in Bobby. With all the good looking guys around—why him? With all the people who may have a certain stature—why him?”

Whitney wore a ring with an ice-cube-sized rock on it that night in the restaurant. Although she didn’t talk much, she would sometimes use her hands to pound drum rolls on the table or play air piano. From time to time, Bobby would reach over, put his hand on her neck and say, “Calm down, baby.”

Asked about an old photo of Bobby and Whitney with Biggie, Whitney responded immediately. “That was at a club,” she recalls. “He was waiting outside and we took that picture. He was a real gangster,” Whitney said, repeating the phrase “real gangster” for emphasis. “I was familiar with Faith, cause we both grew up in Newark,” Whitney added. “She was no joke. She went to church right up Clarendon Avenue and I would see her sing in my church and she would see me sing in her church. She was a good friend of mine.”

Atlantic Seafood happened to be the same restaurant where Bobby had been arrested a year or so prior after the couple snuck out on the last night of Bobby’s house arrest—the result of various probation violations stemming from a seven-year-old drunk-driving case.

“The funny thing about it is that we knew we shouldn’t have went out,” Whitney said, laughing.

“We shouldn’t have gone out that night,” Bobby agreed with a toothy grin. “I don’t know what we were thinking.”

“I was in the house going like this,” Whitney recalled, clenching her fists. “We had been in the house. He couldn’t go out and I was like, Yo...”

“It was my last day though,” Bobby said.

“It was the last day,” Whitney affirmed. “Last day of the house arrest... So we tested the waters and thought, ‘Oh Nooo. Fuck it.’”

One of the patrons in the restaurant saw them that night and pulled out her cell phone—but not to take a picture. The Atlanta evening news played a tape recording of her 911 call. “Uhh, what are you supposed to do if you see somebody who has a warrant for their arrest?” asked a female voice with a syrupy Georgia drawl.

“Just report it ma’am,” the police dispatcher replied, “and we’ll come right over.”

“Well, I see Bobby Brown in here,” his fellow diner said as if she’d just spotted a terrorist.

“I live not even four blocks from here.” Bobby recalled. “Four cops came and got me, guns drawn. They walked me out.”

“Then this is me on the side,” Whitney added, laughing, “I’m going, 'Come on baby! Jump in the car! Fuck it! We’ll make an escape!'”

“They’ve got me,” Bobby told her. “Don’t you see?”

“I was like, No! We can do it! Let’s run!” Whitney recalled, speaking loudly and laughing so hard at the story that she began to cough. “I was fuckin’ nusto. I was like ‘Yo, we can do this. Let’s go. Jump in the car.’”

“And the police have guns in hand,” Bobby confirms. “Mr. Brown can you step outside?”

“I said, ‘Why you got your guns drawn?’ I was like, ‘Sir, I’m not gonna run, I’m not gonna do nothing like that.’ I said, ‘This is actually for a traffic ticket. You all don’t need to come to me and approach me like that.’

Darling, I have been quoted, misquoted, misread, misled, the whole nine yards,” Whitney said, turning her eyes toward the ceiling. “You know what? All I want to do is sing. That’s all I wanna do. You know? And make people happy.

But I was calm about it. I said, ‘Just can you give me one minute and let me just take my jewelry off, and you know, have my food wrapped up and give it to my wife so that when I get back…’”

Suddenly Whitney focused on my tape recorder and became uncomfortable with the presence of a journalist at the table. I told her that if she wanted the recorder turned off I would turn it off, but she told me forget it.

“Darling, I have been quoted, misquoted, misread, misled, the whole nine yards,” she said, turning her eyes toward the ceiling. “What the fuck? You know what? All I want to do is fucking sing. That’s all I wanna do. You know? And make people happy.”

Bobby leaned over to lay his hand on his wife’s shoulders. “Calm down, calm down,” he said. “Take it, take it, take it.”

“My mother told me to breathe,” Whitney said, lowering her head.

“Take the breath,” Bobby told her. “Take the breath.”

“Exhale, bitch,” Whitney told herself. “Exhale.”

“There’s a song about that, right?” I asked, trying to lighten a tense moment.

“Shoop,” Whitney replied.

“Shoop Shoopy doop,” Bobby chimed in.

I told Whitney that when that single from the Waiting To Exhale soundtrack first came out, I cut out all the lights in my office and turned the track up to 11.

“It’s a mellow song,” Whitney said. “Isn’t it mellow?”

I agreed with her, adding that I had been very stressed when I first heard the song.

“Me too,” Whitney said. “I do relate.”

“What you talking 'bout baby?” Bobby asked her with a laugh. “What you mean you were stressed out?”

“It was shit going on,” Whitney replied. “A lot going on. You know, I was a movie star. I really didn’t wanna be one. I was raising my daughter. My husband, I wasn’t with my husband. I had to be in Phoenix. And it was like Yo—fuck this. I don’t wanna do this…”

Bobby listened attentively as his wife poured out her blues. He understood as well as anyone how success has strained their relationship. In three more years, he pointed out, they would be marking their 15th wedding anniversary.

“Still got the cake,” Bobby revealed, explaining that the top layer of their wedding cake had remained in the freezer of their New Jersey estate. Whenever somebody pulled out a popsicle, those two little marzipan figures of the bride and groom would be right there, staring back at them. “It don’t look like me,” Bobby complained, grinning. “He got a dumby—not a gumby. It’s all flat on one side.”

The original plan was to take out the cake and cut it to celebrate their tenth anniversary, but that year they didn’t feel much like celebrating. That was the year Bobby was arrested for marijuana possession, Whitney gave her infamous Diane Sawyer interview, and John Houston sued his daughter for $100 million. “It was like, Nah…” Bobby said. “We ain’t cutting that shit.”

“I’m sure every time you open the freezer,” Bobby’s father Pops said with a laugh, “They be in there saying ‘When you gonna cut me so I can get out of here?’”

“Twelve year-old cake?” said Bobby’s brother Tommy, aghast. “Who gonna eat that?”

“It’s still the same as it was,” Whitney said. “It’s lasted a long time. Yeah, baby. Like us.”

Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston never did make it to that next anniversary. Two years later they broke up for good. Nobody had given them much a chance of making it for the long haul. Bobby told me that some of their own wedding guests had been wagering about how long the marriage would last. But one night after our dinner together, I witnessed a moment that made Whtiney’s “My Love Is Your Love” lyric “it will take an eternity to break us” ring true.

I’ve got more to give,” Whitney said. “They just don’t know it yet. I like to hold a little back.

I had just finished interviewing Bobby, and our conversation had been taped for possible use in the reality show. As the lights were being switched off, and the cameras packed away, the sound of music floated in to the restaurant.

Someone was playing the grand piano out in the lobby and the sound was uncommonly sweet. The guests of the Westin hotel continued chatting among themselves, unaware that the woman seated at the black piano bench with her hat pulled down low was the multiplatinum, Grammy Award winning superstar Whitney Houston. She spoke quietly to herself as she felt her way through the chords of a timeless love song, summoning keyboard skills learned in church.

She said that she’d like to record a gospel album “because that’s where I’m from,” but that she knew “Clive ain’t trying to hear it.” Still, judging by this impromptu recital, Alicia Keys was not the only Clive Davis signee capable of throwing down on the ivories. “I’ve got more to give,” Whitney said later. “They just don’t know it yet. I like to hold a little back.”

She got so absorbed in her playing that she didn’t begin to sing until near the end. Only then did a few hotel guests look up and start to take notice. She sang a song about instant, abiding love, made famous by Roberta Flack, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” And before the song was over, Whitney found her voice, which was disarmingly quiet and delicate.

“Your face,” she sang in rising tones, piano chords gathering strength for a final flourish. There was nothing tentative about her playing now. Seeing the music flowing freely through her was a joy to behold.

“Your faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace—I saaaw…” and here Whitney added an effortless little riff that could break your heart. “Your face,” she concluded, the last chords reverberating in the air as Whitney finally exhaled.

[Edited 2/17/12 10:24am]

[Edited 2/17/12 10:28am]

I remembered this interview. This is what really what Whitney was and I'm not surprised Clive wouldn't let her do certain things. Like I said earlier, she was Clive's little slave girl, even she admitted it as such later on.

November said:

musicjunky318 said:

Jay-Z, Beyonce, Elton John, Oprah Winfrey to attend Whitney Houston's funeral

— Elton John and Oprah Winfrey will lead a parade of celebrities expected to attend Whitney Houston's funeral at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark Saturday, according to two people with knowledge of the family's plans.

Rock star David Bowie is also expected to attend the services for the 48-year-old pop queen, a source said this afternoon. Earlier today, a source told The Star-Ledger the rap mogul Jay-Z, songstress Beyonce, comedian Bill Cosby and singer Chaka Khan planned to attend Houston's funeral.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to make the guest list public.

While he refused to disclose the guest list, Newark Police Director Samuel DeMaio said Wednesday that officers will provide motorcycle escorts to many of the celebrities who are expected to arrive in Newark this weekend. The funeral will otherwise be a private affair, with police shutting down a six square-block area around the New Hope church. There will be no procession of Houston's body from Whigham Funeral Home to the church Saturday, and no outside video screens erected so fans can mourn publically, DeMaio said.

The area remained public this afternoon, however, and Houston's cousin Dionne Warwick was seen at the church where she is believed to be practicing for Saturday's service with the New Hope Baptist choir.

Mayor Cory Booker is also expected to attend the services, according to his spokeswoman, Anne Torres. Currently, he is the only Newark dignitary to publicly receive an invitation. On Wednesday, several city council members said they had not been extended an invitation to the event.

Booker also announced that Newark will lower flags at its municipal buildings to half-staff in honor of Houston tomorrow, mirroring Gov. Chris Christie's decision to do the same at state facilities which drew criticism yesterday.

“Our City is mourning the loss of one of its native daughters and one of music’s shining stars. Whitney Houston inspired so many people, and although she went from a Newark church to the global stage, she always remained a deep part of our city’s pride and collective heart. Our prayers continue to be with her family during this difficult time,” he said in a statement.

E! News also reports that Kevin Costner, who starred alongside Whitney Houston in the blockbuster "The Bodyguard," is expected to speak at the funeral, along with Houston's mentor Clive Davis, although Costner's publicist told The Star-Ledger he could not confirm this.

Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder are both expected to sing in memory of Houston. Invitations to the private service have reportedly been extended to singers Chaka Khan, CeCe Winans, Brandy, Darlene Love and songwriter Diane Warren, according to E!

Fans will have to content themselves with a TV and Internet feed from inside the church, where Pastor Marvin L. Winans will give eulogy over the service. Winans tells CNN's Anderson Cooper that the family wanted to bury Houston "with dignity." "This is not a break or an opportunity," he told Cooper. "We are really hurting and seriously grieving, and it amazes me the insensitivity of the media when it comes to things like this ... We loved her when she was Nippy in New Jersey. The world loved her because of her voice. But if Nippy could not sing, the Houston family would love her, and I knew that Mama Houston would do it the way she wanted it done. We're going to church, and we're not going to be worried about if the world can get in."

http://www.nj.com/enterta...speak.html

Given all the recent "news" about the funeral arrangements, dosen't this statement seem a bit contradictory? Maybe it's just me.

Nah it ain't just you. I already grew sick when I read DAVID FUCKING BOWIE was attending. Whitney wanted her privacy but even in fucking death, she's not gonna get it. Fuck all of them. Why would Cissy and Dionne even agree to this?

Timmy84 said:

I remembered this interview. This is what really what Whitney was and I'm not surprised Clive wouldn't let her do certain things. Like I said earlier, she was Clive's little slave girl, even she admitted it as such later on.

What?! When/where did she say that...I'm curious.

BitetheBeat said:

Timmy84 said:

What?! When/where did she say that...I'm curious.

I don't think she said "slave girl" actually but when talking about Clive, her statements seemed a little like she just agreed to do what he either told her to do or asked her to do or whatever.