LOS ANGELES — Dresses and jewelry worn by Whitney Houston will be included at a celebrity auction in Los Angeles in late March, it was announced on Monday, a day after the pop diva was laid to rest.
"In a rare twist of fate," several items from her musical career and movie appearances will be available, "as if the pop legend was determined to keep her presence alive," said celebrity auction house Julien's Auctions.
Included will be a black velvet dress with metallic silver ribbon with an estimated asking price of $1,000-$2,000 and faux pearl drop earrings worn by Houston in the hit 1992 movie "The Bodyguard," expected to fetch $600-$800.
"Other items include jewelry and costumes from Houston's appearance in film and on stage," the auction house said a written statement.
Houston was found dead on February 11 in her Los Angeles hotel room. A funeral ceremony celebrating her life was held on Saturday, the day before she was laid to rest in a New Jersey cemetery next to her late father.
Houston, who was just 48, sold more than 170 million records during a nearly three-decade career, but she fought a long and public battle against substance abuse while trying to keep her performing talent alive.
Speculation has raged since her death that the singer may have succumbed to a lethal cocktail of prescription drugs and alcohol, though official results from her autopsy may not be made public for several weeks.
Musical version of The Bodyguard To Open in London
February 20, 2012
A musical version of the 1992 film The Bodyguard, which starred Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner, is to open in London's West End later this year.
The film, which tells the story of the relationship between a superstar singer and her bodyguard, took over $400 million during its run at the box office and its soundtrack, which featured Houston's single 'I Will Always Love You', has sold a staggering 42 million copies.
Grammy Award winning singer Heather Headley will play the part of Rachel Marron, the character originally portrayed by Houston in the film. The musical will open in November at London's Adelphi Theatre.
According to the Guardian, the project has been in development since last year, but its commercial prospects will have improved significantly after Houston passed away earlier this month.
The show is confirmed to feature 'I Will Always Love You' and is also set to include some of Houston's other big hits. American playwright Alex Dinelaris has written the show's book.
The Preacher's Wife sdtk is AMAZING!!! I'm so glad that she was able to make this. Whitney being just a Pop singer, my black behind!!! She TRANSCENDS genre!!
I love that obit program.... Cissy wanted the world to know that Whitney was a child of GOD and that she was resting with the Father in Heaven above. I love it!!!
Heather Headley is the perfect choice for Rachel Marron. I know she is gonna make Whitney SO PROUD!!!
Stevie Wonder = EARTH
Prince = WIND
Chaka Khan = FIRE
Sade = WATER
the ELEMENTS of MUSIC
Aretha Franklin Honors Whitney Houston at Radio City Concert
Feb 20, 2012
Aretha Franklin was thankful to be alive and was thinking about lost friends, among them Whitney Houston.
Hours after she canceled an appearance at Houston's funeral because of spasms in her legs, the "Queen of Soul" (the "undisputed" Queen, the capacity audience was reminded by the show's announcer) was quick on her feet, feisty in voice and sentimental and sassy in spirit at Radio City Music Hall on Saturday night. It was the latest stop on a "greatest hits" tour featuring old favorites and, since Houston's shocking death a week ago, a tribute to the fallen singer. Franklin is close to Houston's family, and she said Houston called her "Aunt Ree."
Franklin herself was rumored a year ago to be mortally ill, hospitalized with an undisclosed illness and asking her fans worldwide to pray for her health. On Saturday, the 69-year-old looked young enough to joke about a man who had mistaken her for being in her 50s. She danced and shimmied, kicked off her heels and paced the stage barefoot, and even smirked and gave herself a couple of satisfied pats on the rear.
She looked back over a 50-year career and those who helped her along. Franklin praised the late Luther Vandross as she kicked off the R&B hit he co-wrote for her, "Get It Right."
She introduced her most heartbreaking ballad, "Ain't No Way," with a brief word about her sister and the song's composer, Carolyn Franklin, who died in 1988.
She sang the title from the classic Motown anthem of devotion, "You're All I Need To Get By," and two giant flat screens on opposite sides of the stage flashed a picture of one of the writers, Nick Ashford, who died last summer. Franklin then called out to Ashford's widow and songwriting partner, Valerie Simpson, among several friends and family members in attendance.
Houston's turn came during the second half of the roughly 100-minute concert, after Franklin had changed from a glittery green and silver caftan into a caftan of white and gold, and settled behind the piano and sketched out the words and melody to "I Will Always Love You." Softening Houston's all-time power ballad into a light, gospel reverie, Franklin paused to acknowledge the "homegoing" of "Nippy," Houston's nickname: More formally, "Miss Whitney Elizabeth Houston." "She was a very fine young lady" and "one of the best, greatest singers," said Franklin, breaking back and forth between melody and spoken word, behind song and sermon. "She was giving, gave so much of herself." "God bless you, Nippy," she concluded. "We'll always remember." But no one, Houston included, has displaced Franklin at the top.
No one would dare. Backed by a sprawl of percussionists, horns, keyboards, singers and dancers, she has absorbed and mastered so many styles, from pop and gospel to soul and jazz, that she can hold entire traditions within a single song.
And she remains fearless about shaking up standards. Her breakthrough smash from 1967, "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" was changed from a smoldering ballad into a bluesy vamp. Franklin worked in a few digs about womanizing into the otherwise despondent "Ain't No Way" and stretched and scatted the words to "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman."
She had come to celebrate, to sell (Franklin urged the crowd, twice, to go to Walmart and buy her latest record) and to heal. "I hope that there's something I will sing, or I have sung, that will lift all of our heavy hearts today," she said near the beginning of the show.
The answer was obvious, especially after the closing numbers: an explosive "Spirit in the Dark," with Franklin leading the charge on piano; and the essential finale, "Respect," with a cameo from the Rev. Al Sharpton, who pulled off some James Brown strides, and even a few nimble steps from the Queen herself, whose heart and legs seemed to have lightened as she left the stage.
Hmm, that's the first time she ever wanted to be addressed as the undisputed queen of soul... reminded me of when that whole thing with Tina went down and she actually was introduced as the empress, which I know rubbed Gladys Knight fans the wrong way.
According to reports Cissy Houston was not pleased about the slick comments Aretha Franklin made about Whitney Houston on the Today Show the day before the funeral...
The Queen of Soul’s spokeswoman strenuously denied that Franklin missed Whitney Houston’s funeral on Saturday afternoon because she angered the late singer’s mother, Cissy Houston, with comments she made during a “Today” show interview on Friday.
Franklin, 69, canceled her scheduled appearance at Houston’s New Jersey funeral service on Saturday, citing leg spasms, but sources and reviews note that the soul diva was in fine fettle on Saturday night when she performed the second of two sold out concerts at Radio City Music Hall.
An insider also tells us that Franklin — who paid tribute to Houston during her concert — was even feeling well enough to entertain 40 of her friends at the Ritz Carlton hotel on Central Park South after Saturday’s show.
The eyewitness says Franklin, sporting a curly blond hairstyle, arrived on the arm of her on-again, off-again fiance William Wilkerson.
The group dined on steak and shrimp, and our source says, “It looked like everyone was having a great time.”
Franklin’s rapid recovery gives credence to buzz that her absence from Houston’s funeral had to do with comments she made during an interview she taped with Al Roker.
Curiously, the clip is no longer available on the “Today” website, but Franklin addressed Houston’s drug problem with what sounded like veiled criticism of the tragic singer’s upbringing.
“Parents have to really talk to their children before they leave home,” Franklin told Roker. “They have to make sure when they leave home, they have all the right things.
She left home with all the right things, but she just kind of lost her way along the way.”
Franklin also denied she was Houston’s godmother, as the media has reported, but rather an “honorary aunt.”
Hmm, that's the first time she ever wanted to be addressed as the undisputed queen of soul... reminded me of when that whole thing with Tina went down and she actually was introduced as the empress, which I know rubbed Gladys Knight fans the wrong way.
Hmm, that's the first time she ever wanted to be addressed as the undisputed queen of soul... reminded me of when that whole thing with Tina went down and she actually was introduced as the empress, which I know rubbed Gladys Knight fans the wrong way.
According to reports Cissy Houston was not pleased about the slick comments Aretha Franklin made about Whitney Houston on the Today Show the day before the funeral...
The Queen of Soul’s spokeswoman strenuously denied that Franklin missed Whitney Houston’s funeral on Saturday afternoon because she angered the late singer’s mother, Cissy Houston, with comments she made during a “Today” show interview on Friday.
Franklin, 69, canceled her scheduled appearance at Houston’s New Jersey funeral service on Saturday, citing leg spasms, but sources and reviews note that the soul diva was in fine fettle on Saturday night when she performed the second of two sold out concerts at Radio City Music Hall.
An insider also tells us that Franklin — who paid tribute to Houston during her concert — was even feeling well enough to entertain 40 of her friends at the Ritz Carlton hotel on Central Park South after Saturday’s show.
The eyewitness says Franklin, sporting a curly blond hairstyle, arrived on the arm of her on-again, off-again fiance William Wilkerson.
The group dined on steak and shrimp, and our source says, “It looked like everyone was having a great time.”
Franklin’s rapid recovery gives credence to buzz that her absence from Houston’s funeral had to do with comments she made during an interview she taped with Al Roker.
Curiously, the clip is no longer available on the “Today” website, but Franklin addressed Houston’s drug problem with what sounded like veiled criticism of the tragic singer’s upbringing.
“Parents have to really talk to their children before they leave home,” Franklin told Roker. “They have to make sure when they leave home, they have all the right things.
She left home with all the right things, but she just kind of lost her way along the way.”
Franklin also denied she was Houston’s godmother, as the media has reported, but rather an “honorary aunt.”
That's quite interesting. I don't know what to believe regarding this though.
According to reports Cissy Houston was not pleased about the slick comments Aretha Franklin made about Whitney Houston on the Today Show the day before the funeral...
The Queen of Soul’s spokeswoman strenuously denied that Franklin missed Whitney Houston’s funeral on Saturday afternoon because she angered the late singer’s mother, Cissy Houston, with comments she made during a “Today” show interview on Friday.
Franklin, 69, canceled her scheduled appearance at Houston’s New Jersey funeral service on Saturday, citing leg spasms, but sources and reviews note that the soul diva was in fine fettle on Saturday night when she performed the second of two sold out concerts at Radio City Music Hall.
An insider also tells us that Franklin — who paid tribute to Houston during her concert — was even feeling well enough to entertain 40 of her friends at the Ritz Carlton hotel on Central Park South after Saturday’s show.
The eyewitness says Franklin, sporting a curly blond hairstyle, arrived on the arm of her on-again, off-again fiance William Wilkerson.
The group dined on steak and shrimp, and our source says, “It looked like everyone was having a great time.”
Franklin’s rapid recovery gives credence to buzz that her absence from Houston’s funeral had to do with comments she made during an interview she taped with Al Roker.
Curiously, the clip is no longer available on the “Today” website, but Franklin addressed Houston’s drug problem with what sounded like veiled criticism of the tragic singer’s upbringing.
“Parents have to really talk to their children before they leave home,” Franklin told Roker. “They have to make sure when they leave home, they have all the right things.
She left home with all the right things, but she just kind of lost her way along the way.”
Franklin also denied she was Houston’s godmother, as the media has reported, but rather an “honorary aunt.”
I forgot she did say that in the Dateline interview. If that's the case... there's definitely drama between Aretha and Cissy but if she was disinvited, why was her name still on the set list of the funeral procession? More questions than answers.
I forgot she did say that in the Dateline interview. If that's the case... there's definitely drama between Aretha and Cissy but if she was disinvited, why was her name still on the set list of the funeral procession? More questions than answers.
Program was prepared in advance. No chance to make changes.
I don't want you to think like me. I just want you to think.
I forgot she did say that in the Dateline interview. If that's the case... there's definitely drama between Aretha and Cissy but if she was disinvited, why was her name still on the set list of the funeral procession? More questions than answers.
Program was prepared in advance. No chance to make changes.
I remember singing Count On Me with my class in 96/97-ish, we probably did it for an assembly and most of us had the soundtrack. Though I loved Whitney's songs too, I was the craziest about Brandy and TLC
The Preacher's Wife sdtk is AMAZING!!! I'm so glad that she was able to make this. Whitney being just a Pop singer, my black behind!!! She TRANSCENDS genre!!
I love that obit program.... Cissy wanted the world to know that Whitney was a child of GOD and that she was resting with the Father in Heaven above. I love it!!!
Heather Headley is the perfect choice for Rachel Marron. I know she is gonna make Whitney SO PROUD!!!
She really was something, like with Michael, one of the few upsides is that people will see the artistry when they look back. You know, the word "re-spect" means literally "to look again" that is one of the things her death will do. As I listen to her songs, I don't like how she was molded so strictly by whoever (Clive,producers,etc..,) to me, pop songs like "I wanna Dance with Somebody", good songs, but really not worth Whitneys talent. Like any great american artist, she spanned a lot of genres though, I always heard a lot of country in her "I Will Always Love You" performance and why not, a woman like Cissy no doubt would have exposed whitney to a lot of stuff. That's where her artistry really shines, no producer could really give her every single idea she put down, just listen to that run in "Always" she sings right before the sax break, that's the stuff a mariah carey or an aguilara or her many imitators strived for, to her, it's nearly a throwaway in that you can barely hear it.
A Powerful Read: Cissy Houston Writes Letter To Whitney
will ALWAYS think of like a "ACT OF GOD"! N another realm. mean of all people who might of been aliens or angels.if found out that wasn't of this earth, would not have been that surprised. R.I.P.
Aretha can be the undisputed Queen of Soul but Whitney is THE VOICE!!!
Stay mad, you bitter fat cunt!!!
never was much for all the diva stuff, and no ones taking aretha's place, she is the Queen, I don't see any anger or bitterness in anything she has done, but people see what they like I guess. I thought her interview was fantastic, thoughtful, sincere. Sorry the rest of you don't feel that way.
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I'd buy multiple copies to give to some Whitney Houston fans that I know.
will ALWAYS think of 
like a "ACT OF GOD"! N another realm.