Whitney Houston passed away on 2/11/12 - Part 1

[Nova]

I think one of the pressures was trying to be "the voice" again. That was impossible to regain after the damage done for years to her vocal chords. Clive and crew should have tried a new way to market WH-perhaps she should tried to hone a "smokey", sexy voice-something that could have been possible with her range and songs picked for such a voice. I'm sure WH felt the pressure which didn't help her attempts to get clean.
People change as they get older-stars like Demi and Heather and WH needed someone to show them how to re-invent themselves for their maturing bodies and voice. You can't be 25 forever and if you try-you just look desperate. There's nothing wrong with maturing with grace and acceptance (some stars do it successfully)-although that's not a popular idea in Hollywood!IMO

True and singers sometimes have to learn to sing in healthier ways. Bette Midler and Barbra Streisand have both talked about having to learn to sing in a manner that put less strain on their vocal cords, and as far as I know, neither has a history of substance abuse. (Well, there were stories about Midler in NYC, but that was decades ago. LOL.)

It's a simple fact: an iron larynx doesn't last forever. Older singers have to use their voices wisely. (Drugs, alcohol and smoking are not wise; but it's also a matter of vocal placement, hence the use of coaches.)

 

[RR0004]

May you find peace now, Whitney. You are finally home.

 

[zippitydoda]

Last Saturday night a group of us went out for a B-day party to a dinnerclub in the city, later in the night the dj played "I wanna dance with somebody" and the whole place went nuts, everyone danced and sang along. Her music brings a lot of joy to people, and will be played for ever and ever.

Everyone has struggles and I'm not perfect either. She loved her daughter, was close to her family and I don't recall her hurting anyone else but herself. She was a mega star and fame can take people to dark places. I also don't think it comes with an on/off switch.

I recently learned that her version of our National Anthem sold over 1 million copies, and Whitney Houston donated her profits to veterans hospitals and causes. She didn't have to do that, but she did.

She was a Jersey girl, and now she has come home.

 

[shana]

Oh, good grief! Songwriters ALWAYS call the songs they write "mine". There was no disrespect in Parton's comment and she shouldn't have had to apologize. However, it's typically gracious of her that she would do so, rather than making an issue out of being in the right.

"And I Will Always Love You" IS Dolly Parton's song.

A great recording of it may be said to be Whitney Houston's "version" or "rendition", but the song itself belongs to the songwriter.

I blame the phony fuss on the internet where songs are falsely listed as belonging to singers rather than writers. I adore Bette Midler, but "The Rose" is Amanda McBroom's song.

ITA, Nova...thanks. I didn't say so in my post which you quoted because my purpose was to re-direct the convo to today's news about Dolly instead of clarifying further the old quote which needed to be put to rest.

(VERY familiar with Amanda's work too, btw...she's fabulous!)

 

[Luzianne]

Somebody pages back said that the lady in the pictures with Whitney at the party Thursday night were Shante Broadus, Snoop Dogg's girlfriend. On looking more closely, I don't think it is. I think it is Patricia Houston, Whitney's sister in law/manager, Whitney's brother Gary's wife. And the body guard in those same pictures, the black man with the straw hat on, I think is one of her body guards, who happens to be Patricia Houston's older brother or brother in law.

See, in this link, there is a picture a little further down the page that shows a man, Whitney, Bobbi Kristina, and the woman that looks to me to be the same woman with her at the party Thursday night. And it says it's Patricia Houston, Whitney's sister in law.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...ey-Houstons-final-performance-days-death.html

Here's the picture:

 

[georger]

Yes, Dolly's quote about buying the shoes was from some time in the past. I've also read another version in which she had supposedly said that she had bought a lot of cheap wigs. If anything, Dolly was poking fun at herself!

Today at TMZ however, there is a story about another recent Dolly quote (after Whitney's death) with the addition of an apology:

I Didn't Mean to Diss Whitney
'I Will Always Love You' Is OURS

Thanks for the apology!

:what::innocent::seeya:lease::waitasec::fence:

 

[mrsu]

There are several quotes attributed to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie re his decision to honor Whitney Houston with the flag at half-staff, such as:

"I am disturbed by people who believe that because her ultimate demise - and we don't know what is the cause of her death yet - but because of her history of substance abuse that somehow she's forfeited the good things that she did in her life. I just reject that on a human level."

...and also of note...

Christie also ordered a flag-lowering following the death of Bruce Springsteen's saxophonist Clarence Clemons last year.

Complete article (one of MANY on the net, on TV too)

So Christie says it's okay to fly flags at half staff for Whitney but strikes down the gay marriage proposal for New Jersey? Just sayin'. :waitasec:

I suppose that's for another thread. :seeya:

 

[mrsu]

He was saying she was not scheduled to perform at the GRAMMY's is what I take it to mean. I could be wrong. But everything I have read says she WAS supposed to perform at his party.

She wasn't supposed to perform at the party and she wasn't even going to attend the Grammy's. The reason she was there was to go to Clive's party as it was tradition for them to go to this pre-Grammy party together. Had she been scheduled to perform at the party we would have heard of sound checks and rehearsals and all that. Nobody has said a word, except that she was partying in the days before. I'm pretty sure her voice was in no condition to be performing.

 

[georger]

You got it. The Roman Arena all over again!

I agree.

Is there an Academy Award for car and truck ads?

 

[gngr~snap]

Somebody pages back said that the lady in the pictures with Whitney at the party Thursday night were Shante Broadus, Snoop Dogg's girlfriend. On looking more closely, I don't think it is. I think it is Patricia Houston, Whitney's sister in law/manager, Whitney's brother Gary's wife. And the body guard in those same pictures, the black man with the straw hat on, I think is one of her body guards, who happens to be Patricia Houston's older brother or brother in law.

IT WAS PROBABLY ME.
It's odd to me that most of her handlers are family members...
SMH-

Final performance: Kenny Lattimore, Patricia Houston, Whitney and daughter Bobbi Kristina at a pre-Grammy party

Whitney looked like a different woman going into the club!

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...re-bathtub-pop-legend-dead.html#ixzz1mhtySdFc

 

[georger]

I think it was actually wigs that she said that she bought, and SHE SAID THAT SOME TIME BACK, BEFORE WHITNEY DIED. She certainly didn't say it after Whitney died and she in no way equated Whitney's life with a bunch of wigs - or shoes! It was Dolly making fun of herself, and it was BEFORE Whitney died that she said that.

She siad shoes in the interview I heard. Im a linguist! I know the english
word shoes vs "wigs" ? The phonology is light years separate. As I
originally said I would post the link if I had one to post but do not have the ink to post so cant post the link is that ok? Now I need a tranquiliser!

 

[georger]

Thanks. I actually knew where the conflict started. I meant to ask a rhetorical question.

Personally, I am very much a Parton fan, but, as I said in a previous post, except for the Parton song I never thought Houston had material that matched her vocal gifts. But I recognize that both women are/were extremely talented. I see no reason to create a pissing contest using someone who died last week.

As for "And I Will Always Love You", the two women sang it very differently. Both versions are widely acknowledged classics and rightfully so.

It is Whitney Houston who has died - not Dolly Parton!
What is there about that people cant figure out?
Why is Dolly Parton now center stage? Dolly can give
a speech at some other .... reunion? .... funeral!

 

[mrsu]

Okay, watching 20/20 trying to sort this all out. Here's what I have as a timeline from those on 20/20.

Whitney's entourage was in the room. She got up and went to take a bath to get ready for the evening. They could hear her singing in the bathroom at one point. After about an hour, she still wasn't out so her female assistant went to check on her and found her body. She summoned for help and it was a male who carried her body out of the bathroom. They said she was found about 3:30. So according to her entourage's timeline, she would then have gotten in the bath about 2:30. She had spoken to both Dionne and her mother before she got in the tub. SO....

2-2:30 -- Spoke with Dionne and Cissy
2:30-3:30 -- in bathroom
3:30 -- found in bathroom
3:45 -- call to hotel security (I forget the exact time)
3:55 -- pronounced dead

 

[kato]

The more I hear & read, I hate to admit it but I think something hinky is going on.

 

[georger]

Oh, good grief! Songwriters ALWAYS call the songs they write "mine". There was no disrespect in Parton's comment and she shouldn't have had to apologize. However, it's typically gracious of her that she would do so, rather than making an issue out of being in the right.

"And I Will Always Love You" IS Dolly Parton's song.

A great recording of it may be said to be Whitney Houston's "version" or "rendition", but the song itself belongs to the songwriter.

I blame the phony fuss on the internet where songs are falsely listed as belonging to singers rather than writers. I adore Bette Midler, but "The Rose" is Amanda McBroom's song.

Here is a link to the song's known history:
[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Will_Always_Love_You"]I Will Always Love You - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

 

[shana]

Thanks for the apology!

:what::innocent::seeya:lease::waitasec::fence:

You're welcome for the link.

I thought Dolly's apology, altho certainly not needed, was gracious and lovely. Typical Dolly, what a love of a person.

~jmo~

 

[shana]

So Christie says it's okay to fly flags at half staff for Whitney but strikes down the gay marriage proposal for New Jersey? Just sayin'. :waitasec:

I suppose that's for another thread. :seeya:

Ayep, it is...another topic too.

Hope to see you there! But if I don't post, do note my Thanks.

 

[Woe.be.gone]

I'm barging in here and apologize in advance if this has been discussed already but I'm watching NG now which originally aired earlier this evening (but I didn't watch it then). Okay I posted earlier that I heard yesterday that a makeup artist had been waiting in the lobby of the hotel for a 4PM appt. that never took place due to Whitney's death the afternoon of Clive's party.
Now I just heard a guy named Reginald tell NG that he had been alone with Whitney in her suite, doing her hair and makeup, for about an hour and a half the afternoon of Clive's party. But get this, he says it was about four or five o'clock. WTH? We know that can't be true because WH was already dead by then. What's going on? Is someone covering for someone? Why didn't NG catch this conflict, as we know, WH was reported dead by 3:55 PM the afternoon of Clive's party. Plus, as I mentioned, there is another makeup artist who claims she had been booked that afternoon and had been waiting in the lobby prior to hearing the bad news.

Am I missing something? I'm almost positive he said before Clive's party - could he have meant the night before? I still don't have my replacement TIVO so I can't record anything or rewind - did anybody else catch this potential conflict? I know NG posts transcripts, I just don't know how quickly they're posted.

 

[Woe.be.gone]

How come you guys are still talking about the Dolly/Whitney issue? :waitasec:
It really doesn't have anything to do with what happened to WH. :twocents:

 

[SwampMama]

Well it is starting to get even odder. Aside from the reports of repeated erratic behavior, there is the issue of her daughter passing out in the tub the night before and flooding the room below which is just really odd in light of her mothers death in a eerily similar circumstance.

I'm seeing hints of crack use here or excessive drug use, bad drugs or unusually strong drugs. Maybe they had access to the really good stuff which is more pure and stronger than the usual stuff, after all its a week of partying and the alcohol and drugs are flowing. maybe they were mixing them. Who knows at this point because the ones who do know aren't telling.

Here are the things that set off my crack radar and is based on my experiences with a friend/roommate who turned into a crack addict and neighbors whose bathroom was right next the wall of my bedroom. I don't know why but crack is often a bathroom drug, maybe it is the secrecy or the paranoia where they have to be in a secure place, behind a locked door.

My roommate would hide in the bathroom and be freaked out that every noise was someone coming after her including the cable wires and the squirrel in the tree outside. She was my first exposure to a crack user so it took me a while to catch on. There wasn't an odd odor or smoke when she left the bathroom so i knew it wasn't weed.

The neighbors used to all gather in their bathroom and there was lots of running water and beating on something during their crack binges. Someone later explained to me that that behavior was typical of crack users.

So apparently the bathroom was the party place. It is where Bobbi Kristina had her incident and later Whitney. Eating while doing crack is a new one for me though. For all we know, the food was just a front to make it look like they were eating to throw people off. It will be interesting to find out what Whitney's stomach contents were. I'm sure they will also fingerprint the beer and the champagne which will give us more insight as well. Odd that there was a burger and a turkey sandwich along with champagne and beer. Sounds like 2 meals intended for 2 different people to me.

Then the timeline is off. Odd that she would have been alone when that was usually not the case when she bathed. So I think someone was with her when it happened and they freaked out and went into CYA mode hiding or flushing stuff. Or maybe whoever was with her didnt see it happened but found her and went into CYA mode. Phone records should help clear some of this up.

The fact that Ray J didn't say where he was but only that he was "nowhere near there" sounds odd. So is he buying time to get an alibi or was he possibly with another female which would have set Whit on a self destructive binge? Hmm
If she was alone and doing drugs in there then she might have had the door locked to hide what she was doing. But the door was unlocked so maybe someone was with her and unlocked it when they left.

Someone mentioned first responders with duffel bags. Well as a first responder I can tell you that we do carry gear in duffel bags. Even the machine to shock a heart is contained in a duffel bag along with drugs to try and restart a heart.

We assess the condition of the patient as to how long they may have been out. Rigor mortis is a huge clue as is blood pooling,body temp, etc. Some patients are clearly gone and no efforts are made and we notify dispatch to make calls for the coroner, police, etc. Others are clearly unrevivable but we will give it the 30 minute try anyway using the shock, the drugs and CPR.

Sometimes we know it is hopeless but will continue for the sake of the family because we know we won't be transporting the deceased as they are obviously dead and we are just going with protocol until the coroner gets there. Where i live, we need a doctor to confirm death and that can sometimes be done by a doctor over the phone after 30 minutes of failed revival attempts. Continued attempts to work with the patient are also used as a reason to remove family members from the traumatic scene. Then the coroner is called to come and get the body. Different places use different codes and radio systems so a scanner might not pick up everything.

So I will be interested to hear how the official timeline comes out as opposed to how it is being portrayed. But it does seem rather hinky at this point. The autopsy should bring some answers and also more questions.