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Tag: WHITNEY HOUSTON

  • Mother of Whitney Houston is dead

    Mother of Whitney Houston is dead

    Cissy Houston, two-time Grammy-winning soul and gospel artiste and mother of pop icon Whitney Houston, has died at the age of 91.

    Houston, 91,  died on Monday morning, October 7, in her New Jersey home while under hospice care for Alzheimer’s disease, her daughter-in-law Pat Houston told The Associated Press.

    The acclaimed gospel singer was surrounded by her family.

    “Our hearts are filled with pain and sadness. We lost the matriarch of our family,” the statement reads.

    “Mother Cissy has been a strong and towering figure in our lives. A woman of deep faith and conviction, who cared greatly about family, ministry, and community. Her more than seven-decade career in music and entertainment will remain at the forefront of our hearts.

    “Her contributions to popular music and culture are unparalleled.”

    Born in New Jersey in 1933, Cissy was the youngest of eight children. Born Emily Drinkard, she began singing at a young age after she formed a gospel group with her siblings.

    In 1960s, Cissy began to gain popularity in the 1960s as a member of the backing group, The Sweet Inspirations with Doris Troy and her niece Dee Dee Warwick.

    They sang backup for soul legends including Otis Redding, Lou Rawls and the Drifters, and Dusty Springfield.

    Cissy left the group to pursue a solo career, which made her one of the world’s most in-demand session singers of that era.

    She recorded more than 600 songs and her vocals can be heard on tracks by Chaka Khan, Luther Vandross, Beyoncé and Paul Simon.

  • Whitney Houston, Notorious B.I.G, among 2020’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees

    Whitney Houston, Notorious B.I.G, among 2020’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees

    Christopher Wallace, American rapper better known as The Notorious B.I.G; and Whitney Houston, US soul singer, have been named among those to be inducted into the 2020 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

    Also in the 35th annual class of inductees are Depeche Mode, The Doobie Brothers, Nine Inch Nails, and T-Rex, according to the list released on Wednesday.

    “Congratulations to your @KlipschAudio #RockHall2020 Inductees. Performers: @depechemode, @thedoobiebros, #WhitneyHouston, @nineinchnails, #TheNotoriousBIG and #TRex & Ahmet Ertegun awards #JonLandau and @IrvingAzoff,” read the post on Twitter.

    Artists who were nominated but not inducted this year are Pat Benatar, Judas Priest, Kraftwerk, Dave Matthews Band, MC5, Motorhead, Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, Todd Rundgren, Soundgarden and Thin Lizzy.

    The event, billed for May 2, will take place at the public auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio, US, where the rock museum is located.

    It is also expected to be televised live for the first time in history.

    Biggie, considered the greatest rapper of all times by many, is the latest rapper to be inducted into the hall –with Tupac Shakur making the cut in 2017.

    Other previous honorees of the Hall of Fame include: N.W.A (2016), Public Enemy (2013), The Beastie Boys (2012), Run-DMC (2009) and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five (2007).

     

     

  • Man accused of murdering Whitney Houston’s daughter dies at 30

    Man accused of murdering Whitney Houston’s daughter dies at 30

    The boyfriend of Bobbi Kristina Brown, found liable for her death after giving her a “toxic cocktail,” has himself died aged 30, his lawyer told AFP Wednesday.

    Brown, 22, died in 2015 and was the only child of pop legend Whitney Houston and singer Bobby Brown.

    The barrister, Joe Habachy, said he could not discuss how his longtime client Nick Gordon died.

    “I can say that it’s been truly heartbreaking to have witnessed first-hand the total devastation that drug addiction has wreaked upon a group of young friends, all of whom were loved and had immense potential,” the Atlanta-based Habachy told AFP by email.

    In November 2016 a US judge ordered Gordon to pay more than $36 million in a wrongful death suit brought by the estate of Bobbi Kristina Brown.

    In an eerie repeat of her mother’s death, she was found unconscious in a bathtub at her Atlanta-area home, while Gordon and a guest were there.

    Gordon spent years being raised by Houston in her home and grew up alongside Bobbi Kristina, although he was never formally adopted by the pop singer.

    The lawsuit filed by Brown’s estate said he had lashed out at her in a fit of jealousy that evening after being “out all night on a cocaine and drinking binge.”

    According to the wrongful death suit filed in Atlanta, Georgia, Gordon gave “Bobbi Kristina a toxic cocktail rendering her unconscious and then put her face down in a tub of cold water causing her to suffer brain damage.”

    The medical examiner’s office said it was unclear if Brown’s death was accidental or intentional.

    An autopsy determined that she had marijuana, alcohol, cocaine and morphine in her body.

    “Despite all of the incredible challenges Nick faced over the last few years I can honestly say that he worked hard to hold his head up and stay sober and that he genuinely wanted a happy healthy life with his family more than anything else,” Habachy said.

    “My heart goes out to the family and friends Nick leaves behind and to any other families dealing with the losses and heartache caused by drugs.”

    Whitney Houston was found face down in a bathtub at a Los Angeles hotel in February 2012 on the eve of the Grammy Awards.

     

  • Whitney Houston’s ‘lesbian lover’ Robyn Crawford to release memoir

    Whitney Houston’s ‘lesbian lover’ Robyn Crawford to release memoir

    Robyn Crawford, the woman who perhaps was closest to Whitney Houston and rumoured to be her lesbian lover, is breaking her silence.

    Crawford has written a memoir called A Song for You: My Life with Whitney Houston, which is set to hit bookshelves on November 5, which is set to detail “the moving and often complicated story of her life and relationship with Whitney”.

    Crawford is described as someone who “has stayed out of the limelight and held the great joys, wild adventures, and hard truths of her life with Whitney close to her heart.”

    “With warmth, candour, and an impressive recall of detail, Robyn gives readers insight into Whitney’s life and career,” publisher Dutton said. “She traces the years from when she and Whitney first met as teenagers in the 1980s to the recording of Whitney’s first album and the infinite success that followed.

    “From countless sold-out world tours to her epic rendition of the US national anthem to the set of The Bodyguard, her tempestuous marriage, and the birth of her only child, Robyn was there,” it said. “Finally, the person who knew her best sets the record straight.”

    TheNewsGuru recalls that last year’s documentary, Whitney, detailed the singer’s long-rumoured bisexuality, as well as sexual abuse she was reported to have suffered at the hands of a cousin.

    In the documentary former bodyguard David Roberts said that Crawford and Houston’s husband Bobby Brown would have physical fights over their shared loved of the singer.

    Brown has previously confirmed that Houston had a relationship with Crawford, saying her family would never have approved of the singer coming out as bisexual.

    “I really feel that if Robyn was accepted into Whitney’s life, Whitney would still be alive today,” Brown told Us Weekly back in 2016. “She didn’t have close friends with her anymore.”

     

  • Whitney Houston was sexually abused by a woman-Documentary alleges

    Whitney Houston, late singer, was sexually abused by her cousin Dee Dee Warwick, according to a new documentary about her life reveals.

     

    Delia Juanita Warrick, known as Dee Dee Warwick, was a renowned American soul singer.

     

    Gary Garland-Houston, Houston’s half-brother and Mary Jones, her assistant, made the allegations against Warwick, who died in 2008.

     

    Recounting her chat with the late singer, Jones said: “[Houston] looked at me and said, ‘Mary, I was molested at a young age, too. But it wasn’t by a man—it was a woman. She had tears in her eyes. She says, ‘Mommy don’t know the things we went through.’ I said, ‘Have you ever told your mother?’ She says, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Well, maybe you need to tell her.’ She said, ‘No, my mother would hurt somebody if I told her who it was.’ She just had tears rolling down her face, and I just hugged her. I said, ‘One day when you get the nerve, you need to tell your mother. It will lift the burden off you.’”

     

    Jones noted Houston was ashamed to reveal the occurrence to anyone, and used to say, “I wonder if I did something to make [Dee Dee] think I wanted her”.

     

    ‘Whitney’, directed by Kevin Macdonald, a Scottish filmmaker, premiered at Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday.

     

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