|
|
Friday, 15 March 2002
WHITNEY
CANCELS WEDDING APPEARANCE? According
to Entertainment Tonight, Whitney Houston has cancelled her appearance
for Liza Minelli's and David Guest's Wedding this Saturday 16th 2002.
Entertainment Tonight cite
Whitney's recording commitments as to her reasons for canceling. Please
await further confirmation of this as more information becomes
available. [Thanks
Manish, Classic Whitney Bulletin Board & Dzemil] WHITNEY
THANKS ANGIE STONE Singer
Angie Stone said the following in an interview included in the April
2002 issue of Sister 2 Sister Magazine --
"I'll tell you what makes me feel real good: I'm not talking to
Whitney Houston, but I prayed for her and I sent her messages and then
you walk into your hotel room and there's the most beautiful flower
arrangements saying, 'Angie, prayer does work and I love you so much and
I am so proud of your accomplishments. Love, Whitney.'" [Thanks
Lisa D] LIZA'S
WEDDING SHOWER
Stars Attend
Minnelli Bridal Shower
Thu Mar 14, 2:29 PM ET
By The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) -
The songstress was serenaded and the guest list was star-studded at Liza
Minnelli's bridal shower.
Donna Summer, Natalie
Cole and Valerie Simpson performed "You Are So Beautiful to
Me," said Warren Cowan, publicist for Minnelli's fiance, producer
David Gest, on Thursday. Socialite songwriter Denise Rich was the host
of Wednesday's shower at her Fifth Avenue penthouse.
Among the 70
guests were Janet
Leigh, Patricia Neal and Jane
Powell, contemporaries of Minnelli's mother, Judy Garland. The
bride's best friend, Marisa Berenson — a maid of honor at Saturday's
wedding, along with Elizabeth
Taylor — was there, as were "The View" co-hosts Joy
Behar, Star Jones and Meredith Vieira.
Minnelli, who
turned 56 on Tuesday, and Gest, 48, are marrying at the Marble
Collegiate Church. The marriage will be Minnelli's fourth and Gest's
first.
Michael and Tito
Jackson will be the best men at the ceremony, and Whitney
Houston will sing "The Greatest Love of All" as Minnelli walks
down the aisle in a Bob Mackie gown.
The bridesmaids, who will be dressed in black, include Mia Farrow, Gina
Lollobrigida and Petula
Clark.
ET
ARTICLE ON LIZA MINNELLI WEDDING/CONCERT
Liza's Big Day!,
March 15, 2002
Between planning
a wedding to her fiancé DAVID GEST, and a major concert tour, LIZA
MINNELLI sure has a lot on her plate these days! The superstar
songstress-turned blushing bride was beside herself with excitement as
she left her star-studded bridal shower this past Wednesday, and ET has
the dish!
"I'll never forget any of this! All my friends were there ... we
cried so much. It was just amazing to see people so loving and so
wonderful from my whole life!" Liza told ET as she rushed from the
shower to her gown fitting with BOB MACKIE. "I never thought any of
this would happen for me, and it has! I'm so grateful for this, for my
friends and for the attention ... Thank you!"
Liza's friend, socialite DENISE RICH, threw the pre-wedding fiesta at
her New York apartment. Guests, including GLORIA GAYNOR, JANET LEIGH and
the ladies of "The View" gathered to offer Liza their good
wishes -- and lots of other goodies! "There's a lot of sexy
lingerie," Liza revealed of the shower gifts. "David will be
pleased!"
Now that the wedding shower is out of the way, Liza can concentrate on
the elaborate main festivities taking place this Saturday, March 16.
More than 200 celebrities will join 1200 other guests for a touching,
music-filled ceremony at New York's Marble Collegiate Church, where
ELIZABETH TAYLOR will serve as a matron of honor with Liza's
"Cabaret" co-star, MARISA BERENSON. King of Pop MICHAEL
JACKSON will strike a groomsman pose, as will his brother TITO JACKSON. R&B
diva WHITNEY HOUSTON will sing "Greatest Love Of All" as the
blushing bride walks up the aisle,
and gospel maven SHIRLEY CAESAR will grace the ceremony with her
singular version of "Amazing Grace."
The festivities will then move to a sumptuous reception on Wall Street,
where Liza and David tapped their musical connections to get top name
acts to perform - more than 54, to be exact! The evening's musical
stylings will be delivered courtesy of an 80-piece orchestra. This is
Liza's fourth walk down the aisle, but this Broadway baby says she's
found true love at last. "David means the world to me ... He just
means everything!"
[www.etonliine.com]
Thursday,
14 March 2002
WHITNEY
IN STUDIO !!!!!!
Here
is the first image of Whitney Houston working in the studio.
|
[Click Image
Above To View Full Size] |
****EXCLUSIVE*****NO
SALES TABS; NO SALES US WEEKLIES UNTIL MARCH 22, 2002
Whitney Houston Recording New Album |
 |
3/8/02,
SOUTH FLORIDA, UNITED STATES --- Singer Whitney Houston
records vocals for her new album due out later this year on
Arista Records. This is the first image of her since
September 7, 2001. --- Photo by Mark Bryan Brown/Corbis
Sygma
|
|
| Mark
Bryan Brown/Corbis Sygma |
This image
was also used on 'Entertainment Tonight' this evening. I am
assuming this image is real (current) and not a hoax. |
IT'S
NOT RIGHT BUT IT'S A REMIX Listen
to a new remix by Wookie Website
There has been THAT surge of r&b remixes which don't really cut the
mark. Of course there have been the classic r&b remixes and the king
of r&b remixes has to be the X-Men and also ex-XMen member Johnny J
in his Wookie disguise. This was one of the early r&b remixes and is
one of the best in my opinion. This take on the new Whitney sound really
does shine with THOSE rolling trademark X-Men beats. That xylophone rift
sounds so criss underneath those classic Whitney vocals. The tune really
kicks when the beat kicks in with the use of as MJ Cole said "very
semi-quavery patterns". The most enjoyable bit of the remix for me
is when the vocals build up when the tune is in full swing and then lets
out the a gospel style lyric and then the bassline kicks in again.
Absolutely essential if your an X-Men fan.
[IM] LIZA
WEDDING ARTICLE By
BILL HOFFMANN
March 12, 2002 -- Liza Minnelli has unveiled the bizarre guest list for
her upcoming wedding - and it brings brand-new meaning to the term
"flash and trash."
The quirky "Cabaret" star, who'll wed flamboyant Broadway
producer David Gest on Saturday, has not only invited today's top celebs,
but also an army of Hollywood has-beens and washed-up sex sirens and
rock stars.
Invited to the ceremony at the Marble Collegiate Church on Fifth Avenue
are such hot tickets as:
Elton John, Michael Jackson, Anthony Hopkins, Michael Douglas, Elizabeth
Taylor, Whitney Houston, Liam Neeson, Diane Sawyer and Donald Trump.
But Hollywood's faded side will also be in evidence with '50s and '60s
sex goddesses Carroll Baker, Claudia Cardinale, Gina Lollobrigida, Jill
St. John and Debra Paget.
Liza's also made room for plenty of tackiness: the rock group KISS,
Donny Osmond, Robert Goulet, designer Bob Mackie, ancient comics Phyllis
Diller and Norm Crosby.
"The possibilities are endless. Can you imagine Gene Simmons [of
KISS] flirting with Jill St. John?" said a source close to the
couple.
Giving Liza away will be Jacko, with Taylor serving as maid of honor and
Mia Farrow and Chaka Khan among the bridesmaids.
Oddly, despite the glamour of the event, Liza apparently believes her
guests may not be above trying to make some quick cash on the side.
She's warning all invitees they could be subject to search.
"Guests will not be allowed cameras or video cameras inside the
church and will enter through metal detectors," said her publicist,
Warren Cowles.
"There will be a full unit security team on site."
The nuptials will begin with Liza walking down the
aisle as Whitney Houston sings "The Greatest Love of All."
A reception at the Regent Hotel on Wall Street will feature 54 acts with
a 60-piece orchestra conducted by Joey Melotti.
They include an oddball line-up of hitmakers, one-hit wonders and
"are they still alive?" artists, including the Doobie
Brothers, the Pointer Sisters, Dionne Warwick, Little Anthony & the
Imperials, Andy Williams, Gloria Gaynor, Vicki Carr and Phoebe Snow.
JAM
& LEWIS
"Whitney's
been living a very happy married life and raising her daughter and is
anxious to get back to music. And we're just as happy to help her get
back in." — Jimmy Jam
MTV:
Jam And Lewis To Hit The Studio With TLC, Mariah, Whitney Houston
For 17 years,
Janet Jackson has been spinning gangbuster hits with veteran producers
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Their recent #1 smash with Jackson, "All
for You" (a revamp of the early '80s song "The Glow of
Love" by Change), won this year's Grammy for Best Dance Recording.
For Jam the victory was especially sweet, because it validated his
belief in a song he's loved for decades.
"When I deejayed, one of my favorite songs was 'The Glow of Love,'
" he said from the press room before the Grammy Awards telecast.
"I always wanted to redo that song, update it. And Janet was the
perfect person to do it. It's nice to take a song that was once a hit
and bring it back 20 years later and have it be a hit for a whole new
generation."
Jam said he cherishes his relationship with Jackson because he and Lewis
have learned exactly how she operates and she knows precisely what
she'll get from them.
"There's a magic that happens when we work together," he said.
"We can always be honest with each other, and if a song isn't
working we can just say, 'It's not working. It's a terrible idea.'
"
While Jackson is Jam and Lewis' current calling card, the duo have many
other production projects in the works. Over the next two months they
will work with TLC, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Boyz II Men,
"AIDA" star Heather Headley, Deborah Cox, one-time New Kid on
the Block Jordan Knight and a new 16-year-old pop hopeful named Nodesha
whom Jam praised as the next Janet.
"That's just what we're doing in the next six to seven weeks. The
rest of the year we're gonna hit the golf course," joked Jam.
As thrilled as they are about the new young diva, whose LP is slated to
drop June 25, they're especially enthused about working on the next
Houston record, her first in four years. It will mark the first time the
pair will work with the singer.
"Whitney's been living a very happy married life and raising her
daughter and is anxious to get back to music," Jam said. " And
we're just as happy to help her get back in."
—Jon Wiederhorn
GOOD
LUCK DIVA'S
Hollywood Bound? Good Luck,
Divas
Wed Mar 6, 9:01 AM ET
By NICK MADIGAN The New York Times
LOS ANGELES, March 5 For pop
singers accustomed to churning out music videos, acting in movies may
not seem like much of a stretch.
The last few weeks have seen the
release of three feature films with young divas as leading ladies, with
more to come, all produced in the expectation that the pictures will be
borne aloft by the stars' built-in audiences. But as Mariah
Carey's disastrous experience with "Glitter" proved last
year, the road to Hollywood is littered with the carcasses of unwatched
pop-star movies.
"Just because you're very
successful in one arena doesn't mean you'll be successful in
another," said Ann Carli, the producer of the light-as-air Britney
Spears confection "Crossroads," which brought in $17
million on its opening weekend in mid-February a second- place finish
behind the hospital drama "John Q" and ahead of Disney's
"Return to Never Land" but has since had a steep falloff in
attendance.
Another diva film, "Queen
of the Damned," was panned when it was released on Feb. 22,
although loyal fans of Aaliyah, the young singer who died last August in
a plane crash in the Bahamas propelled it to a first- place finish in
that weekend's box-office listings. And "A Walk to Remember,"
with the 18- year-old pop singer Mandy
Moore in the lead, has accumulated decent but not spectacular sums
in the month since it opened.
Highly publicized debacles like
"Glitter" one critic described it as a "crime against
cinema" do not appear to have scared off potential crossover
artists, who, in any event, have a long tradition to draw on. Frank
Sinatra, Doris
Day and Elvis
Presley all had movie careers, even if critics did not always think
much of them. In the 1960's the Beatles' classic "A Hard Day's
Night" paved the way for music videos and remains vibrant still. Barbra
Streisand went from nightclubs and Broadway to Hollywood, gaining
iconic status. And Cher, who won fame alongside Sonny Bono and went on
to a solo career, evolved into a respected actress, earning an Academy
Award for "Moonstruck" in 1988.
The
bellwether of financial success is Whitney
Houston, whose 1992 film "The Bodyguard" grossed $122
million domestically, a pinnacle no other singer has come close to
attaining. (Since their release dates, "Queen of the
Damned" has made a total of $24 million at the domestic box office;
"A Walk to Remember," $39.3 million; and
"Crossroads," $31.2 million.)
While some of those careers
lasted decades, many of today's music stars are a flash in the pan, with
one or two hit albums if they are lucky, followed by obscurity and hand-
wringing. Behind the bland, too-good- to-be-true characters delivered in
many teen-idol movies lies the calculation that it is wise to have a
backup career if and when the music dies. Put another way, some pop
stars seem willing to bet that a movie career may have longer legs than
a music one.
Even Ms. Carey, whose record
label paid her $28 million to walk away
from her contract after the
"Glitter" soundtrack album sold a mere 500,000 copies, may not
have obliterated her chances of making a splash in Hollywood. She
received positive trade reviews at the recent Sundance Film Festival (news
- web
sites) for "Wise Girls," her latest cinematic effort, in
which she worked with the Oscar winner Mira
Sorvino.
"She's got a number of
projects coming down the pike," said Ms. Carey's publicist, Cindi
Berger, although she specified just one, a picture called "Sweet
Science," set to start shooting this summer, in which Ms. Carey is
to play a boxing manager.
Still, few singers are quitting
their day jobs. "I'll always have my singing with Destiny's Child
to fall back on," said Beyoncé Knowles, one-third of the
Grammy-winning trio, whose acting debut in MTV's hip-hop version of
"Carmen" led to her playing Foxxy Cleopatra, the female lead
in the new "Austin Powers" movie, due for release this summer
and featuring a cameo appearance by Ms. Spears.
With the music industry facing
declining record sales and complaints by performers about record company
business tactics, it makes sense for singers to try other avenues of
income. "Contemporary artists are used to performing in videos, and
even designing their videos, and that wasn't so much the case before
music became such a visual medium," said Hilary Rosen, president
and chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America (news
- web
sites), a lobbying group for the recording companies. "The
thing that distinguishes musicians' careers today is that they probably
start out more visually oriented."
As a result, she said, making
motion pictures seems like an obvious move. "At least it's in the
back of their minds all along, as far as their careers go," Ms.
Rosen said. "You can't help but see the opportunity."
The neo-soul singer Alicia Keys,
who won five Grammy awards last week, told reporters at the event that
she was considering an acting career. "I think it's something in
the future," she said.
Nevertheless, the ephemeral
nature of fame means that singers' expectations of box-office success
are anything but assured. "On the Line," starring two members
of the highly popular band 'N Sync (news
- web
sites), made only $4 million last fall, roughly what
"Glitter" pulled in. Still more disappointing were
"Bones" and "The Wash," both with the rapper Snoop
Dogg in the lead.
Similarly, Madonna (news
- web
sites), by any measure an enormously successful artist, is not
immune to brushes with failure. While "Desperately Seeking
Susan," "Dick Tracy" and "Evita" had their
moments, little else in her 19- film career lingers. Undeterred, Madonna
recently completed filming "Love, Sex, Drugs and Money,"
directed by her husband, Guy
Ritchie, and in May will perform in London in a play called "Up
for Grabs."
"I personally think Madonna
gets a very bad rap," said Ms. Rosen of the Recording Industry
Association. "To say she doesn't succeed in movies is unfair: it
doesn't mean she doesn't have talent or even that it's the wrong move.
It's appropriate for people to stretch creatively, and it's admirable
for them to take risks."
Besides, she said, a star is not
solely responsible for a film's appeal at the box office, unlike a
record, which usually bears the unmistakable imprint of the performer.
"Motion pictures are so much more of a collaborative process, Ms.
Rosen said. But some observers are less accommodating of musicians'
desires to see themselves on the big screen.
"This is the almighty
dollar waving itself before managers, agents and stars," said Ken
Sunshine, a public-relations consultant who represents Ms. Streisand and
the Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli (news
- web
sites). "They all think that maybe one day they'll get too old
to keep making records that go to the top of the charts, and they see
movies as another level of the entertainment business that can keep them
employed in the future. But you don't become a great actor or actress
just because you're selling millions of records to kids."
Some of those kids agree. Nikki
Reed, a 13-year-old aspiring actress who lives in Culver City, Calif.,
went to a screening of "Crossroads" with several friends and
came away convinced that Ms. Spears should stick to singing.
"People who are already
famous in one field think they can move into a different field and that
their fans will simply follow that sort of bothers me," Ms. Reed
said. "Some people work really hard to be an actress. Just because
Britney's a successful singer doesn't mean she can act. It was like
paying $7 to take a nap."
Both Ms. Carli and David Gale,
one of the five executive producers of "Crossroads," said they
would not have made the picture had Ms. Spears not been a part of it.
"It's a risky proposition to expose yourself in a field that you
haven't succeeded in beforehand," Mr. Gale said. "It's
definitely a gamble, and I wouldn't gamble on every big music star. For
some artists, it's a good extension to what they're doing artistically.
In some cases, they're not great movies."
Jeff Levy-Hinte, producer of the
forthcoming "Laurel Canyon" which stars Frances
McDormand and Kate
Beckinsale and not a single pop diva said that films like
"Crossroads" and "A Walk to Remember" have
"oddly idealized" story lines that portray a world in which
all emotions are simple. "What you're seeing on the screen is so
profoundly unrealistic," he said. "For me, they do things in
such a disingenuous way, saying that the world is safe even when bad
things happen."
Fortunately, not all movies that
feature young singers promise an empty tale. "The Time
Machine," scheduled to open nationwide on Friday, is based on the
classic science- fiction novel by H. G. Wells. It features as its
leading lady the Irish recording artist Samantha
Mumba, who had never acted in a film before.
"If I hadn't been a singer,
a casting agent wouldn't have seen me in People magazine and I wouldn't
have gotten the audition," Ms. Mumba said after arriving in
Washington from Ireland at the start of a two-week promotional tour for
the movie. "Even then, I didn't think I'd get the part. When I did,
I nearly died, I was so excited."
She plans to do more. The two
careers, music and films, can coexist, said Ms. Mumba, whose single
"Gotta Tell You" was a hit in Britain, Ireland and the United
States and who last summer toured with 'N Sync. "It's all about
proper scheduling," she explained. "If you plan ahead, if
you're organized, you can do it."
Still, it pays to be cautious.
Mya Harrison, who uses only her first name professionally and who shared
a Grammy Award last Wednesday with Christina
Aguilera, Lil' Kim and Pink for their chart-topping version of the
1975 hit "Lady Marmalade," said she wants to start her movie
career with small roles so that she can build her confidence as an
actress. "I consider myself a singer who just happened to end up in
a movie," she said, referring to her role in the film version of
the musical "Chicago," which is set for release on Christmas
Day.
A movie that fails, Ms. Harrison
speculated, would not be much different than a record that stays
unbought in a store. "It could hinder your career for a
moment," she said, "but you can always come back."'
[Yahoo News]
UK
CHART UPDATE
The
UK chart update for the week ending 2 March 2002
LOVE,
WHITNEY
Top 75 Album Chart - Down to No.56 (from No.22) - 3 weeks on chart.
[Thanks
Manish]
IGNORED?
Music Veterans Ignored, Belle Says
Tue Feb 26, 2:16 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AP) - Regina Belle
says she'd like to see the recording industry become a little more
diverse in terms of age.
Belle said she has seen too many
veteran singers kicked to the curb by record labels over the years. And
she says there's something wrong with that.
"Those forces that be,
you've got to see there's room for the veterans," she said.
"Not just the Whitney Houstons. There's room for all of us, we all
have a gift."
She says all singers "have
a gift" they should be encouraged to share. Belle says while the
music may basically stay the same over the years, each singer brings a
little something different to the table.
"Nobody can do this song
the way I can do this song. Then I can't do this song like somebody else
can do this song," she said. "So what makes the music
different is our renditions of it."
She adds it would be good if the
people who run the record labels appreciated that.
[Yahoo News]
Sunday,
10 February 2002
UK
CHART UPDATE
The
UK chart update for the week ending 23 February 2002
LOVE,
WHITNEY
Top 75 Album Chart - Up to No.22 (from No.33) - 2 weeks on chart.
[Thanks
Manish]
I
WILL ALWAYS LISTEN TO YOU
I
will always listen to you
Simon
Jeffery asks radio DJs why Whitney Houston and other tragic songsmiths
are such perennial favourites on Valentine's Day
Simon Jeffery
Guardian Unlimited
Thursday
February 14, 2002
For
a lucky few it will genuinely feel like almost 10 years since Whitney
Houston was at the top of the charts with I Will Always Love You. At the
end of 1992 her power gospel cover of an old Dolly Parton number held
fast to its position for 10 weeks - who would have thought in the decade
to come that we would see the birth of the world wide web, a single
currency for Europe and a man with the same name as the then outgoing US
president, George Bush, in power in the White House talking darkly of
"evil" in Iraq.
Of
course, you may remember the song as if you heard it only yesterday. Or
today even. A Guardian Unlimited straw poll of Valentine's Day requests
on commercial radio stations across the UK suggests that is extremely
likely, revealing it as a still immensely popular choice. Why? you may
wonder. Dolly Parton spoke of it as a song that came "totally from
the bottom of my broken heart" and a quick glance at the lyrics
("So goodbye, please don't cry / We both know I'm not what you
need") would hardly suggest it is quite the number to fire lovers'
hearts. But you have to guess that the often repeated "I will
always love you" line goes a long way. As it does with Houston's
frighteningly powerful vocals.
"The
irony is that these songs are all about tragedies," says Kevin
Johnson, who co-presents the 102.8 Ram FM breakfast show to Derby with
his wife, Rae. After 12 years in radio, and despite all the countless
love songs released in that time, he says there are only three tracks
requested regularly in mainstream radio, each of them at the less than
happy end of the emotional spectrum: I Will Always Love You; Celine
Dion's My Heart Will Go On; and I'll Be Missing You by Puff Daddy. The
latter, of course, commemorating the murder of his friend and
collaborator, the Brooklyn rapper Biggie Smalls.
Pat
Sharp, now presenting a morning show on London's Heart 106.2, agrees
that Valentine's requests are not uniformly joyous. His most requested
tracks include Eric Carmen's All by Myself (revived on the Bridget Jones
soundtrack), George Michael's Father Figure, Wishing on a Star by Rose
Royce and Spandau Ballet's True, tracks that he says have different
meanings to different people depending on their mood and personal
circumstances. "All by Myself is great for people who are not with
somebody," he explains. It hardly needs to be said that Father
Figure ("I will be you father figure until the end of time")
is not about the throes of passion.
Sharp's
stationmate Nigel Williams, who presents a 10pm to 1am week night show
called Late Night Love Songs and has written a book, Love Letters
Straight from the Heart, knows what his listeners like to hear, and why.
Leanne Rimes's How Do I Live is the current choice for separated couples
(he says there's always one song they adopt at any given time, and it
has been Rimes for a few years now) while the current No 1, Enrique
Iglesias's Hero, deals with the powerful subject of laying down your
life for love. Another station says kids are asking for it for their
mums and dads.
Angels by
Robbie Williams, which Mr Williams the radio show presenter gets more
requests for than any other, has a "universal appeal" for many
times and events, including weddings, funerals and birthdays. And then
there is I Will Always Love You, which he says "I guess I will
always be playing." To further complicate its appeal and your
emotional response to the song, you may be intrigued to learn that it
was played at Ronnie Kray's funeral. As the gangster's coffin stood in
an east end church, the 1.57m seller was played over the PA
("Bittersweet memories / That is all I'm taking with me,"
etc.) and his brother Reggie was led outside in tears.
But there
is no getting away from the fact that, regardless of which demogrphic
the individual stations play to, many of the most popular love songs are
a little naff. Richard Clarke at Hereford and Worcester's Wyvern FM
lists Kate Winslet's What If among his station's most requested. He says
a lot of guys are asking for it for their girlfriends. Wet Wet Wet's
Love is all Around and Bryan Adams's (Everything I do) I Do It for You
demonstrate the enduring popularity of movie soundtracks. "People
do tend to go for the obvious ones," says Mark Chivers of
Surrey-based Eagle 96.4 FM, after listing The Glory of Love by Peter
Cetera, two Whitney Houston tracks (Saving All My Love for You being the
surprise new entry), Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton, Berlin's Take My
Breath Away and Marvin Gaye's Sexual Healing.
All of
those songs were big hits, but certainly not the biggest. Out of the 10
top selling singles in the UK, only two (those previously mentioned by
Houston and Adams) are love songs in the manner of the slushy and
slightly nauseating end of night favourites so beloved of mobile DJs.
Two - White Christmas and the Princess Diana-inspired rewrite of Candle
in the Wind - must receive the least radio airplay of any big seller,
but there are others, such as the Beatles's I Want to Hold Your Hand,
that you might conceivably want to hear on Valentine's Day. But we never
do. February 14, it would appear, is a day to be soppy, or maybe even
maudlin. It is not even a time for Barry White.
And what
are the chances we will be still be hearing Houston's I Will Always Love
You in February 2012? Very high I should imagine. The former Pop Idol
contestant Rik Waller is releasing his own version of the Dolly Parton
track in March. Whitney's hold on the ballad looks secure.
LOVE, WHITNEY - UK
DEBUT
Love Whitney - an
Arista compilation of Whitney's greatest love songs was released last
Monday (04.02.02).
Love,
Whitney
UK
Top 75 - Debut at No.33 (1 week on chart)
Love, Whitney - has
also been promoted on UK national TV this week during some very high
profile shows (Sex And The City, Fraiser). The adverts have mainly been
seen on C4.
LOVE WHITNEY
 |
Check out this new site
created by Arista/BMG UK for the promotion of Love, Whitney.
LOVE,
WHITNEY
|
DOT
MUSIC REVIEW
[Love,
Whitney]
What with rumoured drug
troubles, cancelled concerts and reported marital problems, Whitney
Houston hasn't had it easy over the last few years. And, while
nobody wants to kick the diva while she's down, 'Love, Whitney'
is nothing short of seventy minutes of sheer, sugarcoated hell.
In Eastenders, when some hapless
berk or other is desperate to win his girlfriend back, a friend usually
says something like "Listen mate, if you want her back right,
you've got to pull out all the stops... buy her some flowers and a box
of chocolates from the corner shop... I tell you, it never fails."
This sage bar-stool Lothario
might as well add "oh yeah, and nip down to Woolies and buy her
that new Whitney Houston CD... she'll be putty in your hands
mate." For, like red roses and Milk Tray, this sickly selection box
of sixteen of Whitter's slushiest, most sentimental, soul-free
ballads is a huge romantic cliche of an album.
Fans will have all these tracks
already. Indeed, twelve of the songs here were featured on Whitney's last
offering - her 2 CD Greatest Hits set back in 2000. What we have then is
a smaltzy, slick, overblown, St Valentine's Day stop-gap until Houston's
first new studio album since 1998, promised later this year.
Whitney's vocal power and
technique are never in question throughout 'Love'. If only she'd cut out
the acrobatics and sing a song simply and soulfully. As it is, most
tracks here are instantly forgettable, cruise ship/Eighties movie
soundtrack style tack. Apart from 'Saving All My Love For You'
and Dolly Parton's 'I Will Always Love You' of course, which
remain undisputed classics.
Gary
Crossing
DOUBLE NO.1 UK - ENRIQUE
|
|
Enrique Iglesias
has secured the No.1 position in
the UK for the
fourth week running with his smashing single 'Hero'.
His album, Escape,
is also No.1 on the UK's Top 75 chart as of today.
|
WILL
YOUNG - UK POP IDOL
Sun 10 Feb
2002 18:23
WILL YOUNG IS ‘POP IDOL’
Will Young has been crowned the
UK 'Pop Idol' after a night of incredible tension on Saturday evening.
Young defeated hot favourite
Gareth Gates in a dramatic conclusion to the search for a pop star,
which has gripped the country in recent weeks.
The ITV show received the
largest ever telephone vote recorded in the UK, with Young claiming 4.6
million votes compared to 4.1 million for Gates.
Immediately after the verdict,
Will said: "I just cannot get my head round it to be honest. I am
absolutely ecstatic.
"It's something I have
always wanted to do and throughout this competition it's just felt more
and more right to sing. I am really ready for it."
Will has his first tilt at the
UK charts on 25 February when double A-side 'Evergreen' / 'Anything
is Possible' is released.
Outspoken judge Simon Cowell
commented after the show: "In one week there will be an
announcement as to what and when his first record will be released and
there will be some very, very exciting news attached to that."
|
|
