Whitney's Live Appeal
Singer lets her voice do the talking

Date: April 24, 1991
By James T. Jones IV

From USA Today
Submitted by: Larry A.


Gospel rocks the Hyatt Regency's penthouse as Whitney Houston psyches up for the opener of her 70-city tour, her first in three years.

"Praise Jesus. Lift him. Lift him. Higher. Higher."

Dressed in bib overalls and a T-shirt, Houston sips grape juice while Tramaine Hawkins wails on the recording. Aunt Bae is cooking in the kitchen. Long-time pal/executive assistant Robyn Crawford is doing errands. Dad stops by to wish "Nippy" luck.

"I'm ready," she boasts. Ready to build on her phenomenal success and to silence critics of her image.

At 27, Houston is on top of the pop world. Her latest album, I'm Your Baby Tonight, has become her third multi-platinum release; it has sold 2.5 million copies. The title song and her most recent single from the album, All the Man That I Need, tied her with Madonna for female artist with the most No. 1 singles - nine in all. She's the only artist with seven consecutive No. 1 singles.

And her performance of The Star-Spangled Banner at the Super Bowl elevated her beyond pop diva status to some sort of patriotic symbol. Her soulful version has sold 839,000 copies.

What "a gigantic (career) boost," says Dom Testa of KRXY-FM in Denver. "You have the all-American girl singing The Star-Spangled Banner. Who's going to pick on her now?"

Plenty of people. Critics see Houston's latest successes as more hollow victories in a very commercial campaign. Her record label, Arista, molded the ex-model into a star with all the finesse of a coach training a quarterback, they say.

Houston uses top producers and sings Top 40-tailored material, what Testa calls passive songs, "safe, formulated, not the kind that get a lot of (call-in) requests. But when they come on the radio, people pay attention and they do like them."

And they've won her die-hard fans. "We can argue about the validity of what she's singing, but no one yet has said that the lady can't sing," says Steve Ivory of Black Beat magazine.

On this tour Houston hopes to show she's more than just a pretty pop package. Many believe she can.

"I don't understand the criticism," says Tom Joyner of WGCI-FM in Chicago and KKDA-FM in Dallas. "The girl is tremendously talented. She blows you away in concert."

Houston's first TV concert, HBO's highly rated Welcome Home Heroes With Whitney Houston on Easter Sunday, showed that in front of an audience, she shakes the confinements of her calculated pop recordings, interjecting much more soul and gospel fervor.

"Live is all-out give what you got," she says. "Let it all hang out, just like I did in church." (She started singing at age 11 in the New Hope Baptist Church choir in Newark, N.J.)

She joins the ranks of M.C. Hammer and Janet Jackson with MTV-inspired staging: dancers, rear-view screens, Star Wars-styled lighting. But with limits: "I don't have anybody flying across my stage. I don't have animals disappearing."

Houston, often teased for her lack of dance finesse, even cuts a few dance steps. "I don't like to dance, really."

Houston won't perform The Star-Spangled Banner. "Child, please. I did that song and had no idea that it would have the effect that it had. I'm glad it spirited so many Americans, but it's over now. The boys are home or coming. Let's move on."

Her version reached No. 20 on the pop charts, the first time it has been ranked since 1917 - but not without controversy. Houston sang with a recorded version playing over the stadium's speakers. The TV audience heard the recording enhanced with live vocals. A New York Post blared: "Whitney has synching feeling."

"It was a necessary thing to do for the Super Bowl because of the acoustic problems (at the stadium)," Houston explains. "They do this with every artist they choose in case you wake up and your voice is gone. We never figured this (media) mess would get crazy."

She feels victimized by what she calls an overly zealous media looking for sensationalism. "They don't care who they hurt. They want our blood, but not our pain. I know it's the price of fame. I don't like to be lied on."

She says the media has lied about her relationships with Eddie Murphy and Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Randall Cunningham. "Let's clear up one thing. It's not Randall," she says, snickering. "Randall and I are merely acquaintances. We're friends. I haven't seen him in months. If people only knew. It ain't about Randall. It ain't about Eddie.

"It's somebody else," she says, laughing. "That's what really cracks me up. My mother (gospel great Cissy Houston) taught me, she said, 'Why get mad at a lie?' I've gone from being a lesbian to marrying Randall. Then I was having Eddie's baby. I have gone from being a lesbian to a whore in a matter of a year. I can't believe this."

She says she's keeping her boyfriend's identity as "hush-hush as I can because he's also an entertainer. We're trying to get established. We really love each other."

Houston's also not flattered by the media's contention that Mariah Carey emulates her. "She doesn't say she listens to me. She cites other people (as her influences). Why should I be flattered? (But) we all know the truth when we really look at it. I can hear it. Everybody hears it."

Back in the Motown days, "you never thought Temptations sounded like the Four Tops, despite the fact they were both male groups. Where's the originality in this business?"

Houston is looking beyond the music business. She will co-star with Kevin Costner in Bodyguard, which has not begun filming. She says Costner approached her about the role, in which she will play a singer. "He says I'm going to be good. I don't expect to be a movie star, but if I'm going to break into it, this is the way to do it."

Will this be too much Whitney? "People say I'm tired of Whitney," says Black Beat's Ivory, "but, hey, the girl's charm is in the fact that when all is said and done, she's a helluva singer. We still haven't seen what she's capable of doing musically. She has to do one of those crossroads records."

That may be the gospel album she's working on with BeBe Winans. "It's something I can really relate to." She pauses as Hawkins lets out a scream of "Jesus."

"That's my roots."

On tour
Ames, Iowa ... Today
Iowa City ... Friday
Minneapolis ... Saturday
Portland, Ore. ... May 8
Seattle ... May 9
Oakland, Calif. ... May 11
Sacramento ... May 12
Mountain View, Calif. ... May 13
Los Angeles ... May 16
Orange County, Calif.
... May 17
Phoenix ... May 19
Las Vegas ... May 21
Albuquerque ... May 23
Denver ... May 24
Salt Lake City ... May 25
New Orleans ... May 28
Oklahoma City ... May 30