Whitney’s Comeback: Didn’t She Almost Have It All?

Written by Greg VictorcloseAuthor: Greg Victor Name: Greg Victor
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About: Greg Victor (Parcbench Culture Editor) is a historian, pop culture critic, and theatrical dramaturg and has stage managed theatrical productions on Broadway and on tour, including Billy Joel's "Movin' Out", Monty Python's "Spamalot" and more.See Authors Posts (97) on August 31, 2009

No legend ever likes the word “comeback.” Who wants to admit that no entertainer (no matter how much of a legend) can stop time? Like it or not, if you are a pop superstar you are on a constant treadmill that seems only to speed up. The best a star can do is try to control the pace by re-inventing the self. When she was on her seemingly infinite rise to the stratosphere, Whitney had “the” voice of a generation.

She inspired, she defined, she stood alone. She was a class act. What Michael Jackson did for black male artists, by breaking barriers on MTV, Whitney also did for black female performers. The biggest drama about Whitney was that there was never any drama. Remember the 80s? Whereas Madonna made her true talent the ability she had to package her limited voice in spectacle and persona, Whitney had the true voice. She was a songwriter’s dream.

Then came the crash. When the fall is that fast and hard, there is bound to be damage. So let’s just answer the question everyone’s asking – No, she doesn’t have the same amazing instrument. Oh sure, it’s there in these studio takes (that took three years to record!), but the songs are very carefully arranged to not demand the powerful vocals that made her the best-selling female debut artist ever. Yet, even in this disappointment (a lack of breath support, a break in the voice as it bridges from chest to head voice, a tendency to riff on the lowdown instead of the upward spiral), there is an undeniable potency to Whitney in 2009.

So we say thank you to her longtime producer Clive Davis. He discovered her, and produced album after cherished album. And now he has set out to protect one of America’s national treasures (Remember her definitive “Star Spangled Banner?”) This album is not an artist reaching in vain for her past. It is not even an artist reaching impossibly for an uncertain future. It is an artist reaching out to hold on to the present. (Look for my review of the album in a separate article).

I had one brief Whitney Houston moment a few years ago. I was in a recording studio in New York City, and could hear through our open doors that Whitney was in the recording studio across the hall. I timed my need to go out into the hall for a break so that it occurred when I heard no more muffled bass line reverb coming from the wall between us. Sure enough, when I hit the hall, Whitney was also getting some fresh air. In canteloupe slacks, a bright yellow top, some I’m-a-celebrity type sunglasses, and wearing a flip wig that looked Carol Brady wore in “The Brady Bunch” (Season 4), she was headed out to the sidewalk so that her little dog could also take a break of his own. At one point, she let me walk the little guy. I don’t know what I remember more – the fact that I was hanging out with her, or the looks on the faces of the random passersby when they saw who was standing right there, flipping out, yelling at her dog to hurry up and do his business. These people looked at me with utter disbelief, their faces silently asking me “Is that really her?” I smiled in the affirmative. Eventually, after some very strong language from his owner, the dog was through watering the sidewalk weeds, and the two of them headed back into the recording studio. Immediately, I called a friend to say that things didn’t seem to be going too well for Whitney. Shortly thereafter, she married Bobby Brown and the rest is a pop-culture low point.

She’s lucky to have so many people in the entertainment business who want her to still succeed. What happened to Michael Jackson could all too easily have also happened to Whitney. The questions remain, however. Will radio play her? Will the public buy her? There’s a huge credibility issue. Not to mention that to the music-downloading generation, she is something of a dinosaur. But the scene is set for one of the greatest career rebounds of the decade. It’s really up to the public. When it comes to talent like hers, I predict audiences will finally be forgiving of the rocky past.

On September 14^th, Whitney sits down for her first interview since the Diane Sawyer disaster when she admitted to doing drugs and also looked as if she were on some as well. This time she’ll be talking to Oprah. If Oprah can stop Hillary from being elected, she can pretty much do anything, right?