Whitney sang Diana's music

[skooldem1]

Diana Ross songs were some of the last music Whitney Houston sang before her death according to the article below. I also recall reading somewhere that Clive Davis was telling Whitney that they were going to honor Diana Ross and she said something like " I love me some Diana".


The 2012 Oral History: Whitney Houston, 1963-2012
By Rickey Minor


Two days before she died, I was rehearsing with Brandy and Monica at the Beverly Hilton hotel for the Clive Davis Grammys preparty in L.A. At 10:00 A.M., in walks Whitney by herself, with shorts on. And the first thing I felt was complete and utter shock, because Whitney Houston does not come out into the daylight before noon — usually not before 3:00 P.M. She's a night owl, and she loves to sleep. "What are you doing awake so early?" I asked. "I've been out swimming. I started back swimming," she said. She gave me a big hug. She shook her head like a dog to shake water all over me, and we laughed. "Look — I've been swimming," she said. "Look at the tone. And I'm getting my wind back. I'm stopping smoking, and I'm eating better."
She stayed at rehearsal for nearly three hours. She was in the audience, kind of dancing and clapping along. She went onstage and asked me for a microphone. "Rickey, gimme a mic, gimme a mic!" We were doing Diana Ross hits. And I said, "No, this is not your rehearsal. This is my rehearsal." She ended up singing backup with the background singers anyway. I couldn't stop her even if I wanted to. She was just hanging with the band. That's where she found her peace and joy. The safest place in the world for her was with the band.
On Saturday, as I was walking into the hotel, the head of security approached me and told me to come with him. He said the paramedics had been called to Whitney's room. I was outside her room, pacing. I don't have a gauge of how many minutes later — time just froze — but at some point he came out of the room and told me that she had passed. I was in shock.
I went to my room and closed the windows, closed the door, and just cried. I was numb. I found out about an hour before the media, so I couldn't tell anyone. I couldn't talk to anyone.
That night, Jennifer Hudson and I met in my room with the keyboards. We talked and we hugged and we cried. We didn't do anything musically. We just talked about what we would do at the Grammys the next night, and I said, "I'll work on it, and I'll see you in the morning. We'll figure it out tomorrow." I was in the audience when she sang the song during the show. I just put my head down and wept. The person next to me grabbed my hand and held it tightly. I don't even remember who it was. I didn't stick around. I left and got in my car and cried all the way home.
The funeral was six days later in Newark. I had to be at the church at 8:00 A.M. I still hadn't written the eulogy, so I got up at 6:00 and sat down with a hotel pen and paper and I thought, If I just had one sentence, what would it be? And the first thing that came to mind was I love Whitney Houston. And not because of her voice or the way she looked, but because she was a good friend. That was the thread I was going to use.
Before the service began, we changed songs and we changed keys because people had been up all night and couldn't hit the notes. Stevie Wonder told me that her family said "Ribbon in the Sky" was her favorite song, but he was having issues with "Ribbon in the Sky" being a love song. So he was trying to change the lyrics. That sort of thing.
We all agreed Whitney's voice should be the last thing heard at the service, and "I Will Always Love You" should be the song. I was a part of that record; I played bass on it and conducted the band for that song. When I heard her begin to sing, in a moment's time my life with her flashed by: every laugh, every disagreement. The band and I just gathered together in one big circle, and we wept while the song was played. And we wept while they lifted the casket.
—As told to Ross McCammon


http://www.esquire.com/blogs/culture...ton-death-1212

[skooldem1]

[marybrewster]

Here's a great clip of Whitney performing a medley of Diana's hits: Endless Love/Mountain/The Boss.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDCjdS9yhck

[Roberta75]

I wonder if the late great Whitney Houston ever sing any of the first Lady of Motown Records Miss Martha Reeves music? I can hear Whitney singing Nowhere to Run and I bet you my last dollar the great and saintly Miss Cissy Houston could do a real fine job of Honey Chile.

Roberta

[captainjames]

Awesome, I wish they could have done some type of duet together [[Diana and Whitney).

[reese]

Awesome, I wish they could have done some type of duet together [[Diana and Whitney).

They briefly sang together at a 1992 tv special honoring Muhammed Ali. They started off the finale of YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iikK4frJRno

[jobeterob]

Diana Ross’ son offended by Beacher's Madhouse show that lampooned Whitney Houston and made light of her drug use
Houston imitators crossed the line, Evan Ross believed
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Larry Busacca/Getty Images
Evan Ross, son of Diana Ross.
Diana Ross' son Evan was not amused by the crowd's callous behavior over Whitney Houston's death at Beacher's Madhouse on Thursday morning.

A source who attended the weekly Wednesday night party at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles - where midgets are part of the macabre entertainment - tells us the Motown legend's offspring, who's an actor and musician, was offended by a stage show that lampooned Houston and made light of her drug use.

Around 1 a.m., the insider says a pint-sized woman, "who came up to my knee" took the Beacher's stage dressed as Houston in a pink tutu, black bustier and curly wig. She was joined by a rather large drag queen, who seemed to be channeling a blond version of the pop singer, in a sequined dress.

WHITNEY HOUSTON: HER LIFE IN PHOTOS

As Houston's hit, "I Wanna Dance with Somebody," played on the sound system, both Houston imitators danced onstage with other Beacher's cast members and party goers. As the song progressed, the source says that the super-plus-sized impersonator simulated smoking a crack pipe and, soon after, produced a plastic bag of white powder and pretended to snort from it. Eventually, the drag queen dumped the powder on his face and the stage, and, the source adds, audience members climbed up with him and began to simulate snorting it.

"I've seen a lot of weird stuff go on at this party, but I was shocked," says the source.

Ross was apparently shocked, too. He had to be calmed down after the morbid performance. Eventually, our source says, a microphone was brought to the 23-year-old's table.

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According to the source, he told the crowd, which included Brody Jenner and "Dancing with the Stars" performers Derek Hough and Mark Ballas, that while he "supported" them, he had grown up with Houston and found what had transpired "disrespectful."


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertain...#ixzz2KoJyyYld