In lieu of flowers, please forward all donations to:
THE WHITNEY E. HOUSTON
Academy of Creative and Performing Arts
P. O. BOX 835
South Plainfield, New Jersey 07080
Whitney Houston died at the age of 48. Best known for hits “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)” and “So Emotional,” Houston is the only artist to consecutively chart seven No. 1 hits. During her illustrious career she earned 415 awards, making her the most-awarded female music artist of all time. Whitney paved the way for female vocalists and will endure as one of music’s most beloved voices.
Whitney Houston was born in what was then a middle-income neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey, the third and youngest child of Army serviceman and entertainment executive John Russell Houston, Jr. (September 13, 1920 – February 2, 2003), and gospel singer Cissy Houston (née Emily Drinkard).She was of African American, Native American and Dutch descent. Her mother, along with cousins Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick and godmother Aretha Franklin were all notable figures in the gospel, rhythm and blues, pop, and soul genres. Whitney was raised a Baptist, but was also exposed to the Pentecostal church. After the 1967 Newark riots, the family moved to a middle class area in East Orange, New Jersey when she was four.
At the age of 11, Whitney began to follow in her mother’s footsteps and started performing as a soloist in the junior gospel choir at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, where she also learned to play the piano. Her first solo performance in the church was “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah”.
When Whitney was a teenager, she attended Mount Saint Dominic Academy, a Catholic girls high school in Caldwell, New Jersey, where she met her best friend Robyn Crawford, whom she described as the “sister she never had”. While Whitney was still in school, her mother continued to teach her how to sing. In addition to her mother, Franklin, and Warwick, Whitney was also exposed to the music of Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, and Roberta Flack, most of whom would have an impact on her as a singer and performer.
In 1978, at age 15, Whitney sang background vocals on Chaka Khan’s hit single “I’m Every Woman”, a song she would later turn into a larger hit for herself on her monster-selling The Bodyguard soundtrack album. She also sang back-up on albums by Lou Rawls and Jermaine Jackson.
In the early 1980s, Whitney started working as a fashion model after a photographer saw her at Carnegie Hall singing with her mother. She appeared in Seventeen and became one of the first women of color to grace the cover of the magazine. She was also featured in layouts in the pages of Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Young Miss, and appeared in a Canada Dry soft drink TV commercial. Her striking looks and girl-next-door charm made her one of the most sought after teen models of that time. While modeling, she continued her burgeoning recording career by working with producers Michael Beinhorn, Bill Laswell and Martin Bisi on an album they were spearheading called One Down, which was credited to the group Material. For that project, Whitney contributed the ballad “Memories”, a cover of a song by Hugh Hopper of Soft Machine. Robert Christgau of The Village Voice called her contribution “one of the most gorgeous ballads you’ve ever heard”. She also appeared as a lead vocalist on one track on a Paul Jabara album, entitled Paul Jabara and Friends, released by Columbia Records in 1983.
Whitney had previously been offered several recording agencies (Michael Zager in 1980, and Elektra Records in 1981).[citation needed] In 1983, Gerry Griffith, an A&R representative from Arista Records saw her performing with her mother in a New York City nightclub and was impressed. He convinced Arista’s head Clive Davis to make time to see Whitney perform. Davis too was impressed and offered a worldwide recording contract which Whitney signed. Later that year, she made her national televised debut alongside Davis on The Merv Griffin Show.
Whitney signed with Arista in 1983 but did not begin work on her album immediately. The label wanted to make sure no other label signed the singer away. Davis wanted to ensure he had the right material and producers for Whitney’s debut album. Some producers had to pass on the project due to prior commitments. Whitney first recorded a duet with Teddy Pendergrass entitled “Hold Me” which appeared on his album, Love Language. The single was released in 1984 and gave Whitney her first taste of success, becoming a Top 5 R&B hit. It would also appear on her debut album in 1985.
Over the following 25 years, Whitney’s music career flourished with many chart-topping hit songs and setting numerous records in the recording industry.
During that time, Whitney had two tremendously standout performances, her singing of “The Star Spangled Banner” at Super Bowl XXV at Tampa Stadium on January 27, 1991, and in 1992, her singing of “The Bodyguard” soundtrack’s lead single “I Will Always Love You”, written and originally recorded by Dolly Parton in 1974. Whitney’s versions won critical acclaim.
Throughout the 80s and 90s, Whitney was an unstoppable force in pop music. With sales estimated to have exceeded 200 million records, she is one of the biggest-selling female singers ever.
On February 11, 2012, Whitney went home to be with the Lord. She leaves to cherish her memory, her daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown, her mother Dr. Emily Cissy Houston, her brothers Gary (Pat) Houston and Michael (Donna) Houston; her cousin Dionne Warwick; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, relatives, friends, church family, and fans world-wide. She was pre-deceased by her father, the late John R. Houston.
During this holiday season, Rock StarPhil Varone reached into his heart and out to the Nike corporation. Every year stars alike host benefits for their favorite well deserved charities, along with the help of the big tied corporate leaders, who sign checks and donate products to actually give back to the community that supports them. After all if it wasn’t for the general public they wouldn’t be in business in the first place.
VH1′s Phil Varone, has a special wish for his personal chosen charity, which is the Clear View Treatment Center, a non-profit organization that houses 30 boys between the ages of 13-18. CVTC, has been taking in “last chance” children who have fallen victim to drug and alcohol abuse, gang violence and sadly enough some left without families.
Why not ask Nike for a small and simple donation of 30 pairs of shoes? 30 pairs of shoes that are sold to the masses time and time again. Nike, decided to ditch on their “giving back” this year.
In an email received by Varone from Nike Corp. was just unacceptable to the hosts of this years event to benefit CVTC. Nike says there broke, they don’t have the funds to donate 30 pairs of shoes. Phil, being the caring guy that he is, asked at least for a discount and he would purchase the shoes for the boys.
The shocking end to this discussing display of NON-charity from Nike Corp, was a letter sent via email with one word, hardly a letter if you ask me. The one word response was “NEGATIVE”, WTF!
Is Nike so broke that they are having to use radio lingo to save on the verbal diarrhea bill? Negative, I’ll tell you what’s negative…the fact that the average parent breaks their back to afford Nike’s over priced shoes t begin with, that some inner-city youths are actually killed for the newest shoe on the shelf! Nike, your crap! Your company makes millions of dollars in profit, your company Christmas party will be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars this year. 30 pairs of shoes, for 30 children who have walked through that door with the shirt on their backs, and nothing more. Shame on you Nike, shame on you!
Please join Phil Varone and Gossip Ain’t Sweet is boycotting Nike! Join our “I’d Rather Go Barefoot Than Wear Nike” campaign this holiday season.
Please join us on December 10, 2010 at Angels Roadhouse “Bar N Grill” 1650 East 6th St, Corona, CA, for a rockin’ good time!
The second annual Christmas show, hosted by VH1’sPhil Varone, will included a Celebrity Auction, Special Musical Guest Kottak, featuringJames Kottak of Mega Rock Band Scorpions, Musical Comedy by Allison Weber and MagicianJustin Rivera. No event would be complete without a raffle, bags of goodies, and of course an all star jam session and so much more!
Keeping with the holiday season, Phil VaroneakaPlaygirl’s“Mr. December”, will be autographing advance copies of his 20 page spread, so get your copy before the newsstands!
All proceeds to benefit Clear View Treatment Center.
Clear View Treatment Center is a non-profit residential treatment program providing services to thirty adolescent boys ages 13-17.
Over the years CVTC, has been successful in changing the lives of young men, in way of providing them the tools need to be a productive member of society. Often times, these boys walk through the door with nothing more than the shirt on their backs, leaving behind their past lives of gangs, drugs, and abuse.
Let’s all join together this holiday season, in giving the gift of Christmas. Make a change in a child’s life while having a rockin’ rollin good time!
For more information on Clear View Treatment Center please visit the link below.
While LiLo is completing her fifth stint in rehab, Betty Ford decided to share some bling! Gossip Ain’t Sweet, has exclusively learned about the inside secret ceremony at the famed Betty Ford Center, and only GAS has all the details.
Over the past weekend, Lohan was what inside sources to the Betty Ford Center call “coined out”. A special and sacred ritual that only successful graduates of the 30 day inpatient program participate in.
After dinner and a required AA meeting, Lindsay walked into her dorm to find a celebration cake made of decadent chocolate and raspberry filled cake topped with french vanilla bean ice cream. Some of her dorm mates made homemade cards, flowers from the compound garden, gifts that the women in her hall bought at the Betty Ford Center gift shop, and even a few personal possessions were given to LiLo.
In addition to the makeshift party, gift bags filled with miscellaneous munchies of gum, lollipops and other goodies were given out were handed out by one rehab-er.
Lindsay Lohan has made wonderful life long friends within the walls at Betty Ford, the woman were brought to tears when it was her official last day in the dorm. One wish to Lindsay was ” a life long wish of love and loving herself, and that all her dreams come true in this world….” The patient was brought to tears on the realization that her new found friend would not be there for her coin out ceremony. Lindsay made a heartfelt promises her new BFC buddy, to personally come back when it was her time to leave the center grounds.
After the sober party was over, the ladies got down to true sisterhood business. The group all sat down and took turns in the “private Betty Ford coin ceremony”, only shared with alumni and current patients of the Betty Ford Center.
One by one, the ladies take turns passing around a brass medallion, not much bigger than a silver dollar, the coin engraved with “Betty Ford Center AtEisenhower” on the front. The back of the coin is engraved with “God, grant me the serenity To accept the things I can not change the courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference“, only GAS has the exclusive pictures of the medallion.
With each turn, the women of Betty Ford share how they have watched Lohan grow and change spiritually, making a wish for Lindsay out loud, kissing the coin and pass it to the next person.
The coin represents all that is positive about the rehab experience, and it is believed by the women who have walked through the BFC doors, that the wishes remain inside the coin, so at a persons low points they can reflect on the coin significance, and know that no matter where they are in the world they are spiritually connected.
Betty Ford Center insider reveals exclusively to GAS that nothing was ever said negatively in regards to Lindsay, “she was every ones friend and opened up to so many woman, when she returns to her world she has the tools she needs to make it, she will be just fine!”
Lindsay Lohan, told the women that she looks forward to being an active alumni member to Betty Ford Center and is very positive about living life sober, shares an insider.
“Lindsay has a temporary sponsor, she has been moved into the “RDT” program, which is designed for women who require extra time in rehab, long care treatment.” says a source close to the center.
Lindsay will be attending her required inpatient programs, for the length of her required stay.
Now that Lohan has graduated the traditional rehab stay, she is now moved over to the Rancho Las Palmas property, a group of townhouses owned by the Betty Ford Center, and shared by the Rancho Mirage Marriott golf resort. R.D.T., which stands for “residential day treatment”, was created to extent an after care program for the residents.
Lohan, while enjoying the desert view of the putting green out her living room window, which she shares with 5 other women. The townhouse are routinely checked by staff at a minimum of three times per day and night.
With a touch a freedom, does come new rules, A strict 10 PM curfew is in effect, an option of dinning in as long as the house can agree and afford a meal, which is a rare occurrence says source. Lohan may now use the house phone after a day of therapy for 15 minutes in the evening. While the ladies of the R.D.T. program are not allowed internet access or regular TV.
If Lohan chooses to hit the town on designated days, she must be accompanied at all times either by a official Betty Ford technician or two or more roommates. Limited activities that are allowed, include a quick trip to a local market to pick up required necessities or catch a flick. As long as the girls attend one outside AA meeting, they won’t loose any privileges.
Upon Lohan’s return she is searched, along with being tested for any alcohol or drugs that she might have picked up while out.
For Lindsay sake let’s hope Jeremy London isn’t cruising the Palm Springs strip or climbing any palm trees over the next few months!
Our hats are off to Lindsay, on the awesome progress she is making. Keep up the great work Lindsay!
In an exclusive interview with the multi-platinum recording artist; Phil Varone, former drummer of Skid Row. Phil, who’s in town getting his swing on… on the green that is. Helping raising funds for “Hilton Head Island Celebrity Golf Tournament“, which is an annual 3-day golf tournament, with all proceeds to be shared with various children’s charities. This is Varone’s first year playing in the HHI tournament, when asked if he’d come back next year, Phil quickly responded ”Defiantly I would love to come back, if they’ll have me.”
Varone’s philanthropy doesn’t stop there, Phil’s work with at-risk youth, is nothing more than phenomenal. Varone’s “Clear View Treatment Center” houses 30 boys, between the ages of 13-18, ” we have five houses, they are mostly court ordered, gang members and this is their last chance top get it together“, Phil shares with GAS. If that is not enough to overlook the once rehab-ed rock star with his hard core appearance, Phil Varone genuinely has a beautiful soul! With all of Phil’s commitments & projects across the map, Varone, who also makes sure that his time is evenly spread out amongst the issues near & dear to him, with twice a week visits to work locally with the homeless. Not your typical rock star at all. I found the drummer turned actor to be quite delightful.
Mark December 15th on your calendar ladies, you’ll get a chance to see an entirely new side of Phil Varone. In a twenty page spread of him & all his goodies will be on display at a newsstand near you! That’s right Phil is featured as Play Girl’s newest centerfold, “the photographer was just fantastic, we had a 2 day interactive shoot in NY.” As quickly as Phil is taking it off, he’ll soon be dressed to the nines as he walks down the aisle in the near future with his new fiancée Achsha.
Phil happily announced exclusively to GAS, that he recently got engaged to long time girl friend Achsha, “she is so far removed from the entertainment business, she is a real estate broker“, Phil replies. When asked about the big day, and if there were any plans in the near future to tie the knot, Phil shared “we are just enjoying the moment, probably in a year“, “where both in the lifestyle.”
When GAS inquired about how life is now, after his stint on Dr. Drew’s Celebrity Rehab, “I was in therapy for sex addiction, life is great”, Phil continues “Tiger Woods is not a sex addict, when I first heard he was in sex rehab, I laughed…Tiger’s in rehab for having sex with what 19 women? He’s not a sex addict, I was having sex with 19 women in a weekend, I’m a rock star.”
That’s not all Varone’s cooking up, the “Rock Star Recipes” cookbook is on it’s way to a kitchen near you. The cookbook features various rock stars, who will share their favorite recipes with us. While rocking out in the kitchen, readers will be able to listen to their best-loved rock hits that have toped the charts over the years, with a CD that will accompany the book. Phil goes on to say “the cookbook will contain brief bios and the stories behind the recipes, we will also be pairing each recipe with a beverage.” Check out your local book stores for a copy, this defiantly sounds like a great addition to any kitchen collection!
GAS asked, what’s next on the list to concur in the world of Varone? Phil opened up about his passion for writing, ” I left the music scene to pursue acting and writing, I even do comedy”, “I have also started blogging for a site called thecomet.com.” Currently on the table for the mega rocker, are a variety of offers to host and star in some quite flavorful new television shows.
Make sure to keep an ear out for Phil Varone to top the charts once again, he will soon be going back out on the road. Phil exclusively told GAS that he is getting his first band, Saigon Kick back together.
Drummer, actor, writer and philanthropist…the many sides of Phil Varone. GAS just can’t wait to see what’s coming next.
G.A.S. had the opportunity to have a chat with Melissa London during her stint in Dr. Drew’s famed Pasadena Recovery Center aka “Celeb Rehab“, she is due to graduate the program today with flying colors we might add!
A healthy and soberMelissa shared her innermost thoughts with us. Putting the past behind her, which includes her douche bag “it’s all about me” husband being left in dust. Melissa looks forward to starting over her life, “with a sponsor and working a 12 step program I have the my whole life in front of me” Melissa says smiling ear to ear.
Melissa who unfortunately is best known as the wife of “alleged kidnapped victim” Jeremy London, who’s credits include…well really nothing … oh my bad stared to doze of thinking of his F-list career.
What everyone wants to know about that wacky, palm tree humping night in the late Sonny Bono‘s back yard Palm Springs. Well as if we couldn’t read between the white lines that Jeremy laid out for us, Melissa believes it was a drug deal gone bad.
Apparently, Melissa over heard Jeremy talking about Rx pills: Vicodin & Xanax while accused Brandon Adams changed his tire. Her gut instinct kicked in and she bounced from the scene that would soon land one man in jail!
According to Melissa London, Jeremy was already high that day and had been for quite sometime. Melissa goes on to tell how Jeremy even skipped out on his required drug test by not notifying he whereabouts. Dude, what’s up with that?
If that isn’t bad enough, Melissa shares the real reason their marriage failed, his homosexual affairs and domestic violence she endured while being married to Jeremy.
“2 1/2 years ago on his birthday, when I was holding our son, Jeremy through a camera at my face breaking my nose” Melissa goes on to tell us that Jeremy was arrested that night. She continues on about Jeremy pushing her out of a moving car. Where the hell is the A Team, someone needs to whoop this man’s butt!
What’s next for Melissa, now clean & sober her goal is to help other women who are victims of domestic abuse and addicted to prescription medication. With offers flooding in from book deals to TV appearances, her main offer she has picked is being a mom to her son Lyric.
Whitney Houston died at the age of 48. Best known for hits “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)” and “So Emotional,” Houston is the only artist to consecutively chart seven No. 1 hits. During her illustrious career she earned 415 awards, making her the most-awarded female music artist of all time. Whitney paved the way for female vocalists and will endure as one of music’s most beloved voices.
