Before her untimely death, Whitney Houston was struggling with substance abuse.
Clive Davis, the music industry titan who signed the singer to a record deal when she was 20 and who worked with her throughout her career, told Page Six that he was “shocked” to learn of her death in 2012.
Davis told Page Six exclusively, “I was with her 48 hours before her death,” adding, “It never occurred to me” that she would die two days later.
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Houston, who had a lifelong problem with drug abuse, has been making efforts to overcome her addiction.
“She was showing me what she had done in recovery,” the 90-year-old record producer said. Away with the tar and poisonous nicotine that smoking had left in her system. Furthermore, she was eager to get started in the studio. Just 48 hours before her death, I had no idea that she was going to die. I never imagined that her life would end in such a tragic and untimely manner.
He elaborated, saying, “She was making a heroic endeavour during that time to give up narcotics and rehabilitate herself.”
A drowned and unconscious “I Will Always Love You” singer was discovered in a Beverly Hilton hotel on February 11, 2012. She was just 48 years old when paramedics tried to save her life with CPR, but she remained unresponsive.
She drowned, and the “effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine usage” contributed to her death, according to the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office. Benadryl, Xanax, and cannabis were just some of the other substances identified in her system during toxicology testing.
The founder of Arista recordings recalls vividly Houston’s audition, during which she sang “The Greatest Love of All.”
“I realised at that audition that this was a once-in-a-lifetime vocalist,” he said.
Davis, who is represented by Stanley Tucci in the Houston biopic “I Wanna Dance with Somebody,” co-produced the film and claims it “answers all the questions that the audience wants to know about Whitney.”
He elaborated, saying, “Whether it’s her sexuality, how she responded to any suggestion that she was not singing black enough, the influence of drugs, or recording with me.”
Rumors that Whitney Houston had an affair with her aide Robyn Crawford persisted even after she married and divorced New Edition member Bobby Brown.
Crawford revealed in her 2019 memoir “A Song for You: My Life with Whitney Houston” that she and Houston dated after meeting as camp counsellors in the summer of 1980.
In his defence, Davis stated, “The film makes it very apparent that she had an affair with Robyn as a teenager and then she, on her own declared, ‘This is not for me. That, “I want a house,” you said? I’m looking for a spouse. I’m ready to start a family. Having a tense confrontation with my parents is the last thing I want. My faith forbids it. Tell me, ‘Will you be my best friend?’
So, that settles the terms. Even before Bobby is on there, she was having affairs with other guys, he explained. She was unmistakably straight in her attraction to males. As an adult, it never became a source of contention in her union. There was no sexual tension between her and Bobby. They were both destroying themselves, yet she was not frustrated by their mutual attraction.
Davis recommends that Houston fans watch the film in a venue “with a decent sound system” so that “all the amazing tunes and of course that voice” may be heard in their full glory.
He went on, “That voice that was the finest of her generation and is up there with the two or three best of all time. The movie accomplishes precisely that.
The music executive, whose resume includes collaborations with the likes of Janis Joplin, Santana, Billy Joel, and Pink Floyd, claims to have an instantaneous sense of whether or not he wants to collaborate with a given artist.
I can’t read sheet music,” she said. No, I’m not a musician. Something about that really resonates with me. But when dealing with an artist, you don’t know it after the first song. This is true whether you’re dealing with Bruce Springsteen or Patti Smith. You have a knack for writing. Those qualities are what set it apart from anywhere else.
The film “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” is now showing in cinemas.
DRUGS, WHITNEY HOUSTON, CLIVE DAVIS, BIOGRAPHY,
