With his new documentary on Whitney Houston one of the best selling pop singers of all time, Nick Broomfield with his co-director Rudi Dolezi, tries really hard not to sensationalize her life story, which is nigh on impossible given the facts of all the traumas and dramas that Houston was involved in. They did at least focus on the facts and tried to dispel many of rumors that dogged the troubled singer for most of her adult life.
Born on the wrong side of the tracks in New Jersey, Houston’s childhood was full of conflicting standards. Drugs were prevalent at home and even she experimented with them with her two older brothers, but on the other hand her mother Cissy Houston a famous gospel singer who was fiercely religious didn’t seem to phased by what was going on under her roof. In fact that hypocrisy was raised later on when the subject of Houston’s closeted bisexuality was discussed as Cissy could never accept it, even though her daughter’s dependence on drugs was not a problem for her at the time.
Houston’s big break came when she was just 19 years old when Record Label mogul Clive Davis was looking for a voice like hers that he could produce to make pop music that would make her the first ever African/American to crossover to the mainstream charts. He controlled her music choices very carefully and instantly made her a major success and her debut album was biggest selling one from a female artist ever. Houston was therefore happy enough to go along with Davis, but occasionally would rebel and that’s where the title of the movie comes through.
With two very successful albums zooming up the charts and several Grammy Awards to her name, Houston was riding the crest of a wave until she went to the Soul Train Awards one night, and suddenly her life changed for ever. Firstly the mainly African/American music business audience booed every time Houston’s name was mentioned as they believed she had forsaken her black roots and sold out. Secondly this was also the night she first met Bobby Brown.
The booing shook her rigid, and some people claim she never ever really recovered from her community’s reaction that night, and this may have propelled her a little faster than ever into Brown’s arms. This bad-boy of hip hop who was much younger than her, gave Houston some street-cred and in return, she gave him money, fame and everything else.
There was of course one major obstacle in the way of the couple’s new relationship which would eventually lead to marriage and parenthood, and that was Robyn Crawford. Crawford had been with Houston from day one and served as her Creative Director, P.A., Mentor, Best Friend and probably her lover too. They were as close as two people could possibly be and as she was Houston’s gatekeeper, everyone had to go through Crawford to get to the singer. The moment Brown was on the scene and Houston insisted that Crawford carry on as before (although maybe giving up the ‘alleged’ sleeping together) there was a battle royal between the two of them to be the keeper of Houston’s heart.
From the wealth of excellent footage the loud-mouthed Brown always looked like he was auditioning for ‘boys behaving badly’, and though no blame is apportioned to him for Houston’s downfall when she became so reliant on the drugs again, it was clear that he was a very bad and powerful influence on her.
By the time it came to what would end up being her last major Tour in 1999, Houston was a mere shadow of herself and she struggled to find the energy to get through her performances. It was helped by the fact that she was aided and abetted by her retinue who talked openly of taking drugs with her even though they could see her rapid decline which ended in such tragedy when she was only 48 years old.
At the beginning of this very compelling documentary someone states very loudly it wasn’t the drugs that killed Houston it was a broken heart. And then at the end there is a very curious statement made by Brown (now re-married) who said Houston’s life would have turned out so differently and would have still been alive had she been allowed to stay with Robyn Crawford.
Such a glorious talent, and such a waste, and such a sad end to what could have easily been a fairy tale of this little poor girl with the great big voice living happily ever after.
Premiering on Showtime on August 25 at 9PM ET/PT
Labels: 2017, biography, documentary, music, Whitney Houston
