www.classicwhitney.com - Archive Newsfile: September 2003

Album Update...

Whitney's Christmas Album!

Whitney has one remaining track left to record for her highly anticipated Christmas album. She will be recording the last track for the album tonight in the studio. Stay tuned to Whitney's site for information on the release date for her Christmas album! She is working hard to to make a Christmas album that her fans will love!

Birthday...

Cissy Houston celebrates her 70th birthday today.

Wendy Williams...

Shock Jock and self proclaimed Queen of Radio, Wendy Williams talked about her interview with Whitney Houston during her book launch party as detailed in this EurWeb report.

[Thanks Amit K.]

NEWSFILE: 30 SEPTEMBER 2003

Pop Idol...

Watford Observer, 28 September 2003
Suzanne's Pop Idol dream comes to an end
By Hywel Jones

Watford's Pop Idol hopeful Suzanne Carley has failed in her bid to get into the next round of ITV's talent show.

Despite receiving praise from the show's judges for her version of Whitney Houston's Run to You, Suzanne was voted out by the public, coming in fifth place overall with 7.7 percent of the vote.

Suzanne's choice of song was a hot topic for the judges, with pop svengali Simon Cowell saying: "No-one will ever sing that song as good as Whitney does. Why do you insist on doing something when you know you will come out as second best?"

In contrast, Pete Waterman said: "My only criticism, and what a criticism this is, is that you sounded too much like Whitney Houston.

Meanwhile, judges Nikki Chapman and Neil Fox gave Suzanne the thumbs up, saying that she sounded "great".

Suzanne was up against stiff competition in her group of ten and said beforehand: "I'm most worried about being humiliated by the judges or crying. I don't want to cry. But I do have faith in myself."

NEWSFILE: 28 SEPTEMBER 2003

Kelly Rowland...

[From Manchester Online]

Kelly Rowland, one third of Destiny's Child is currently on her UK tour. This excerpt is taken from an interview with Manchester Online:

By the age of four, back home in Atlanta, Georgia, and inspired by her love of Whitney Houston, Kelly was already telling her mother that she wanted to sing.

"I used to drive my mommy up the wall trying to listen out for Whitney!'' Kelly laughs.

"I remember getting her first album as the first record I ever owned. I played it every day."

NEWSFILE: 19 SEPTEMBER 2003

Library Collection...

This excerpt is from the newsletter of the library of the University of South Florida, based out of Tampa. (USF is the major research institution in the state).

This is from the section on Special Collections:

"Special collections has recently acquired more than 100 pieces of sheet music to add to its NationsBank African-American Musical Heritage Collection. The pieces range from turn-of-the-century minstrels to rhythm and blues and rock compositions from the fifties through the seventies, and many pieces will ring familiar to most- 'Smoke Gets In Your Eyes,' by the Platters; -'Reddy Teddy,' by Little Richard; -'Take These Chains from My Heart,' by Ray Charles; -'Mabellene,' by Chuck Berry; and 'How Will I Know,' By Whitney Houston. "

And some more on this collection:

"In 1998, NationsBank, now known as BankAmerica, gave a $45,000 gift to the library to create an endowment to maintain, expand and develop the collection. The collection has grown so significantly since it was acquired that the library has applied for a federal grant from the Library Services and Technology Act to hire a professional catalogue to oversee the collection."

[Thanks Dave]

ET...

[From Entertainment Tonight]

Entertainment Tonight will this weekend count down the "top scandals of the summer" - Whitney Houston & Bobby Brown came in ninth:

9. WHITNEY & BOBBY - It turns out bad boy BOBBY BROWN was up to no good again this summer, landing in jail after he was arrested for violating the terms of his probation for a drunk driving conviction. And where was wife WHITNEY HOUSTON? In court, of course, where she called out to her husband in support and interrupted the proceedings when her cell phone went off. We take a look at the latest Bobby Brown arrest, one in a long line of problems with the law.

[Thanks Mike]

Vegas Weekend...

In its gossip section, the Las Vegas Mercury reports that Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown attended the Oscar De La Hoya/Shane Mosley fight at the MGM Grand last weekend.

NEWSFILE: 18 SEPTEMBER 2003

Dateline...

Show: Dateline NBC
Episode: 09/28/2003
Network: (NBC) National Broadcasting Company
Date: Sunday - September 28, 2003
Time: 07:00 pm - 08:00 pm ET

Featured Artists
Bobby Brown, Whitney Houston
About: 09/28/2003
Dateline NBC takes an unauthorized look at the turbulent career and life of pop diva Whitney Houston. With exclusive footage of Houston and husband Bobby Brown and interviews with the people who claim to know the real story, "Dateline NBC" goes behind the recent headlines to find out what's really going on in the pop diva's world.

Correspondent Hoda Kotb has an exclusive interview with Kevin Skinner, who tells "Dateline" about the multi-million dollar lawsuit pitting Houston against her own father, and the hour includes never before seen video of Houston and her family as they recently traveled to Israel for a visit with a group called the African Israelites.

[Thanks Adam]

Date Change...

The BMG website reports Whitney Houston's holiday album has a revised release date of 11 November 2003.

[Thanks Dzemil]

NEWSFILE: 17 SEPTEMBER 2003

BMG Attributes Blame...

In this New York Times Article (Bertelsmann Encounters Some Turbulence), the media conglomerate outline their fiscal loses for the first half of the year. In explaining some of the reasons for the downturn in performance, BMG go on record to cite Whitney Houston's contract as being too generous and state that some of the loses relate to write-offs that include that 2001 contract.

To read reports about Whitney Houston's contract renegotiation, go to the Contract Archive.

[Thanks Sabine W.]

NEWSFILE: 3 SEPTEMBER 2003