Has Houston Got Trouble, Or Is It Us?...

Women On The Web: Liz Smith: Has Houston Got Trouble, or Is It Us?

WELL, THERE it was on the front page of USA Today, a great big headline – "Can This Career Be Saved?" It was accompanied by a dramatic photo of Whitney Houston. The story itself was inside, in the excellent entertainment section of the paper, but I guess the editors really wanted us to know of Whitney’s problems.

According to reviews and gossip trailing the star’s comeback concert tour, Whitney’s voice is a shadow of what it once was, and her manner onstage sometimes disturbing. The online websites have insisted Houston has fallen off the wagon – that she is back on drugs or drinking. Naturally Houston and her reps deny this. She’s been battling a flu, that’s all.

Here are a few thoughts. I can’t believe anybody going to see Whitney today could possibly expect her magnificent voice to be unchanged. Even in the very sympathetic atmosphere of the Oprah show, some months back, it was clear that her voice has suffered. As with Julie Andrews’s recent concert in London, audiences need to be realistic. (Yes, yes – I know. Julie’s voice was damaged because of a botched procedure of her throat. Whitney brought about her own vocal demise. But the result is a diminished instrument, all the same.)

Regarding Whitney’s onstage behavior and appearance – geez, at this point have people not gotten the message that Whitney Houston is not the soft-spoken princess-y girl who first wowed us back in the 1980s? She’s kind of rough and tough and wacky. She married Bobby Brown, for heaven’s sake!

And for those startled by how Whitney looks at times – she has always, always had an issue with excessive perspiring onstage. By the middle of her concerts she tends to look the worse for the wear. But her damp glow doesn’t necessarily mean she’s "under the influence."

I’m not naïve. Back in the day, I was one of those publicly calling for somebody to do something to save this girl. Her drug use was an open secret. But now I have no pipeline regarding Whitney. So, maybe she’s in trouble, maybe this is just the way it is with her voice – and she is trying her best? (In the recording studio she can sound wonderful still, if a bit huskier.)

Can this career be saved? Perhaps it doesn’t need saving. Fans and critics have to grow up and accept that abuse has altered her great gift. She knows it, believe me. If it were a mistake to tour, it’s too late now. She’s out there giving what she has, so let’s go easy, OK?

If she OD’s tomorrow you can all call me "Pollyanna." I’ve been called worse.
 

NEWSFILE: 14 MAY 2010