Luxe Life Blog

A personal tribute and a plea: Memories of Whitney Houston

Posted February 12, 2012 • 11:30 p.m.

Whitney Houston in Las Vegas as photographed by Tom Donoghue.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/DonoghuePhotography.com

Despite having the voice of an angel, singing sensation Whitney Houston died from the devil’s diet -- crack cocaine. The majestic and incredibly fantastic voice of a nightingale was snubbed out by the demons that had haunted her since first discovering stardom.

It is in this once-again tragedy of death before its time for a 48-year-old genius that proves that drugs are evilly stronger than family, friends, mentors and rehab. Whitney follows too soon after Amy Winehouse, Michael Jackson and that destructive path which goes back to Judy Garland and Janis Joplin: heroin overdose, cocaine overdose, alcohol overdose mixed with prescription painkillers.

I hope the lesson is learned once and for all that drugs kill. In Whitney’s case, even after she confessed to abusing cocaine, marijuana and pills, she continued as it turned her once-beautiful voice into a raspy, hoarse instrument that could no longer hit or power those extraordinary high notes.

The drugs ravaged her gorgeous, innocent looks and led to erratic behavior, bizarre public appearances and a sometimes-wild demeanor. Less than 48 hours before her death, she looked disheveled at three Hollywood events and was reported to be sweating profusely with the smell of alcohol. Even so, Simon Cowell days ago wanted to hire her as a mentor and judge on his “X Factor.”

We’ve yet to know if the autopsy will list the cause of death from drowning, if she fell asleep in her Beverly Hilton Hotel bathtub after taking Xanax to treat anxiety. But truth is that it was long ago that her downward spiral began in the tumultuous 14-year -- many say violent -- marriage to singer Bobby Brown. She told Oprah Winfrey that they did cocaine and smoked marijuana and that he was emotionally abusive, slapped her, spat at her and brought other women into their home charged to her credit card.

In a shockingly candid confession, she admitted to Oprah: “By the time I did ‘Preacher’s Wife,’ I was doing drugs as an everyday thing. I was losing myself. We laced our marijuana with base. We would have kilos -- our stash. Basically freebasing cocaine. There were days when I would just lock myself in a room and do drugs.” Whitney once admitted to Diane Sawyer: “The biggest devil is me. I’m either my best friend or my worst enemy.”

But I want to remember the miraculous voice she had at the peak of her career from the mid 1980s to the late ’90s. I want to remember the moment she sent chills and thrills up spines with “I Will Always Love You” from 1992’s “The Bodyguard” with Kevin Costner that Las Vegas regular David Foster rearranged from the original Dolly Parton.

My longtime friend record mastermind Clive Davis discovered her. Under his guidance and producing, she released seven studio albums and soundtrack albums, all of which went diamond, multiplatinum, platinum or gold. She is the only artist to chart seven consecutive #1 Billboard Hot 100 hits and is the only female artist to have two #1 Billboard top pop album awards in the same year. I go back with Clive to the late 1960s when he was head of Columbia Records. He regularly invited me to his pre-Grammy Awards parties where I saw Whitney perform and party. He introduced me to her and predicted her superstardom.

I once chatted with her on and off for six hours on a New York to Los Angeles American Airlines flight when we sat next to each other in first class. I remember her mood swung from happy to anguished, from anxious and agitated to contented, yet easily irritated. Most of all, I remember thinking how fragile, lost and confused she was about life, her future and her success.

It’s impossible now to remember her exact words, but it was a flight that left me with a lasting impression of the troubled souls who have everything, yet have nothing. The fragility, angst and pressures of fame and fortune -- and its heavy price. The ever-worry of failing, having fans desert and the specter of empty, unsold arenas. The fear of being ostracized from her community because she’d become too successful in a mainstream world far removed from what kids her age struggled with in Newark, N.J.

Throughout the nightmares and tribulations of her life, pop music’s undisputed queen remained faithful to her upbringings in that New Jersey church choir. She somehow never let go of her faith in God, her reading of the Bible -- and it was that gospel that got her into rehab several times. Sadly, though, just not quite enough to rid the fallout over the years from drugs.

I chatted with her again when she was in Las Vegas as a guest of Planet Hollywood titan Robert Earl as he promoted the Bernard Hopkins and Joe Calzaghe fight at the Thomas & Mack Center. She happily let me snap photographs of her. She recorded tracks from her last album at George Maloof’s Studio at the Palms. Whitney was in discussions about coming out of retirement and jump-starting her career again with a run of shows at the Theater for the Performing Arts at Planet Hollywood. But, sadly, it never happened.

Neither did the plan in 2009 for a U.S. tour that would begin with MGM Grand dates. An erratic kickoff performance on “Good Morning America” was followed by bad reviews and criticism about her voice on the early Australia start dates, and the tour quickly ended.

She was excited -- almost like a giggly little girl -- about the prospects of a new tour. She loved the fight, as the photos from contributing photographer Tom Donoghue show. Our thanks also to Tom, who photographed her again at Thomas and Mack when she performed at the World Music Awards show. A relaxed, comfortable Whitney told me that she loved Las Vegas and wanted to be here with a new show. It was a night when she shined yet again and seemed to have pushed the demons away for good.

Las Vegas figured in other ways in Whitney’s rollercoaster life that went from super success and stardom to tragic torment. Flamingo headliner Donny Osmond got to know her when she performed while he competed on “Dancing With the Stars.” “It is simply sad what drugs do,” he observed.

Las Vegas resident and former Flamingo headliner Toni Braxton, who was her Arista label mate, attended Clive’s pre-Grammy party Saturday: “Being here tonight is like keeping her alive. This is like Whitney and Clive’s baby together. It’s very awkward and surreal, but the community has banded together in music for one of its own.”

It proved to be the theme of tonight’s Grammy Awards, from LL Cool J’s emotional opening prayer to weeping during the opening Grammy clip of Whitney to Jennifer Hudson’s remarkable song tribute: “She touched us with her beautiful spirit, and her lasting legacy of music will be with us forever. We will always love you.” Bravo to LL for his elegant eloquence.

Diddy was at the party, too, and summed it up best: “Today, we didn’t just lose one of our fellow artists. We lost an angel. Any time we think of Whitney, we have to remember that positivity that she gave us. She was not a hater; she was a congratulator all the time. Whenever she performed, she would give 5,000 percent.”

We have her music and her movies. Her magnificent voice, which will probably never be equaled, will live on forever. Finally, although much too young, she is at peace and now enthralling all the other angels in heaven. The devil’s drugs can no longer harm her ever again. RIP, and God bless.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.

Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

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