Late American singer Whitney Houston is set to make it back into the limelight thanks to the help of technology. The estate of Whitney Houston has struck a deal aiming to revive the late superstar’s brand, potentially launching a touring hologram and album of unreleased music.
New York-based company Primary Wave Music Publishing announced on Monday it penned an agreement with mega-celebrity Houston’s estate, acquiring 50 percent of its assets including royalties from her music, films and merchandising. The most awarded female artist of all time, Houston died at 48 years old in 2012 after a public struggle with drugs, following a decade that saw her go from America’s sweetheart to tabloid drama queen.
Pat Houston, the late artist’s sister-in-law and executor of the estate, said in a statement, “With Primary Wave’s global appeal and wealth of contacts, the partnership will advance the artistry and integrity of Whitney’s legacy to a stratosphere that she herself left us all to enjoy for a lifetime. Before she passed, there was so much negativity around the name; it wasn’t about the music anymore,” Pat Houston told The New York Times. People had forgotten how great she was. They let all the personal things about her life outweigh why they fell in love with her in the first place.”
She told the paper a hologram tour featuring the artist’s laser-generated likeness is the first priority of the new contract, which could be followed by branding deals and a potential Broadway musical.
“Whitney Houston is an incomparable artist whose voice resonates in people’s lives to this day,” said Lawrence Mestel, head of Primary Wave, which focuses on marketing classic catalogues of megawatt names including Bob Marley, Smokey Robinson, and Def Leppard.
Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. She was cited as the most awarded female artist of all time by Guinness World Records and remains one of the best-selling music artists of all time with 200 million records sold worldwide. She released seven studio albums and two soundtrack albums, all of which have been certified diamond, multi-platinum, platinum, or gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Houston’s crossover appeal on the popular music charts—as well as her prominence on MTV, starting with her video for “How Will I Know”—influenced several African-American women artists who followed in her footsteps.
Houston began singing in church as a child and became a background vocalist while in high school. With the guidance of Arista Records chairman Clive Davis, she signed to the label at the age of 19. This was the beginning of what was to become her glorious career and also her foray into the dark world of drugs which eventually took her life in the year 2012.
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