Fans could see and hear a lot more of Whitney Houston in the near future, as the woman in charge of the late singer and actresses’ estate seems to finally be open to re-introducing her music to the world seven years after her untimely death.
According to a new report, Houston’s sister-in-law, manager, and estate executor, Pat Houston, has lined up a handful of potential projects in the foreseeable future which could include a touring hologram (yup, seriously), a Broadway musical with Vegas-level production, branding deals, and a new studio album comprised of never-before-heard recordings pulled from the unused tracks meant for her 1985 self-titled debut.
The hologram tour would likely see a digitalized version of Houston perform songs like “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” or “The Greatest Love of All” while sharing the stage with her original band and backup singers. The estates of Amy Winehouse, Roy Orbison, and Frank Zappa have all seriously explored (and even executed, in Orbison and Zappa’s cases) taking the music and likeness of said deceased performers back on the road for a nice payday. As technology continues to advance, the real possibility of dead artists coming back to perform in venues around the country could seem a bit desperate, if not unethical. It’s worth noting, however, that there is a serious amount of demand for pop nostalgia at the moment, which Pat Houston looks to supply in the posthumous re-brand of her former friend and client.
“Everything is about timing for me,” Pat Houston mentioned regarding her plans for reviving the Whitney Houston brand. “It’s been quite emotional for the past seven years. But now it’s about being strategic.”
According to Pat Houston, the hologram initiative is on the top of her to-do list.
“Before she passed, there was so much negativity around the name,” Houston continued in stating. “It wasn’t about the music anymore, 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.”
Some of those plans include already selling 50% of Houston’s estate to Primary Wave Music Publishing for a mere $14 Million. Legal rights included in the purchase range from music and film royalties, merchandise, and the ability to use Houston’s name and likeness.
Time will tell whether any of these planned projects come into fruition. The modern accomplishments in technology might have finally caught up with the money-driven ambitions of estates for deceased artists, but we’ll have to wait and see.
[H/TÂ New York Times]