The Whitney E. Houston Estate, Primary Wave Music and Sony Corporation Of America will present the 2nd Annual Whitney Houston Gala Legacy Of Love on August 9th. The gala will be held at the St. Regis Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia on what would have been Houston’s 60th birthday. Clive Davis, who was Houston’s professional mentor and is the chief creative officer at Sony Entertainment, is this year’s Honorary Chairperson along with Houston’s longtime musical director Larry Jackson and Academy president Harvey Mason Jr. Emmy-winning Atlanta broadcaster Karyn Greer is hosting the gala. Bebe Winans, gospel singer Kim Burrell and Gary Houston are giving musical performances. 

The Whitney Houston Foundation was founded in 1989 and provided resources to homeless children, built parks, and playgrounds, and established college scholarships. The Foundation also supported several charities including the Children’s Defense Fund, Childhood Diabetes, Hale House, The Rain Forest Foundation, United Negro College Fund, St. Jude’s Children’s Research, Special Olympics and Whitney Houston’s South African concerts of which a portion of the proceeds went to South African children’s charities. 

The Whitney E. Houston Legacy Foundation was formed in 2020 to continue the work of supporting today’s youth through programs and services. The Foundation also is a source of restoration for the youth’s self-esteem. “Not long after Whitney’s career started in the mid-80s, she was steadfast and focused on starting her foundation for children and young people,” says Pat Houston, the executor of The Estate for Whitney E. Houston. “Especially now during this time in history with our young people, the work of the foundation is more important than ever. She would be proud to know that we are continuing the work and extending our hand and love to today’s youth, who are dealing with a myriad of challenges. And she would be happy that we are having this occasion and celebrating on what would have been her 60^th birthday, surrounded by love with family, friends, and supporters.”

The annual fundraiser will also have a silent auction with specially curated items from the Whitney E. Houston Estate, along with other specialty items from ten-time Grammy Award winner Dolly Parton and basketball legend Julius Erving II, among other packages from Broadway to music to fashion to other one-of-kind originals and keepsakes. There will also be a presentation of the 2023 grant recipient of Atlanta’s Living Live Foundation’s “Lighting the Way Youth Mentor” program. The Whitney E. Houston Legacy Foundation will also provide several scholarships to students of historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to study the arts. In 1988, Houston was presented with an honorary Doctorate of Arts from Grambling State University in Grambling, Louisiana.

For more information about The 2^nd Annual Whitney Houston Legacy of Love Gala, click here.

The first trailer for the Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody came out today. British actress Naomi Acke stars as Houston in the Kasi Lemmons-directed feature. Ashton Sanders plays Bobby Brown, Nafessa Williams portrays Robyn Crawford, Tamara Tunie is Cissy Houston and Stanley Tucci was cast as Clive Davis. The movie will look at Houston’s life and the challenges she faced in becoming the most respected voice of her generation and a timeless legend. Anthony McCarten, the screenwriter responsible for the story for the Freddie Mercury feature Bohemian Rhapsody, wrote I Wanna Dance With Somebody. The trailer is a quick rundown of Houston’s wedding to Bobby Brown, her destined meeting with Clive Davis, Robyn Crawford’s presence in her life and early guidance from her mother Cissy Houston.  

Houston has been the subject of five documentaries since her passing in 2012. Angela Bassett directed the Whitney documentary for Lifetime in 2015. Nick Broomfield’s Whitney: Can I Be Me debuted on Showtime in 2017. The Houston-estate authorized Whitney directed by Kevin Macdonald hit theaters in 2018. In 2021, Lifetime released Whitney Houston & Bobbi Kristina: Didn’t We Almost Have It All. 

I Wanna Dance With Somebody will be in theaters on December 21st. 

 

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Kasi Lemmons will direct the Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody. It was announced two weeks ago that Lemmons would replace Stella Meghie who left the role of director because of creative differences but will stay as an executive producer. Lemmons, who most recently directed the 2019 Academy Award-nominated Harriet, has the benefit of working with Houston in the past. The director, actress and screenwriter said, “Early in my writing career I developed two projects for Whitney, and I had the opportunity to meet her she was a tremendous, incomparable artist, and her story is as awe-inspiring as it is tragic. I feel privileged to be part of bringing her life story and music to the audience.”

Clive Davis, the legendary music executive that guided Houston’s career, is producing the movie with Larry Mestel, Pat Houston, Denis O’Sullivan and Jeff Kalligheri. Naomi Ackie will play Houston. 

Sony and Tristar will release I Wanna Dance With Somebody in theaters Thanksgiving 2022.