The story of one of pop's greatest singers is about to hit the big screen.
I Wanna Dance with Somebody, which has its global premier on Monday, retraces Whitney Houston's journey from shy gospel singer to one of the most successful pop stars of all time.
The film, with English actress Naomi Ackie playing Houston, will also explore her fall from grace, exacerbated by her tumultuous personal life and spiralling substance abuse.
What is not lost amid the drama is the power of Houston’s songs, ranging from achingly romantic ballads to inspirational anthems and energetic pop.
Here are 10 songs that show why she was described as the voice of her generation.
1. Hold Me (1984)
While short of the vocal fireworks synonymous with her later releases, the duet with soul singer Teddy Pendergrass is a tender ballad introducing Houston to the US RnB market.
While she would go on to transcend the genre, Hold Me is still cherished by fans and became a popular wedding song in the US.
2. You Give Good Love (1985)
Houston shines on her own here, her first US chart topping single.
The mid-tempo piece laid some of the foundation for Houston's sound, which often has her clear and controlled voice sailing over sweeping arrangements and pristine production.
While the approach was not as forward thinking, it is this elegant conservatism that allowed Houston to reach a wide audience.
3. Saving All My Love for You (1984)
An underappreciated talent of Houston's was her mastery of song interpretation.
Originally recorded in 1978 as a duet by Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr, the new take by Houston is more ornate and features one of her purest vocal performances.
Houston reportedly admitted that the emotionally fractious lyrics of Saving All My Love for You belied her own experiences with tumultuous relationships.
4. How Will I Know (1985)
By the time the dance-ready single was out, Houston's eponymous debut album was well on its way to selling 25 million copies.
How Will I Know was a creative breakthrough for Houston and proves she was equally adept at singing high tempo pop tracks as ballads.
Backed by barrelling drums and a screaming sax solo, the song remains a vibrant reflection of its time.
5. Greatest Love of All (1986)
It takes something special to make an already recognised song your own.
Houston achieved that with her version of the 1977 George Benson hit and transformed it into an epic inspirational ballad.
While the structure of the expansive ballad is similar to the original, Houston's version injects the kind of soul and passion developed during her earlier years as a gospel singer.
Her performance is a masterclass in vocalism for its power, control, diction and crispness.
Greatest Love of All was the last single of Houston's game-changing debut album and topped the US charts for three weeks.
6. I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me) (1987)
By the time Houston released her second album, Whitney, in 1987, she was considered an equal to pop stars Prince and Michael Jackson.
With both artists releasing seminal albums that year (Sign o' the Times and Bad, respectively), Houston also made an impression with the chart-conquering Whitney.
Featuring glossy and exuberant synths and throbbing basslines, the blockbuster single I Wanna Dance with Somebody became a summer anthem and made its mark internationally by topping the charts across Europe.
It also cemented Houston's status as a new queen of pop.
7. One Moment in Time (1988)
Arguably the greatest Olympic anthem.
Released for the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, Houston beautifully summons the majesty of the event with a luscious vocal that swells to cinematic proportions in the crescendo.
The song went on to resonate beyond the event, with Houston performing it again as part of the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
8. I Will Always Love You (1992)
The idea to cover Dolly Parton's 1974 song as part of the film soundtrack for The Bodyguard came during a moment of bother.
Houston was frustrated that the original choice, What Becomes of the Brokenhearted, by Jimmy Ruffin, was being used for the drama Fried Green Tomatoes and record label head Clive Davis was impressing upon her the need for a big song to carry The Bodyguard.
Then co-star Kevin Costner suggested I Will Always Love You and the rest is history.
In the Houston biopic I Wanna Dance with Somebody, she says she is attracted to songs that envelop the listener.
I Will Always Love You, with its heft and Houston’s bravura performance, is the epitome of that approach.
9. Exhale (Shoop Shoop) (1995)
While Houston is often associated with epic vocal performances, she also found success when dialling it down.
As the lead single from the Waiting to Exhale film soundtrack and produced by Babyface, Exhale (Shoop Shoop) is a sensual RnB jam in which Houston sounds relaxed in a low-key gem.
10. I Didn't Know My Own Strength (2009)
I Didn't Know My Own Strength is a classic Houston ballad that alludes to her troubled family relationships and her battle with substance abuse.
While the latter, sadly, left its mark on her once-immaculate voice, the power of the song lies in the resilience etched in those weathered vocals.
The fact she succumbed to her struggles three years later makes it a harrowing listen today.
Cinco in numbers
Dh3.7 million
The estimated cost of Victoria Swarovski’s gem-encrusted Michael Cinco wedding gown
46
The number, in kilograms, that Swarovski’s wedding gown weighed.
1,000
The hours it took to create Cinco’s vermillion petal gown, as seen in his atelier [note, is the one he’s playing with in the corner of a room]
50
How many looks Cinco has created in a new collection to celebrate Ballet Philippines’ 50th birthday
3,000
The hours needed to create the butterfly gown worn by Aishwarya Rai to the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
1.1 million
The number of followers that Michael Cinco’s Instagram account has garnered.
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Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
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White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
Under 19 World Cup
Group A: India, Japan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka
Group B: Australia, England, Nigeria, West Indies
Group C: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Scotland, Zimbabwe
Group D: Afghanistan, Canada, South Africa, UAE
UAE fixtures
Saturday, January 18, v Canada
Wednesday, January 22, v Afghanistan
Saturday, January 25, v South Africa
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
More from Neighbourhood Watch
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
500 People from Gaza enter France
115 Special programme for artists
25 Evacuation of injured and sick
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
