Trivia / Whitney Houston

• Alan Smithee: The music video for "I Will Always Love You" was credited this way. Actual director Nick Brandt had his name removed because it was re-redited in a way he didn't approve of.
• Approval of God: According to Debra Wilson herself, Houston was a fan of Wilson's celebrated impression of her in many sketches on MADtv (1995). In Wilson's own words, "she didn't take herself too seriously".
• Died During Production: There were plans to make a movie out of the sequel to Waiting to Exhale, and according to co-star Loretta Devine, the movie is still in the works, though it is unknown what they will do with Whitney Houston's character.
• Development Hell: Subverted with My Love Is Your Love, which came eight years after I'm Your Baby Tonight, but because Houston had chosen to pursue recording for soundtracks. Likely played straight with the albums that followed, due to her vocal ability at the time.
• Follow the Leader: Pick a popstar, any popstar, who came of age during Houston's heyday. When you ask who their influences are, 90% of them will say "Whitney Houston".
• Hide Your Pregnancy: The video for "I Will Always Love You" shows her sitting down and leaning slightly forward as she was several months pregnant with her daughter. Being a Video Full of Film Clips for The Bodyguard helps to distract the viewer from the fact that she doesn't move.
• Posthumous Credit: She died 6 months before Sparkle premiered.
• Referenced by...:
  • In American Psycho, Patrick Bateman gushes about Houston's Self-Titled Album while having sex with two prostitutes, who proceed to make fun of his taste in music.
  • On Season 5 Episode 2 of Battle of the Blades, Canadian hockey player Natalie Spooner and Canadian ice dancer Andrew Poje performed to "Higher Love."
• What Could Have Been:
  • After writing Houston's smashes "How Will I Know" and "I Wanna Dance with Somebody," George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam, the songwriting/recording duo known as Boy Meets Girl, offered her a third song, "Waiting for a Star to Fall," which was rejected by Houston's management. Boy Meets Girl ended up cutting the song themselves and it became one of the biggest hits of 1988.
  • Whitney almost ended up singing the Jimmy Ruffin oldie "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted?" for The Bodyguard. That idea was nixed when British singer Paul Young released the song from Fried Green Tomatoes, and co-star Kevin Costner suggested "I Will Always Love You," previously a #1 Country hit twice (but never a major pop hit) for Dolly Parton. The rest is history.

---