A Final Word: What Drove Whitney to Bobby?
Houston’s 2002 album included productions by Brown as well as others, and it was the first album not to include Clive Davis. She was branching off, or so she thought. In retrospect, one has to wonder whether Houston fully understood how completely Bobby Brown had collapsed under both the weight of the industry and the yolk of his own narcissism.
One thing is for sure: The man who she’d intended to be her knight in shining armor, the one who would save her from the mostly white and mostly male dominated music industry, became her albatross. Houston thought she’d find herself with Brown, but as she told Oprah in an interview, by 1996, she’d lost herself completely.
So after her divorce, Houston returned to her mentor, Clive. He was the guy who gave the young girl raised on gospel the bubble gum pop songs that produced hit after hit. He was the guy who got her booed at the Soul Train Awards in 1989. And at Houston’s funeral, he was also the guy who, while recounting his time with Houston, creeped many of us out.
I’m not accusing Clive Davis of behaving inappropriately with Houston. I am, however, making the point that older white men aren’t always the best people to be shepherding the careers of young, beautiful and talented African American starlets.
In a video from the pre-Grammy interview with Monica and Brandy, released after Houston’s death, Houston can be heard telling her daughter, Bobbi Kristina, to say hello to her Godfather – Clive Davis. But can the record label executive ever really be your friend? He’s a business executive who represents the label’s interests. Confusing the personal with the professional is what wrought havoc on Carey’s life, and, I fear, Houston’s as well.
Yes, Brown deserves his share of the blame for the mega-star’s untimely demise, as does Houston for allowing her life to spin out of control, but there’s still one bad boy who’s gone totally unscathed in this controversy, and he represents the industry that created the profit driven friction between Houston and her community. We should hold him accountable as well.
Yvette Carnell is a former Capitol Hill and campaign staffer turned writer. She is currently an editor and contributor to Yourblackworld.
