New Whitney Houston album set for holiday release

[Brian Damage]

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Whitney Houston will release her first album of original material since 2002 later this year, BMG Label Group chairman/CEO Clive Davis said Thursday.

Four songs have been completed for the as-yet-untitled project, and four more will be put to tape later this month, Davis said during Billboard's Music & Money Symposium at New York's St. Regis Hotel.

"We're on track for a holiday release," he said. "We're not going to compromise who she is to fit into today's hip-hop radio market. The public wants Whitney material."

Tracks earmarked for the album have been produced or written by Black Eyed Peas singer will.i.am, producer/songwriter Sean Garrett and R&B singer Akon.

Houston, 44, has been dogged in recent years by drug and health issues -- including rehab stints in 2004 and 2005 -- a legal dispute with her father, John Houston, rumored financial problems and a troubled marriage to fellow singer Bobby Brown that ended in divorce.

Her last album, "Just Whitney," debuted at No. 9 on the Billboard 200 in December 2002, and quickly slipped down the rankings. It was her first release since 1998's "My Love Is Your Love."

Reuters/Billboard

[Dean Winchester]

I'm glad they said they're not going to try and market Whitney into a hip hop artist.

I hope she really has gotten her act together and is on her way back. When she was at her peak, I thought she had absolutely no competition in terms of vocal pipes.

[SBTB Geek]

I never understood her mass appeal. Her music is bland, even boring. I don't get why she's pinned up along with Madonna, Mariah, and Janet.

[Dean Winchester]

I never understood her mass appeal. Her music is bland, even boring. I don't get why she's pinned up along with Madonna, Mariah, and Janet.
Whitney really isn't any more or less boring than Mariah IMO. They're about the same (Sony originally marketed Mariah as a new Whitney as well), except Whitney's early period (pretty much through The Bodyguard) is more stellar and full of great songs. Don't get me wrong, Mariah has a lot of great songs, but just think back to some of the songs Whitney had out in the 80's and early 90's, a ton of classics there.

[SBTB Geek]

I guess I feel that way because she was never a prominent figure while I was growing up. I knew of her because of "I Will Always Love You" but at 7 or 8 yrs old, I could have sworn she was a one hit wonder.