Mark Bego was just about to finish his biography on Whitney Houston when she reached her tragic end on February 11, 2012. In two short weeks, he wrote a prologue and a final chapter on the book and it was rushed to publication. The complete title is WHITNEY HOUSTON! THE SPECTACULAR RISE AND TRAGIC FALL OF THE WOMAN WHOSE VOICE INSPIRED A GENERATION. Even as I was downloading this book to my Kindle, I was curious as to whether or not this would be an all out hatchet job or a passionate yet truthful look at a fallen superstar. It turns out that it is indeed written with a great deal of love and admiration for this woman who along the way simply lost her footing. Bego doesn't make any judgments on Whitney, but instead let's the people who knew her best tell the story. Although the story takes a turn around the time of her marriage to Bobby Brown, much of the book describes in detail her meteoric rise to the top of the charts beginning in 1985. Her albums are dissected in great detail and there are also wonderful tales from the sets of the three feature films that Whitney starred in, including enough information about the last film she made before her death SPARKLE to wet your appetite for this summer's release. I have read several celebrity bios that feel inauthentic or are filled with "an anonymous source said....". But Bego's biography is filled with interviews with those who worked with Whitney, loved Whitney, and in the end, felt helpless to do anything to help her. This book reminds us all what there was to celebrate about the life of Whitney Houston and the musical legacy she leaves behind.
No comments:
Post a Comment