Professor remembers time spent with Whitney Houston
Eugene Shelton with Whitney Houston and Dionne Warwick at the Greek Theatre in 1985. Photo courtesy of Eugene Shelton.
February 21, 2012
Eugene Shelton was heading for Washington, D.C. from New York on Lionel Richie’s promotional tour after leaving The Commodores, and there was a knock on the door.
“These two gentlemen knocked on the door, and they wanted me to introduce them to get to Lionel Richie because they wanted to talk with him about Whitney Houston,” said Shelton, an assistant professor of journalism and mass communication. “No one knew who she was at this particular time — this was the early ‘80s.”
On Saturday, Feb. 11, Houston was found dead in her hotel room at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. Her cause of death is still under investigation, according to the death certificate released last week.
“To hear that she’s dead on the day before the Grammys and the impact of that, that’s something you would probably see in a Hollywood movie, not for it to really happen,” Shelton said.
The first time Shelton met with Houston was at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.
“She was the star in the room,” Shelton said. “She was the new-found star, and everyone was paying attention to her.”
Although Shelton was a publicist, he couldn’t deny he was also a fan.
The first Shelton heard of Houston’s death was from his oldest son, Jason.
Shelton eventually worked with Houston in the early ‘90s as a publicist when she collaborated with the likes of Elton John, Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin on “A Tribute to Curtis Mayfield.”
The artists sang songs written by Mayfield, who was a quadriplegic from an on-stage accident.
Shelton said in the recent years he hoped Houston was going to be able to put her past behind her, referring to her battles with drug addiction and abusive relationships.
“In recent times, all I learned from the media was she was in the midst of a comeback,” Shelton said. “Perhaps she would never be the star that she was, but she was letting the demons of her life go.”
Before her death, Houston was working on a new movie, “Sparkle,” which is due out later this year.
Contact Nicole Aikens at [email protected].
