FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — As the 10th anniversary of Whitney Houston’s death on Feb. 11 approaches, it is natural to focus on the mercurial singer’s tragic coda, the conclusion face down in a hotel bathtub at age 48.
Bette Marshall, of Hallandale Beach, Florida, doesn’t remember Whitney that way at all — and she doesn’t want you to, either. Hence “Young Whitney,” Marshall’s new book of memories and photography of pre-stardom Whitney, scenes distinguished by their joyfulness, optimism and unique intimacy.
“So many people have written about the difficult parts of her life, and I was pleased that I could hold onto the memory of her when everything was in front of her, everything was looking up,” Marshall says.
In 1982, Marshall was with her husband, entertainment lawyer Paul Marshall, at the small Manhattan nightclub Sweetwater’s when the headliner, gospel star Cissy Houston, told the audience one of her back-up vocalists would be singing. A shy, willowy 18-year-old Whitney Houston, Cissy’s daughter, stepped forward, closed her eyes and delivered a version of “Tomorrow” that changed her future.
During the minutes-long standing ovation that followed, Marshall, early in her career as a photojournalist, became intrigued by the idea of documenting a young singer’s rise to stardom. She approached Whitney’s father, John Houston, with the idea and a week later Marshall was standing in front of the young singer at the Houston home in East Orange, New Jersey.
“She gave me a hug and said, ‘Call me Nippy,’ “ Marshall says, recalling a girl who was “what every mother would want her daughter to be: fun, sweet, polite.”
Over the next four years, Marshall took pictures of Whitney with family around the kitchen table, in her bedroom (under a picture of cousin Dionne Warwick), at church, in her first auditions and recording sessions. The final pictures were on the set of the 1986 video for “Greatest Love of All,” the final single from the eponymous debut album that made Whitney a star.
Many of these pictures, some never published, and the stories behind them are compiled over 108 pages in “Young Whitney” ($29.95, Cinergistik), set for release on Tuesday, Feb. 8, when it will be available at the Grammy Museum store (GrammyMuseumStore.com).
A documentary film based on the book is in production, with Tony-winning, Grammy-winning singer and actor Audra McDonald its narrator and executive producer.
In a statement, McDonald said: “Whitney Houston is an artist I worshipped from the moment I first heard her sing. We all witnessed her superstardom, and I’m honored to help tell this part of Whitney’s story, before it all began.”
Music-industry mogul Clive Davis, who signed Whitney to her first record deal at Arista Records in 1983, said Marshall’s book “captures all the beauty, promise and love of life that was indeed Whitney when I first met her.”
Once a contestant in the 1958 Miss America pageant, Marshall was something of a late 20th century pop-culture Zelig. She also photographed Bobby Fisher during his legendary 1972 World Chess Championships against Boris Spassky in Iceland, and she took one of the last portraits of seminal abstract-impressionist painter Lee Krasner in 1984. Her portfolio also includes a rare publicity picture of the rock band KISS without makeup.
From her studio in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen, Marshall produced pictures that appeared in Life, People and Rolling Stone magazines. After settling in South Florida, she spent time as a photography instructor at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale.
“Young Whitney” began as a chapter in a memoir Marshall was working on a few years ago with the help of a writers’ group that would meet at Panera Bread on the 17th Street Causeway in Fort Lauderdale.
In advance of the publication of “Young Whitney,” Marshall shared a few memories (edited for length and clarity) about taking these pictures and the girl she called Nippy.
Q: What was it about first seeing her that convinced you to begin this project? Was it her sound, her look?
A: It was all of the above. It was everything. She sang [“Tomorrow”] with all the gospel embellishments that only the Whitney we got to know could do. My husband and I looked at each other and said, “That is a superstar.” The three minutes it took to hear her sing the song, whatever it was, it was one in a million. I can’t explain it. The audience was on its feet and Cissy could hardly get back up onstage. Her voice was extraordinary from the beginning.
Q: One of the compelling things about these pictures is that they are so natural and organic. Shots of her watching “All My Children” or at the kitchen table in jeans and a T-shirt hugging her mother. You’ve said that is one of your favorite pictures.
A: One of them, yes. It was really an unguarded moment. She was totally comfortable with me being there like a fly on the wall. Though, if I remember, I did set up a light or two. They sat down, and what happened just happened naturally. I don’t direct people. My favorite quote when I’m shooting someone is, “This is not something I’m doing to you, it’s something we’re doing together.”
Q: There is a series of pictures of her at the table smoking, which was surprising.
A: She wasn’t sneaking it, because her mother was upstairs in the house. There she’s talking to my son, who was sitting to one side of me while I was shooting. He was just two or three years older than her, so they just had a young conversation about school and whatever. She was talking to him as she had a cigarette, so I just kept shooting.
Q: When did she realize major fame was in her future? Did she talk to you about that?
A: The first time I was aware of how aware she was of what was coming was when she was auditioning for … Elektra Records [in 1982]. One of my favorite pictures there is … where she’s holding a handbag, and waiting to audition. She’s sitting in the half light, and I just got a feeling there of what she was waiting for. She started chatting with my son, Bob, and she started to talk about what kind of house she’d like to have. At that point she’d already had a pretty good sneak peek into where she was going. Word had started to spread in New York.
Q: The final picture of her in the book, also represented on the cover, is from a shoot at the filming of the 1986 video for “Greatest Love of All.” What do you remember about that?
A: When she came out in that beautiful white gown, and those earrings, it was like a whole new world for me. It was like, wow, she’s really grown up. By then she was already a big star. She was taken over by the world that she ended up in, as a star, and working with Clive Davis.
Q: Why did you stop taking her picture?
A: We just went separate ways. Now, as a big star, she was out on the road touring. I was more interested in her becoming that. And, of course, as a star everyone was taking her picture. She was everywhere. I was just thrilled to see that she had fulfilled everything I fantasized that she might do.
For more information about the book, visit BetteMarshallPhotography.com.
