Whitney Houston: Death, Drugs, and Money

A couple hours ago it was reported that Whitney Houston died. Houston was known as a great singer and had a great voice. It is reported she sold 170 million albums (yes we use to have albums in the old days). It is reported she signed a record deal in 2001 for $100 million in which she would have to produce six albums. There will be no doubt there will be surge in the albums she sells. Whitney Houston knew how to earn money. Below is a list of tours and how much they grossed.

Greatest Love Tour (1986) $4.8 million
Moment of Truth Tour (1987-1988) $24 million
Bodyguard World Tour (1993-1994) $33 million
Nothing But Love Tour (2009-2010) $36 million

This is of course is what the tours earned not what Whitney personally earned. Plus, this is a gross amount which doesn’t take into account costs as well. Whitney herself in 1988 earned $30 million according to Forbes. It is rumored that she was broke and was asking for money within the past couple of months. It is also known that she had a problem with drugs and alcohol. She admits that during the 1990’s she was doing drugs every day. Drugs and musicians seem to go together although they really shouldn’t. One reason why I think musicians and performers look to drugs is because if you think about their schedule of giving it there all and going night in and out dancing and singing they probably won’t get by without some time of stimulant. If you include the traveling, interviewing, and promotional things musicians have to endure they have crazy schedules. I am in no way defending their behavior although I understand why they do it because of the incentives they are faced with. This makes me think of a similar analogy to baseball and the use of steroids.

Now that Whitney Houston has passed it will be interesting to see whether or not she died with a will (dying intestate). If she did die without a will then the public will become aware about her finances. Personally I am curious to see how much she had left over after earning many millions of dollars.