黑人歌后——惠特尼.休斯顿

黑人歌后——惠特尼.休斯顿

作者：波波

来源：《新高考·高一英语》2012年第05期

惠特尼·休斯顿（1963-2012），美国黑人歌后、演员、制作人及模特。根据吉尼斯世界纪录，休斯顿是拿奖最多的女艺人，她拿过的奖项包括2个艾美奖，6个格莱美奖，30个公告牌音乐奖，22个全美音乐奖等，到2010年为止共拿到了415个演艺奖项。休斯顿也是世界上最畅销的音乐人，专辑加单曲全球共售出1.7亿多张。

The world lost Whitney when she was 48 years old. She was in her hotel room in L.A. and heading to Clive Davis’ party, and then she was gone, together with her stunning talent.

Whitney Houston was born in 1963, in what was then a middle-income neighborhood in New Jersey. She was an Afric an American. Due to her family tie, she began to follow in her mother’s footsteps and started singing at nightclubs at the age of 11. At only 15, she provided background vocals on Chaka Khan’s I’m Every Woman—a song she would later remake for The Bodyguard. Whitney was beautiful enough to be a model, and she did so successfully as a teenager. In 1981, she became one of the earliest Black models to make the cover of Seventeen. Two years later, Whitney signed to Clive Davis’ Arista Records and the world was i ntroduced to that remarkable voice.

Whitney’s debut album Whitney Houston was released in February, 1985. Rolling Stone magazine praised Houston, calling her “one of the most exciting new voices in years”. As a result, the album began to sell strongly. At the 1986 Grammy Awards, Houston was nominated for three awards including Album of the Year and won her first Grammy award.

With many expectations, Houston’s second album, Whitney, was released in June 1987. Many critics complained that the material was too similar to her previous album. Still, the album enjoyed commercial success. Whitney became the first female artist in music history to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. At the 30th Grammy Awards in 1988, Houston was nominated for three awards.

With the commercial success of her albums, movie offers poured in. Whitney’s first film role was in The Bodyguard, released in 1992 and co-starring Kevin Costner. Whitney played Rachel Marron, a star who is stalked by a crazed fan and hires a bodyguard to protect her. USA Today listed it as one of the 25 most memorable movie moments of the last 25 years in 2007.

The film’s soundtrack, with the lead single of I Will Always Love You, also enjoyed big success. It topped the Billboard 200 chart and remained there for 20 non-consecutive weeks and became one of the fastest selling albums ever. Whitney won three Grammys for the album in 1994.

By then, Whitney had been a superstar nearly a decade, giving one flawless live performance and chart topping album after another. It is not too soon to write about Whitney’s demons. No matter what

the truth is, we lost our great beauty with the greater voice too soon because she never won her decades-long battle with addiction.

Whitney Houston was a whale of a singer and a fragile, tortured superstar at the same time. To the public, she is beautiful, graceful and talented. But only those who are closest to her will ever truly know in full, tells a more complicated story.

I Will Always Love You

我将永远爱你

1992年，惠特尼·休斯顿首次“触电”，和著名影星凯文·科斯特纳合作拍摄影片《保镖》（The Bodyguard）。影片描写一个红歌星和保镖之间的爱情故事，惠特尼·休斯顿算是本色出演，也在片中唱了好几首歌曲。影片主题曲《我将永远爱你》（I Will Always Love You）是美国著名乡村女歌手陶丽·帕顿于1974年创作并演唱的，惠特尼·休斯顿1992年的翻唱让这首歌大红大紫，远远超过陶丽·帕顿的版本，成为流行音乐史上最著名的作品之一。

If I should stay,

I would only be in your way.

So I’ll go, but I know

I’ll think of you ev’ry step of the way.

And I will always love you.

I will always love you.

You, my darling you. Hmm.

Bittersweet memories

that is all I’m taking with me.

So, goodbye. Please, don’t cry.

We both know I’m not what you, you need.

And I will always love you.

I will always love you.

（Instrumental solo）