14 DAY TRIAL // After a 2010 that saw Whitney Houston receive mostly negative reviews for her live shows and plenty of speculation on whether she should ever perform live again, the diva made a superb comeback over the weekend with a surprise performance at BET’s Celebration of Gospel.
During the annual gala, Whitney walked up on stage unannounced and sang a duet with none other than Kim Burrell, much to the delight of the audience.
As the video below will show, it took a while for members of the audience to realize that it was Whitney who came in halfway through the song but they weren’t in the least disappointed, as Yahoo! Music points out.
2010 was a rough year for the diva, as her comeback tour was plagued by all sorts of setbacks and difficulties, including the somewhat obvious inability to hit high notes and to carry on throughout an entire show without pause.
Still, the BET performance more than made the waiting worth it, the aforementioned media outlet says.
“Burrell opened the song alone before Houston accompanied her on the stage. It was a risky move for Houston to sing a duet with one of the genre’s strongest voices,” Yahoo! notes.
The song the two chose was off Whitney’s 2009 comeback album, the moving and inspirational “I Look to You.”
“Houston wowed the Celebration of Gospel audience with a remarkable performance. She connected with the song’s R. Kelly-penned lyrics that pay homage to a trusted support system. But her voice sounded much stronger than it has recently,” Yahoo! notes.
“Houston didn’t sing any bad notes during this set taped in December in Los Angeles. She nicely handled some signature riffs, even dipping into a crisp falsetto,” says the same e-zine.
“She didn’t sound as strong as she did in the ‘80s and ‘90s, but she was great, considering her pitfalls,” Yahoo! further writes, even noting that she should seriously consider doing a gospel album next.
Below is the video of Whitney Houston’s surprise BET performance. The duet begins around the 6-minute mark so skip right there if you want to see only it.