There might be some people who are excited that a tour featuring a hologram of Whitney Houston is on its way, but the late singer’s cousin Dionne Warwick isn’t one of them.
Warwick spoke about Houston’s estate announcing the decision, which will include a tour, unreleased music and a possible Broadway show that’ll feature the hologram.
“I haven’t a clue as to what that is,” Warwick told Entertainment Tonight on Thursday. “It’s surprising to me. I don’t know what it is. I think it’s stupid, but whatever it is, that’s what it is.”
Houston’s sister in law Pat Houston, who’s the executor of the estate, made the announcement earlier this week and said the tour is something the “Saving All My Love” singer would’ve been enthused about.
“Whitney prided herself on her family and that included her fans,” she said in a statement. “She adored her audiences and that’s why we know she would have loved this holographic theatrical concept.”
“This upcoming tour will allow audiences to experience Whitney’s amazing voice and passion for music for a long time to come and help them share that magic with future generations,” added Pat Houston.
Houston, who died in 2012 at the age of 48, is just the latest celebrity who’ll get the hologram treatment.
Tupac Shakur was made into a hologram for The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2012. And the same was done to Michael Jackson at the Billboard Music Awards in 2014 , which a lot folks said they didn’t care for.
Another iconic musician who passed that some didn’t like seeing in hologram is Prince when Justin Timberlake displayed a huge illuminated image of The Purple One at the 2018 Super Bowl halftime show.
But according to reports, he used a video projection of the late singer, not an actual hologram, however, it’s it’s still probably something Prince wouldn’t have liked. Because in 1998, long before holograms were even in heavy discussion, the “Adore” singer said he hated the idea of them.
“That’s the most demonic thing imaginable. Everything is as it is, and it should be. If I was meant to jam with Duke Ellington we would have lived in the same age. That whole virtual reality thing, it really is demonic. And I am not a demon,” he told Guitar World.
“Also, what they did with that Beatles song [“Free As a Bird”], manipulating John Lennon’s voice to have him singing from across the grave, that’ll never happen to me,” Prince added. “To prevent that kind of thing from happening is another reason why I want artistic control.”
Warwick kept her words brief about Houston’s hologram tour and didn’t go into why she felt it was a stupid idea.
