Oliver Tolentino and this year's three-time Grammy nominee Kelly Price who hosted a pre-Grammy party last Thursday where the Filipino designer witnessed Whitney Houston's final performance. Price sang with Houston and Faith Evans on a Grammy-nominated single, "Heartbreak Hotel." PHOTOS BY RUBEN V. NEPALES
LOS ANGELES—When Whitney Houston hopped onto the stage of a Hollywood nightclub on Thursday to sing a duet about how Jesus Christ “loves me,” she probably didn’t realize it might be the last time she would sing in public.
That thought ran through the mind of Filipino designer Oliver Tolentino after he heard the news that the former queen of the pop music world was found dead on Saturday in her room at Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Tolentino, shocked by the news, had witnessed what turned out to be the troubled superstar’s final live performance at the Tru Hollywood Club.
The Los Angeles-based hot couturier and his business manager, Andrew Caruthers, were special guests of American singer Kelly Price at her pre-Grammy Awards show that Thursday evening where Houston made a surprise special appearance with her daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown.
Price, who has three nominations in the Grammy Awards show for Sunday (Monday morning, Manila time), had invited Tolentino to “Kelly Price & Friends Unplugged: For the Love of R&B” in Hollywood.
Tolentino, who maintains a shop in Makati City, made two gowns for Price’s red carpet appearance and pretelecast Grammy Awards show performance in the music industry’s biggest night at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
There she was
Tolentino told the Inquirer: “Last Thursday evening, we arrived at the small Hollywood nightclub Tru for Kelly Price’s ‘For the Love of R&B’ event. As we were about to enter the VIP entrance on the side, a black SUV pulled up and the window rolled down and there was Whitney Houston.”
Going ahead to enter the club, Tolentino said he was surprised to see how intimate the party was.
“We were honored to be in a crowd of about 300 people with R. Kelly standing behind us, Brian McKnight, El Debarge, Faith Evans, Kenny Lattimore and other singers surrounding us,” Tolentino said.
Whether right or wrong
He recalled: “Kelly emceed the night and told a great story about how Whitney asked her to sing with her years ago. Kelly joked that often singers ask you to sing with them but they don’t really want you to sing. Kelly said Whitney was different and stopped the studio recording several times to demand Kelly to belt out loud. That’s when Kelly realized that Whitney really wanted Kelly to duet with her in full power voice.
“She said that spoke a lot about who Whitney was and that she wasn’t an insecure performer. In the Thursday show, Whitney hopped up on stage, surprising Kelly, and the two sang a bit of a free form version of ‘Yes, Jesus Loves Me’ to each other. That was probably the last time Whitney sang in public.”
Stepped on
PHOTO BY RUBEN V. NEPALES
The gospel song was one of Houston’s singles. Its lyrics include the lines: “Yes, Jesus loves me for the Bible tells me … See, I know that He loves me, whether I’m right, whether I’m wrong.”
Tolentino added: “We didn’t learn until the next day, when Kelly came into the boutique, that Whitney had walked the press line, apparently something she rarely did. Kelly joked that everyone was gasping and asking her how in the world she got Whitney to do press at her party.
“Also, Kelly said that Whitney didn’t really go out much and she herself was surprised that Whitney stood stage right the whole night, along with her daughter Bobbi. Kelly said even the celebrities in the audience were surprised by the presence of Whitney, who was just hanging out in the club.”
When Price went to Tolentino’s shop on Melrose Avenue on Friday to try on his two gowns, an Ebony TV crew filmed the proceedings along with GMA 7. A member of the Ebony TV show remarked that she attended Price’s Thursday show and accidentally stepped on Houston’s foot at one point.
Tolentino said: “Kelly joked the next day that someone had indeed accidentally stepped on Whitney’s foot and Whitney called the person out and jokingly said, ‘Hey! You stepped on my foot!’”
Last song
The following day came the news that Houston was gone.
“We were so surprised to hear about an hour ago today the sad news because Whitney looked very healthy and happy in person at that pre-Grammy event,” Tolentino said.
“You’ll always remember where you were when you hear about a legend dying. To be a witness to their last public performance makes even more of an imprint in your life.”
Houston was scheduled to perform at her mentor Clive Davis’ annual Grammy Awards eve show at Beverly Hilton on Saturday. Her surprise performance at Price’s show turned out to be her last.
Originally posted: February 12, 2012 | 8:36 pm