Whitney Houston.Photo: Scott Gries/ImageDirect
A newWhitney Houstonalbum, which will include six previously unreleased songs, has been announced.
The album’s first single, “Testimony,” arrived on Friday. Other selections from the project were originally featured on previously released soundtracks forThe Preacher’s Wife,SparkleandThe Bodyguard.
Among the never-before-released songs featured on the posthumous set are a version ofSimon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” fromVH1 Honors— which was performed in 1995 alongside CeCe Winans, who will host the documentary.
Others include “I Found a Wonderful Way,” “He Can Use Me,” “He/I Believe,” and “This Day,” the last of which shealso performedat VH1 Honors in 1995.
Documentary highlights of Houston’s gospel background include her first show in front of a live audience, performances at the American Music Awards, and additional moments from the NAACP Image Awards and Ebony’s 50th anniversary special, GMA reports.
Pat Houston, executor of the singer’s estate, has called the new project “a testament of Whitney’s heart.”
“Her love for gospel music permeates through every song with love, compassion and conviction. To love Whitney is to love what she represents to all that love the gospel,” Pat said, per GMA. “I salute this project knowing that Whitney always stood on a solid rock for her love of gospel music.”
Michael Zagaris/Getty
The new project arrives shortly afterWhitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody— the biopic starringNaomi Ackieas the music legend — arrives on Blu-ray and DVD Feb. 28.
A new behind-the-scenes featuretteshared exclusivelywith PEOPLE this week includes Ackie detailing how she mastered the movements and mannerisms of the late singer for the movie, which is now available on digital.
“There were many different elements: How do I prepare myself vocally, singing-wise? The accent work took about six months to get really comfortable with it,” the British actress, 31, explains. “And how do I prepare myself physically? In terms of movement, I worked with my amazing friend and my movement coach, Polly Bennett, and we kind of split it all up.”
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“I would hope she would be like, ‘Okay, Nai, you did a thing!’ " Ackie said, with a laugh. “Also, she might have loads of notes and I’d just be like, ‘Great — let’s do another one. Direct me and we can do it again.’ "
source: people.com
