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Hologram USA boss discusses Whitney live show

By | Published on Tuesday 15 September 2015

Whitney Houston

Hologram USA CEO Alki David has been chatting to Billboard about his company’s plans to bring Whitney Houston back to the stage in virtual form next year.

As previously reported, Hologram USA has done a deal with Whitney Houston’s estate to stage a world tour of a ‘live’ show featuring a ‘hologram’ version of the late singer. It is one of a number of deals with the families of deceased musicians that the company is working on.

Speaking to Billboard, Alki said that fans could expect to see the show in “about a year”, with a script still being “finalised”. As that would suggest, there will be a narrative running through the performance, with documentary elements as well as the virtual Whitney singing. “The show will not just be Whitney comes on, sings and gets off”, he said. “The narrative will document parts of her life, her achievements and celebrate Whitney”.

As well as using pre-recorded performances, the show will use “digital components, in the same way that [the virtual] Tupac and Snoop Dogg interacted onstage at Coachella”.

Alki also spoke about the importance of working closely with the families of the popstars brought back to life by his company’s technology. Negotiations with Houston’s sister-in-law Pat Houston, who oversees the late singer’s estate, apparently took two years and are part of an ongoing process.

“These deals we make are really predicated on working really close with the estates”, he said. “The musical arrangement, the choreography, right down to the lighting and the design will be done with the original artists and original technicians and composers who worked with Whitney in the past, so as to maintain absolute authenticity”.

I’m not sure you can have “absolute authenticity” with something like this, but whatever. Hologram USA is reportedly also in negotiations with the estates of Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly and Bing Crosby. Meanwhile, Amy Winehouse’s father Mitch has previously said he wouldn’t be against his daughter re-appearing as a hologram.

Though it’s not just dead musicians that the company is working with. Earlier this year, it was also behind a Chief Keef show, at which the rapper performed remotely at a Chicago festival in order to avoid arrest for outstanding warrants in Illinois while en route to the gig.

So, maybe one day we won’t ever watch anyone perform live in the same room as us at all. Hooray for the future.



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