When Whitney Houston died in 2012, she was just 48 years old. Now, 13 years later, one of the most iconic voices in music is making a return. And, as you might expect, artificial intelligence is involved.
A concert experience, called The Voice of Whitney: A Symphonic Celebration—blending isolated vocal tracks, video performance footage, and a live symphony orchestra—opens a limited series of shows across the country starting September 20. While the estates of other artists who have died have had similar tribute shows before, in Houston’s case, it wasn’t just a matter of putting together footage and tracks.
Many of the original multitrack recordings of Houston’s music (those that combine vocals, instruments, drums, etc.) had been lost. Park Avenue Artists, which is collaborating with Houston’s estate to produce the shows, tapped Moises, an AI-powered music platform, to assist. That company’s AI is designed to isolate vocals and instruments from songs in near-studio quality.
“This project demanded exceptionally high-caliber stem separation,” Moises cofounder and CEO Geraldo Ramos said in a statement. “We had to isolate Whitney’s vocals from fully mixed recordings without compromising the emotional power of her performance. A concert like this simply wouldn’t have been possible five years ago.”
The concert tour is timed to honor the 40th anniversary of Houston’s career launch (her self-titled debut album was released in February 1985). The show previewed in Nashville in June; now it heads to seven other cities.
