Memory is revisionist, you know. ‘The Houston Kid’ was based on true things that happened. But I know – from writing a memoir that I’ve been working on for awhile – that reconstructing memory is revisionism.
I caught a break and took an entry-level job with the Houston Texans when I was 28.
What made it so special was the city of Houston had never won a sports championship. I think the championship changed people’s thinking about their own city. It made them feel like their city had some significance that it hadn’t had before.
I come from a strong religious background, and I had a very conservative upbringing. So I was nervous, and confused. Here I was wanting to be Whitney Houston, so why did I have to dress in lingerie to do that? I didn’t get it.
When I owned a hair salon back in Houston, I did a lot of makeovers. Women would come in for a new hairstyle and go out with a whole new look. I know what looks good on a woman.
I wanted to be the best street fighter in Houston, Texas. And I thought if I got a trophy or two, I’d go back home, and everyone would be afraid of me. I had one fight in ’67, the first one. In ’68 of October, I was an Olympic gold-medalist, a dream come true, with a total of 25 boxing matches.
My family lived in West Texas. We went to Houston and Laredo, ended up around Fort Worth – really just made the rounds. And I took in all of those different styles of music.
My wife’s a real big country fan. One time, we were driving back and forth from L.A. to Houston, and we wrote a country song together.
I’ve been training super hard at the Lopez Taekwondo Academy in Houston, which belongs to my brother Jean. For me, I think confidence is the biggest thing; it’s all mental. I train with the best of the best, including my brother Steven, a five-time world champion who won Olympic gold medals.
People can say: Okay, it’s not the old-fashioned traditional journalism that took place in the ‘Houston Chronicle’ in 1975 – it’s different. But that’s also why newspapers are having a hard time staying relevant, you know?
Whitney Houston’s voice was the very first voice I fell in love with. She was the voice that made me want to become a singer.
I’m writing a musical. I am. I was able to buy the rights to ‘The Preacher’s Wife,’ which starred Whitney Houston… I’m writing a whole new score and all the lyrics for it.
I’m not being arrogant or blase, but I got a bigger buzz sitting opposite Jean-Bernard Delmas over lunch at Chateau Haut-Brion than I did from interviewing Elton John, Liza Minelli or Whitney Houston.
When I first arrived in Houston, I was fascinated with the elaborate styles of cowboy boots and thought they were incredibly exotic. They also seemed to be a central part of a specifically ‘Texan’ identity, one distinct from being ‘American.’
When I was about 12 years old back in Houston, my Dad used to take us to the driving range.
I know I’m no Whitney Houston.
I used to get the question in Houston which was like ‘What would you do if you had Shaq?’ My answer was ‘I would give Shaq the ball 100 times a game.’
My dad listened to a lot of James Taylor when I was growing up. We had a couple of his cassettes in the car, and we’d go on a lot of long family car trips. It was either strange musicals or James Taylor – or Whitney Houston. It was quite the combination there.
One of my biggest inspirations growing up was Whitney Houston, so I was devastated to hear about her passing. I’m from East Orange, New Jersey, and started singing at New Hope Baptist Church, so she was like my fellow Jersey girl.
I want to take my rapper money and start my own assisted living facilities in Houston because I see what it looks like when you got your grandparents take care of your great-grandparents.
I first arrived in New York in 1979. I was 19 and I was going to University in Houston, Texas, and I decided that I knew what I wanted to do and it was time to go and do it. I literally ran away from college.
I feel like Houston is one of the leading things in music culture. Everyone loves the Houston culture. It needs to have its own monument, its own moment for artists like me, artists like Beyonce who set it off.
Houston, we’ve had a problem.
My family is all from the Southwest. My great-great-grandfather was at the Battle of San Jacinto with Sam Houston.
You see the genius that Whitney Houston has as an interpreter of material, and you realize why genius can be applied to only a few interpretive performers. She finds meaning and depth and soulfulness in a song that often the writer and composer never really knew was there.
A stronger global hub at Bush means a stronger economic future for Houston.
What I am today, is from Houston and my friends, my closest friends, we all went to high school together.
Where I’m staying, near Lafayette Street, Bowery, and Houston, you get different people with different spirits, and that’s what I like.
I just really like Houston despite its craziness. There is a sense of energy and a kind of excitement, ‘We’re going places and God knows what’ll happen next.’ It’s very interesting. It’s very exciting.
I didn’t grow up with a musical family. My mom had a lot of CDs in the house, particularly Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, ABBA, all the sort of like diva icons. She’s Swedish, so she loves pop music.
You know Marques Houston, you know I’m a dancer, I’m a singer, but I wouldn’t want to do a movie that I’m a dancer and a singer in. I want to do movies that people can take me more seriously in as an actor, because when you’re making that transition, it is tough.
There is no monolithic black culture. It’s completely different for someone born in Harlem to someone born in Houston or London with one exception, which is that people contributing to black culture have the experience of being black.
I grew up poor in East Houston. I used to be ashamed of it, but I’m not anymore. It’s kind of a badge of courage now.
Since that moment in Houston where I fractured my collarbone, I’ve experienced a lot more experiences in the NFL than I had up to that point. A lot of them great, some of them not so great.
Broadway’s a little different from Houston, but it’s not a big difference.
Houston, Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed.
I was in a theater company in Houston, Theatre Under the Stars, and I was involved in about 10 of their productions.
I never won any award, ever, except for a Houston Press award, but other than that, I never won an award.
When I was a little bitty kid, I was listening to the stuff my parents were listening to. My mom was a huge Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige fan. My dad had a cover band that I sang with, and he loved Parliament, Prince, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton, the blues, James Brown.
Shoot, after you’ve been through freeway traffic in Houston or Dallas, there’s no road in the world that can scare you. Besides, we’re pretty much used to driving long distances in Texas.
We learn English from fifth grade on in school, and I was an exchange student when I was 17 in Houston.
My grandfather arrived in Houston in 1942 as a refugee from Nazi Germany. He had lost everything – his profession, his language, his money – but the city welcomed him, as it has hundreds of thousands of immigrants over the years.
I started a youth center in Houston. The kids would come in and want to learn to box; they wanted to tear up the world, beat up the world. And I’d try to show them they didn’t need anger. They didn’t need all that killing instinct they’d read about. You can be a human being and pursue boxing as a sport.
I like cars and houses. I have three houses – in Atlanta, in Kansas City and Houston.
And I remember leaving my place in L.A. and – my father is a big fight fan – and I said, ‘Dad, I got a couple of days off and I’m getting ready to go to Houston to sign to fight Muhammad Ali.
With Houston, the H stands for ‘hustle.’ There’s a billboard that says, ‘Houston, hustle, heart, and home.’ That encompasses Houston.
A lot of what I do around Houston is to find ways to lift people through literacy. It’s become part of our family culture. Everyone in our family has found some way and capacity to serve. You don’t necessarily need to be President or First Lady to serve and help.
Whitney Houston and Ella Fitzgerald are my musical mothers. I learned everything I know about true R&B, pop and jazz singing from these stunning performers and unparalleled musicians.
The Houston team I was on – we were just rolling. We just hit the right stride at the right moment. And the Lakers team, we were rolling again.
J.J. Watt is larger than life and Houston’s newest sports hero, in every sense of the word. He is a guy who spends NFL Fridays at high school football games and actively seeks out those in need of his kindness.
I thought I was in a better position to get a team than anyone else in Houston.
By adding Houston to the Big 12, all it does is make the Big 12 a power conference.
When I’d finished, everybody said they wanted me for this movie. At first I thought they meant a nudie flick since an awful lot of nudies are made in Houston.
I’m definitely inspired by Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, James Brown, Lauryn Hill.
I grew up listening to such strong female solo artists. I love Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears.
