WHEN WHITNEY Houston, the celebrated American singer, actress, producer and model, was found dead in her guest room at the Beverly Hilton in California in 2012, her countless fans all over the world were left heartbroken. But now, they can stand to see the I will always love you singer being ‘brought back from the dead’, thanks to Pat Houston, president of the Whitney Houston estate and Houston’s sister, who recently partnered with Hologram USA to create and produce a hologram of the deceased singer to do a tour of the world.
The two announced the tour last week in a statement, calling the hologram the “ultimate celebration” of Houston’s life and work. The tour will include an interactive show consisting of Houston’s greatest hits and surprise non-holographic guests. It will not only travel to major cities around the world, but is also expected to air on cable television.
Recently, Hologram USA also tied up with the famous Apollo in New York to bring hologram technology to the theatre, and has slated Billy Holiday as its first appearance in November. The famous jazz singer, who died in 1959, got her start at the Apollo and performed there almost 30 times throughout her life. The Apollo has an exclusive contract with Hologram USA for two years and is planning to add other holographic performances to its line-up.
But these are not the few times this method has been used to project a famous face. In 2012, rapper Tupac Shakur ‘performed’ with Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre at the Coachella music festival in California, US, causing waves and inciting debate about whether ‘resurrecting’ dead celebrities via hologram was appropriate.
But others have taken to the stage long after their passing. Michael Jackson, the ‘king of pop’, who died in 2009, returned to the stage at the Billboard Music Awards in 2014. His hologram performed Slave to the Rhythm, from his posthumous album Xscape, alongside both real and ‘virtual’ dancers. Then, in 2007, Elvis Presley, the “king of rock ‘n’ roll” tore up the American Idol stage performing his 1968 hit If I Can Dream alongside Celine Dion.
Hologram technology is one of those things that has always astounded us, but often seemed too far off or too futuristic to ever be seen outside of sci-fi movies or video games. As we have been seeing now, however, the capabilities of holography are much farther along than one might think. By using a laser to imprint an image on to a recording surface, one can copy or reconstruct almost anything, and then project it out in 3D form using a camera.