Photo: Sparks and Houston in a scene from 'Sparkle.' / Photo by Alicia Gbur
"Celebrate," Whitney Houston's duet with American Idol alum Jordan Sparks--and the last song she recorded before her untimely death--was released this morning on On Air With Ryan Seacrest.
Produced by R. Kelly, the poppy track will feature in the forthcoming film Sparkle, a remake of the 1976 flick of the same name about a girl group's rise to Motown success and the perils and drama
that come with fame, which will premiere Aug. 17.
Sparks stars as the titular singer while Houston plays her mother, Emma. Cee Lo Green, Carmen Ejogo, and Omar Epps co-star in the film, which was also produced by the late diva. (It will be first time Houston is featured on screen since the 1996 film The Preacher's Wife.)
Sparks and John Legend eulogized the songstress Sunday night at the Billboard Music Awards by performing two of her greatest hits. Legend sang "The Greatest Love of All" followed by Sparks' performance of Whitney's hit version of the Dolly Parton ballad, "I Will Always Love You," which was featured in The Bodyguard.
Houston's daughter, Bobbi Kristina, accepted her late mother's Millennium Award. Still moved by Legend and Sparks' performance, Kristina gave a brief, yet emotional, speech in which she thanked her late mother's fans for supporting the singer and the family: "not just from when it was good but when it was bad, too."
Bobbi Kristina and family will remain in the spotlight, as they are set to star in a Lifetime docu-reality series about the Houston family, titled The Houston Family Chronicles, slated to premiere later this year. Sparkle is set to hit theaters August 17.
Listen to the track here.
