--- title: "Startup Using AI to Bring Whitney Houston Back on Tour 13 Years After Her Death" description: "The estate of Whitney Houston is reviving her legendary vocals with AI for an upcoming orchestral performance, 13 years after her death." date: "2025-09-16" modified: "2025-09-16" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/startup-ai-whitney-houston" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Future Society" tags: - "ai music" - "artificial intelligence" - "generative ai" - "voice cloning" --- # Startup Using AI to Bring Whitney Houston Back on Tour 13 Years After Her Death ![The estate of Whitney Houston is reviving her legendary vocals with AI for an upcoming orchestral performance, 13 years after her death.]() *\Image: Frederic REGLAIN/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images\* The estate of famed singer Whitney Houston is reviving her legendary vocals with AI for an upcoming orchestral tour, 13 years after her tragic death. The event, called "The Voice of Whitney: A Symphonic Celebration," used "stem separation technology" courtesy of an AI-powered music platform called Moises to isolate her voice from recordings and produce "near-studio quality audio." "This project demonstrates how legacy artists and their estates can create meaningful experiences for music lovers through the thoughtful use of AI technology," said Ross Michaels, whose firm Park Avenue Artists collaborated with Houston's estate and Moises on the project, in a [statement](). "It's a powerful example of how AI can honor artists' legacies while enriching the audience experience in beautiful and respectful ways." The collision between AI and the music industry has raised hotly-disputed questions about the legacy and rights of deceased artists. We've already seen Aubrey "Drake" Graham using AI to [revive the voice of rapper Tupac Shakur](), and [The Beatles using similar tech]() to bring John Lennon's voice for a recent song. The phenomenon can be particularly gauche when interlopers use it to profit off deceased artists' likenesses without permission. In July, Spotify was [caught sharing AI-generated covers]() on the profile of country musician Blaze Foley, who died 36 years ago, in what a surviving Foley business associate called an "AI schlock bot." Some of the biggest names in the industry [signed an open letter last year](), denouncing the use of AI in music and demanding protections against the tech. However, some cases are far more nuanced than that. For instance, country music star Randy Travis used AI to [recreate his own voice]() after suffering a debilitating and near-fatal stroke. The AI-powered isolation of Houston's voice, considered one of the greatest of all time, is another complex case. On the one hand, Houston's estate has given the project its full support. "We knew this had to be done right," said Houston's sister-in-law and executor of her estate, Pat Houston, in the statement. "Moises and our partner Park Avenue Artists elevated the idea with the heart, care, and creative excellence that Whitney always embodied." "The result is something truly special," she added. "A gift for longtime fans and a powerful introduction for a new generation discovering her voice." But at the same time, Houston herself passed away in 2012, long before it was mainstream for artists to make decisions about the use of AI after their death. The tour is [scheduled to kick off]() on September 20 at the Cincinnati Music Hall. **More on AI:** *[Sam Altman Warns That AI Is About to Cause a Massive "Fraud Crisis" in Which Anyone Can Perfectly Imitate Anyone Else]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()