Smiling Houston shows up for Arista bash amid heavy scrutiny

Tuesday, April 11th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Whitney Houston took the stage to a standing ovation at Arista Records' 25th anniversary tribute to her mentor Clive Davis, then the diva struggled at times in a heavily scrutinized six-song performance.

Rumors about Houston have swirled in the wake drug abuse allegations, a much-discussed absence at last month's Academy Awards telecast and a disjointed magazine interview.

Houston tripped walking onstage Monday night and sometimes she spoke rather than sang the words to her hits while four backup singers, including her brother, Gary, carried the load.

She stopped abruptly before the final dramatic notes of "I Will Always Love You" to signal for a drink of water. Husband Bobby Brown walked on stage with the water. She took a sip and kissed Brown, who patted her sweaty forehead before walking off.

Brown injected himself into another song, too, cavorting wildly back and forth on stage before grabbing his wife's microphone and letting loose with a chorus.

"The record's not over yet, remember," Houston said cryptically at the end of her 20-minute performance.

Dressed in a shimmering long gown, Houston wore her hair in a flip.

"She looks fabulous," Dionne Warwick, a cousin of Houston's, said backstage.

Houston didn't appear backstage to talk with reporters.

She joined some of the biggest names in Arista's history to perform for label founder Davis, who signed Houston when she was 19. The two-hour special will air May 15 on NBC.

"You ask anybody in the industry who is the great singer in the world today, it is she," Davis said backstage. "When you see her, you'll see an artist at the top of her form."

Three weeks before the Oscars, the singer failed to appear at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame dinner where she was scheduled to help induct Davis.

At 66, Davis is fighting Arista's owner, BMG Entertainment and German media conglomerate Bertelsmann, to keep his job. Bertelsmann traditionally enforces a retirement age of 60 on its top executives.

Before she performed, Houston sat smiling in the audience with her arm resting on Brown during a medley by Barry Manilow. Seated next to Davis, Houston sang along as Manilow performed "I Write the Songs."

She and Brown later rose to their feet in the front row at the Shrine Auditorium to dance to "Supernatural" by Santana.

Backstage, Warwick denied a report in this week's People magazine that she and Natalie Cole were going to talk to Houston about her alleged drug problem.

"I read it like you did. I don't know where that came from," Warwick said. "There's no reason for intervention."

In January, airport security officers in Hawaii said they found a half-ounce of marijuana in Houston's bag. Rather than wait for police to arrive, the 36-year-old Houston boarded her flight and left the islands. Houston has not been charged in the incident.

Houston's publicist blamed a sore throat for the Oscar show absence and "voice problems" for the Hall of Fame absence.