\n\tMattel is honoring the late pop icon with a new Barbie Signature doll inspired by Houston\u2019s colorful look from the 1987 music video for \u201cI Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me).\u201d The $60 collectible launches Aug. 8 at Target stores and online at Amazon, Walmart, Target and Mattel Creations.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"Whitney](\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
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\n\tThe doll recreates Houston\u2019s instantly recognizable ensemble from the video, complete with a purple tank dress, colorful drop earrings and bright eye makeup. Naturally, she also comes performance-ready with her own microphone stand.<\/p>\n
\n\tHouston\u2019s estate worked closely with Mattel on the collectible. Pat Houston, executor of the Estate of Whitney E. Houston and president of the Whitney E. Houston Legacy Foundation, collaborated with the Barbie design team alongside Primary Wave Music, weighing in on everything from the doll\u2019s wardrobe to the singer\u2019s signature glam.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Whitney Houston Barbie will make its official debut Saturday at the fifth annual Legacy of Love Gala in Atlanta, an event hosted by the Whitney E. Houston Legacy Foundation. Its arrival comes as Houston\u2019s estate continues to celebrate more than four decades since the singer first emerged as one of pop music\u2019s most formidable voices.<\/p>\n
\n\tReleased as the lead single from Houston\u2019s sophomore album, \u201cWhitney,\u201d \u201cI Wanna Dance With Somebody\u201d became one of the singer\u2019s defining hits and earned her the Grammy for best female pop vocal performance in 1988. The album itself made history as the first by a female artist to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, while the song was part of Houston\u2019s still-unmatched run of seven consecutive No. 1 singles.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe new release joins Barbie Signature\u2019s growing roster of dolls modeled after musicians and cultural icons, which has previously included Tina Turner, Stevie Nicks, Gloria Estefan and Mariah Carey. <\/p>\n
\n\tShop the Whitney Houston Barbie here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401642,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57,6574],"class_list":["post-401641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-whitney-houston"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}