Whitney Houston
© AFP/Getty Images/File Michael BucknerNEW YORK (AFP) - The auction, held by court order after the New Jersey storage company sued Houston for payment, is expected to make at least one million dollars, said A.J. Willner's court-appointed representative Steve Newmark.
"Whitney is selling off at auction old tour equipment that is no longer in use," Houston's publicist Nancy Seltzer said in a statement.
"Part of the proceeds will go to pay a debt owed to the storage company in keeping with the court order," she said, adding that it was "not unusual for an artist to sell off old equipments and costumes no longer needed."
After taking the world by storm in the 1980s, Houston, 43, has fallen on relatively harder times with a dropoff in record sales, bouts with the police over drug use and her pending divorce with singer Bobby Brown.
The 400 items that go on the auction block next Tuesday include a made-to-measure transparent grand piano, keyboards, sound mixing equipment, drum kits, and a few awards, including one Brown received in 1988.
They also include a collection of bras by Dolce and Gabbana, evening dresses by Versace, and pants and jackets by Fendi and Armani.
"There is something for everybody," said Newmark.
The auction will be held at the Irving, New Jersey, storage facility where Houston kept her belongings. It will be open only to bidding on the premises, with no telephone or email bidding allowed, Newmark said.
It will be conducted strictly on a cash-in-hand basis, he added.
©AFP