Whitney Houston’s comeback is one step closer – she’s being paid £1.4 million, or $2.78 million USD, for an hour long performance for charity. That’s $46,333 a minute!

The troubled star has been lined up by billionaire philanthropist John Caudwell to give a rare one-hour performance at the Cauldwell Children Legends Ball at London’s Battersea Evolution arena on May 8.

A source said: “Mr. Caudwell thinks it is important to raise the profile of the Cauldwell Children charity and stars such as Whitney Houston are the sort of people he’s hoping to attract.”

Whitney - who has battled an addiction to drink and drugs - has made few public appearances in recent years and also has a reputation for failing to turn up for shows.

Sydney Morning Herald

That is a huge amount of money for a one hour performance, couldn’t they get her to play a full set? The reason for paying Whitney to perform, instead of just giving the money to the charity, is to raise the profile of the children’s charity.

Whitney last performed in Malaysia in December, and she also put an appearance in at the Grammy’s, but a new album is in the works, her first since 2003’s Christmas album. Whitney was, in case you can’t remember, a huge star, most notable for the easy listening radio staple ‘I Will Always Love You.’ Both she and then-husband Bobby Brown did drugs, he was arrested for DUI and violence, there were rumors of infidelity and finally they divorced in 2006 .

Whitney apparently has a comeback planned for 2008, and I’m ambivalent at best about it. Does she really need to make a comeback? I’m guessing not all of her cash went up her nose, why doesn’t she sit back and relax, she’s in her 40s now. Do you know how much most people would love to retire in their 40s? Why do celebrities need to make comebacks? Get a hobby, spend some of your hard earned cash on a nice place in the country, and just relax, you don’t actually have to be in the public eye for your whole life.

Note by Celebitchy: If someone paid me more than 4 figures to show up somewhere for an hour I would come out of retirement for it. Who wouldn’t do a one hour gig for $2.78 million?

Whitney Houston is shown at Clive Davis’ pre-Grammy party on 2/9/08, thanks to PRPhotos. She looks gorgeous! She needs to hide her boobs a little better, though. Her implants need some fixing.