Career reinvention: Is it possible after years out of the game?

No matter how far she fell, we always loved Whitney Houston. She has some of the best pipes in the biz, and is responsible for decades of massive hits. "I Wanna Dance with Somebody," "Greatest Love of All," "I Will Always Love You," "It's Not Right But It's Okay," "I'm Every Woman"--these are the songs of a living legend, and seeing Whitney's career decline due to relationship and drug problems was a sad thing to witness.

We've seen this happen with many celebrities. Britney Spears went from being at the top of her game to shaving her head, abusing substances, getting pregnant with a less-than-desirable backup dancer, losing her body, her princess-of-pop image, and, ultimately, her career. No one thought she could rebound after all the tears, the drama and the jokes at her expense. But a steady gym regimen and one hit single and BOOM! Britney clawed her way back to the top. Her songs are once again some of the most requested on the radio, and her tour is sold out. Though some may still give her a hard time, Britney pretty much did the impossible.

Whitney Houston has been out of the industry for seven years. Today her label announced that her long-awaited comeback album will be released on September 1. But will people care? The Guinness Book of World Records named Whitney "the most awarded female artist of all time" (she's won 411 awards,  including six Grammys), but these days she's remembered more for her "crack is wack" phrases and troubled home life via the reality show "Being Bobby Brown." But Whitney has gone through treatment for substance abuse and split with her bad-news hubby Bobby in 2006. She even stunned the crowd with her flawless vocal dexterity at Miles Davis' annual Grammy Party earlier this year. 

“The same way her debut album took a while to put together," said Miles, "you just don’t do it by going into a computer. You wait for the material to justify a new album.” This makes sense. She took a long break, but now she's ready.

Do you think it's possible to leave the work force and reinvent yourself years later? [US Weekly][Rolling Stone]