‘Sparkle’ movie starring Whitney Houston, full streaming soundtrack now available online

The soundtrack to the movie "Sparkle," starring Jordin Sparks and the late Whitney Houston and set to hit theaters August 17, is now streaming online at Essence in its entirety, including revamped tracks of R&B classics from the original 1976 film.

Largely written and produced by R&B mogul R. Kelly and the late Curtis Mayfield, the album features tracks laid by Cee-Lo Green as well from the films main contributing stars Tika Sumpter, Carmen Ejogo, Sparks, and Houston. The album is set to be released on July 31.

Classic remakes of the 1976 "Sparkle" album, produced by Mayfield and sung by Aretha Franklin, that can be found on the stream include "Something he can Feel," "Hooked on your Love," "Jump," and "Loving you baby."

Houston's final vocal performances  (she died of an accidental drowning in her Beverly Hilton hotel room this past February) are survived on this soundtrack, on tracks including "His eye is on the Sparrow" and "Celebrate." Sparks, who worked closely with Houston throughout the making of "Sparkle," finds the release of the soundtrack to be "bittersweet."

As reported on music-mix.com, Sparks states, I worked with my idol and that was a dream come true... But she should really be here promoting it with me and [it's] really hard for me to be doing it alone."

The 1976 "Sparkle" was inspired by The Supremes and focuses on the story of three singing teenage sisters from Harlem who form a girl group in the late 1950s. The remake takes place in Detroit, Michigan in the 1960s during the Motown era, where young struggling songstress Sparkle Williams (Sparks) must deal with trying to make it big as a star while juggling family  and home issues involving her single mother Emma (Houston). 

Check out the full live stream of the "Sparkle" soundtrack on Essence.