WHITNEY SAY'S HER NEW ALBUM IS A GIFT TO ALL OF US BECAUSE SHE ALMOST GAVE IT ALL UP!

Whitney Houston nearly gave up the fame game to be an island girl, but thankfully, she changed her mind.
“I had other plans, about three years ago, to live on an island and open a fruit stand and do my own little quiet thing — just raise my [daughter Bobbi Kristina] and call it a day,” the songbird revealed at Tuesday night’s listening party for her new CD, “I Look to You,” at Jazz at Lincoln Center. But record label honcho Clive Davis put an end to her tropical fantasy.

“I got this call from Clive, and he said, ‘Well, no. That’s not what you’re going to do,’” Houston recalled. Presenting the new album — her first in seven years — she said, “So this is [my gift] to all of you. I hope you love it!”

Partygoers and celebrity guests like Martha Stewart, Dionne Warwick, Gayle King and Alicia Keys and her boyfriend, Swizz Beats (who produced Houston’s new track “Million Dollar Bill”), certainly did, dancing all night and enjoying the album’s young vibe.

Houston’s album doesn’t drop for another month and a half, and as one industry exec said, “It’s way too early for a September listening party, but she’s Whitney Houston. She can do whatever she wants.”