嘖嘖 錢真好賺! Here's Â￡1.7m 4 U Whitney: Phone boss pays troubled star for one-hour charity performance by JAMES TAPPER - Last updated at 00:29am on 2nd March 2008 Building up his hugely successful mobile-phone business, John Caudwell became accustomed to taking risks - but few as big as this. The billionaire philanthropist has hired Whitney Houston - who has fought a high-profile battle with drug addiction - to perform a one-hour gig at a London charity event...for a reputed Â￡1.7million. Diva Whitney has endured a disastrous string of failed public appearances. But she now appears to have conquered her demons and Mr Caudwell, founder of the Phones4U empire, is gambling that her performance will ensure his charity ball is a massive success. Ms Houston's huge fee - which works out at Â￡28,333 a minute - is just the start of her demands for appearing at the glittering May ball, which will raise funds for the Caudwell Children charity. The 44-year-old singer has also insisted on being provided with an odd assortment of "extras" on the night, including M&M sweets, pulp-free orange juice, camomile tea, and "cranapple" and "crangrape" juices, as well as peanut butter and jam sandwiches. Her list also includes two full-length mirrors with make-up lights, a dozen hand towels, two fans, pumpernickel and sourdough bagels with cream cheese and four one-litre bottles of American spring water, as well as two large banquet tables, clothing racks, flowers and doughnuts for her entourage. The American soul diva, who in the Eighties and Nineties sold 100million records with hits including So Emotional and I Will Always Love You, is also said to have demanded 35 rooms at the Â￡350-a-night Dorchester hotel and another five-star hotel for her team. In 2000, Miss Houston cancelled a performance at the Oscars following US newspaper reports that she was "totally out of it" during a rehearsal with Burt Bacharach. And in 2002 she pulled out of singing at Liza Minnelli's wedding to David Gest, less than 24 hours before the ceremony. She has been a virtual recluse over the past two years as she battled drug addiction and became embroiled in a messy divorce from fellow soul singer Bobby Brown. In 2006, her sister-in-law claimed she was a hopeless crack addict, and pictures were published showing drug paraphernalia at her Â￡3million home. After a long period of rehabilitation, she played a comeback concert last December in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, but her charity performance in May will be her first concert in Britain since 1999. John Caudwell, worth Â￡1.6billion after selling Phones4U, will have to dig deep into his own pockets to pay Miss Houston's fee. He covers all Caudwell Children's operating costs so that more money is raised for children with terminal illness and to support the NSPCC's Full Stop campaign against violence towards children. A source said: "John is hoping Whitney will be worth it. He thinks it's important to raise the profile of the charity, and eye-catching stars such as Whitney Houston are exactly the sort of people he's hoping to attract." The ball is being held at an events centre in Battersea. Last year's bash starred Tina Turner, who was paid an estimated Â￡3million. The auction at the event raised Â￡1.2million, while ticket sales and sponsorship brought in far more - the cheapest table cost Â￡10,000 for ten people. A spokesman for Caudwell Children said that claims of a Â￡1.7million fee for Ms Houston were "ludicrous". But a source revealed that negotiations started at Â￡1.5million. Nor will this be the first bumper payout Miss Houston will have received for a single private performance. In 2005, she was paid Â￡560,000 to perform for just 300 guests at the wedding of Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko and former Miss Yugoslavia Aleksandra Kokotovic --

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