By now everyone knows that an American icon left us on February 11th, 2012.
At the risk of sounding really old, I was in high school when Whitney Houston first hit the scene with a song called You Give Good Love.
This was during the early-ish days of MTV and the very beginning of Much Music, so it didn’t hurt that she was the prettiest black singer I had seen at the time. She followed up with Saving All My Love For You, and it was obvious that she was going to be around for a long time.
It seemed that she became a household name almost overnight, but she had been around music, watching her mother Cissy, and cousin Dionne Warwick, since she could talk. Her godmother also had some singing experience. Some of you may have heard of her. Her name is Aretha Franklin.
By the time Whitney was 15, she was singing background for Chaka Khan on I’m Every Woman, a song she would make her own 2 decades later. Even before that, she sang background for the Michael Zager Band, the leader of which was in the position to get her a recording deal. Cissy firmly nixed that idea, wanting her to finish her education first. By the time she graduated from high school, it became obvious that that was all the formal education she was going to need.
Her self-titled debut album came out in 1985, and paved the way for Houston to own the next decade, and then some.She peaked in 1992 when The Bodyguard turned her into that perfect combo of film star and chart-topping singer. Her cover of Dolly Parton’s I Will Always Love You went to number 1, and prevented anyone else from taking her place for more than 3 months.
That was also the same year that she married Bobby Brown, a union some referred to as "explosive".
The 90s belonged to her as she made movies, continued to release successful albums, and won every award imaginable.
By the time the millenium rolled around, there was talk of trouble in paradise, and a visible change in Whitney’s demeanour. She and Bobby were arrested at the airport in Hawaii for possession of marijuana, but she might have been fine if it had stopped there. It did not.
Whitney began demonstrating an unstable disposition. She would arrive late, unprepared, and often not show up at all. Those who saw her were shocked, both by her demeanour, as well as her appearance.
In 2002, she made headlines for all the wrong reasons. In an interview with Diane Sawyer, Whitney wanted us to know that she did cocaine, but made too much money to smoke crack. She was alienating her fans, and not making any new ones.
Never the less, she was our soul sweetheart, and questionable decisions could not extinguish our nostalgia. We wished to have the old Whitney back, and we hoped with every album, and every public appearance that she would be better than the last.
In 2009, I wrote a piece about her newest album, and stated that while her voice was no longer what it once was, she still knew how to deliver a heartfelt performance. That was true.I also said,
"So rather than discuss her vocal shortcomings now, I choose to remember the Whitney I was introduced to in the 80s who was gorgeous and could sing like no other."
I stand by that.
Simply put, she was loved, she was missed, and she always will be.
Rest in peace, Whitney.
