I was on the dancefloor in Funky Mojos when I got the text - "Whitney Houston is dead!!!". Shock took over as I took to twitter and read the numerous tweets bemoaning the loss of another legend. Memories of the moment when Amy Whinehouse died also came to mind - that initial feeling of shock and then the realisation that there was always something inevitable about this happening.
Despite her trials and tribulations, there wasn't another voice in the world like Whitney's. She won more awards and sold more records than many of her contemporaries. She was responsible for one of THE classic soundtrack to a film and was a talented actress as well as a phenomenal singer. One of the first singers to bring gospel style vocals to contemporary, mainstream rnb made her an inspiration for the majority of female vocalists we all admire today - from Christina Aguilera to Beyonce, Houston was the example to follow.
All which makes her demise ever more sadder. Her battle with drug addiction was well documented and she failed to really make an impression on the charts post 2000 as her behaviour became ever more erratic. She was apparently unable to get through concerts without running out of breath, an obvious result of the years of cocaine abuse, and her comeback tour in 2010 was for all intents and purposes a flop.
Still, she was a legend that no one can deny deserves to be recognised as one of the greatest vocalists of our generation. Being found dead in a hotel room in Los Angeles at her mentor Clive Davis' pre-grammy party seems like the way it was always going to end for Whitney.
May she rest in peace.
No comments:
Post a Comment