We Will Always Love Whitney
By now you’ve probably read a million different reports and obligatory blogger obituaries about Whitney Houston‘s passing, but as a fan of the legendary diva, I couldn’t go by without sharing my own thoughts on this tragedy.
I first really got into Whitney’s music one day when I was skipping class and killing time at the local markets, where I bought a discounted copy of her greatest hits LP (you know, the one where she’s holding the drill on the cover!). My main reason for buying it was simply because it came with a disc full of dance remixes, but I ended up falling in love with the entire album. It quickly became an essential part of my CD collection right next to Janet Jackson’s Design of a Decade and Madonna’s The Immaculate Collection, and I became a total Whitney fan, not only worshiping her divine voice, but also her straight talkin’ style and down-to-earth attitude.
The truth of the matter is, if you’re a fan of music, then you’re a fan of Whitney Houston. If you say that you don’t like a Whitney song, then you’re either lying or you haven’t heard all of her eleven No.1 singles.
Whitney passing away is so much more than just a talented artist losing their life too early. This is a woman who was the absolute best at what she did. She wasn’t just simply a hugely successful singer – she’s part of an elite group of people who are unmatched and unrivaled in their craft.
Whether you personally agree with it or not, the fact is that Michael Jackson will forever be remembered as the greatest entertainer of all time, Madonna will go down as the greatest female pop artist of all time, and Whitney Houston will forever be known as the greatest female vocalist the world has ever known. Not Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Kelly Clarkson, Christina Aguilera, or anybody else. It’s Whitney, and in the next fifty years, it’ll still be Whitney.
Despite the troubles that plagued her career and personal life, that’s not what Whitney Houston will be remembered for now that she’s gone. Once the circus around her death dies down, people aren’t going to be talking about the time she gave a bad performance or got in a fight with Bobby Brown or had her drug problems splashed across the tabloids. They’re going to talk about the first time they saw The Bodyguard, or the first time they heard “I Will Always Love You”. They’re going to talk about when Whitney sung the “Star Spangled Banner” at the Super Bowl, or when they cried their eyes out to “Saving All My Love for You”, or when everybody danced to “How Will I Know” at their sister’s wedding reception. Those are the things that Whitney will forever be remembered for, not the scandal or the drama.
Whitney is The Voice, and she always will be.
