Whitney Houston - dead at 48

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powerplay

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Wow, I heard on the radio that Whitney Houston died today at 48 years of age. Looked on Google and couldn't find anything to confirm it until just a couple minutes ago.

RIP Whitney :(


Whitney Houston, superstar of records, films, dies | abc30.com

"Whitney Houston, who reigned as pop music's queen until her majestic voice and regal image were ravaged by drug use, has died. She was 48."
 
Sad! About 10 years ago DW and I were staying at the Four Seasons in Hawaii and Whitney and Bobby Brown were in the room next to us. What a voice, what a shame.
 
Just saw the headline now...a shame.
 
Very sad to hear this. Whitney had one of the best voices I've ever heard. Who could forget "I Want To Dance With Somebody", "I Will Always Love You", or her incredible rendition of the national anthem at the super bowl? Yes, I know, Whitney was imperfect. Far from it as we all know. I'll miss her.
 
Wow, very sad. I would rank Whitney with Ofra Haza and Allison Krauss as the greatest female vocalists of my lifetime. Stay well, Allison...
 
Oh my....:(.....just breaks my heart.
 
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I hadn't heard her National Anthem before - that is a WOW! performance, yest still subtle and respectful, really fantastic, IMO:


And I didn't realize Dolly Parton wrote 'I Will Always Love You'. Dolly's version is great, in a very different way (for me Dolly is 'aching', Whitney was making a strong, VERY strong, pronouncement of her love, at least that's what I hear).



I saw the trailer ad for 'The Bodyguard' a zillion times, and was always totally amazed at that voice. When I finally heard the whole song though, it seemed a bit of a let down. I guess you can't expect the rest of the song to stand up to that sailing chorus.

Sad though. I suppose it is tough to be the center of all that attention, and not let it go to your head, or affect you in some way. It must be tough to just deal with life when so much of it is such a high (the rush of performing). I recall the Beatles saying they felt sorry for Elvis, he had no one to share the feeling with, but the Beatles had each other, to a degree.

-ERD50
 
Undeniably one of the great voices of our time, up there with Streisand, a sad end for Whitney Houston. And I agree, (even though I was never a Whitney fan) no one has topped her Super Bowl National Anthem yet. I remember watching it live and being blown away, just electric!
 
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I remember in the 80's, thinking how exquisitely beautiful she was. Her voice's range and purity were undeniable.

Amethyst
 
brewer12345 said:
Wow, very sad. I would rank Whitney with Ofra Haza and Allison Krauss as the greatest female vocalists of my lifetime. Stay well, Allison...
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Cant believe you left Mariah Caray out of that list. She and Whitney are the best two singers I've ever heard.
 
Amazing talent. What a shame! There was a time when she "almost had it all". Unfortunately Whitney's early death was all too predictable. What is it about the entertainment industry that drives so many to drug abuse?
 
Purron said:
Very sad to hear this. Whitney had one of the best voices I've ever heard. Who could forget "I Want To Dance With Somebody", "I Will Always Love You", or her incredible rendition of the national anthem at the super bowl? Yes, I know, Whitney was imperfect. Far from it as we all know. I'll miss her.
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+1

This was the exact thing I was going to post, including the song picks. I am very sad about the loss.

It seems odd that drug use hit her later in life. She took on fame at an early age and seemed to be handling it well. Then later in life the drugs took over.
 
My favorite Whitney song (such a romantic song and, oh that voice):

 
Meadbh said:
What is it about the entertainment industry that drives so many to drug abuse?
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It's hard for us 'normal people' to relate to, but imagine doing a performance, thousands of people screaming, clapping, melting in approval over what you have done for those two hours. Everyone telling you, all the time how great you are. You feel it.

Then the concert ends. I imagine that everything seems much smaller, and maybe empty. Some of those people are going to look for ways to fill that emptiness in their 'down time'. Some find positive/neutral outlets, some don't. Plus, they have the money, there is probably a culture of users around them, it's available. So it happens.


utrecht said:
Cant believe you left Mariah Caray out of that list. She and Whitney are the best two singers I've ever heard.
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Subjective of course, but I don't agree about Mariah. She has an amazing instrument that is capable of amazing things, but I don't think she really uses it well.

This came up a while back - I don't really listen to much pop music, so while I certainly knew of Mariah, I wasn't that familiar specifically with her music. I recall my Sister-in-law mentioning that she just throws squeaks into all her songs, which sounded funny to me. I saw her Christmas show (2 years ago?), and her songs struck me as weird - just vehicles for her to try to impress us with her dolphin squeals. Not musical, AFAIAC. And that made me curious - I did a bunch of internet searches, and apparently trained vocal coaches with real credentials felt pretty much the same way as I did - amazing instrument, but what she does with it is questionable.

I do think Whitney had an amazing instrument, and an amazing ability to use it musically.

-ERD50
 
easysurfer said:
My favorite Whitney song (such a romantic song and, oh that voice):
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Thanks - not my favorite genre of song, but that and others just made me realize one thing that makes Whitney stand out. Listen to that 'tone' - it's just drop-dead-luscious all through the range, low, middle, high.

Many singers only really 'open up' when they reach for the upper range, others sound great in the middle or low range, but weaken in others.

Whitney is just stunning through out the range, and seems so effortless. Again, not really my favorite genre overall, but that talent cannot be denied.

-ERD50
 
Definitely one of the best female vocalists of our lifetime - some outstanding songs. And a true beauty as well. Too young.
 
Well, here's my story. Went to my 3x5 card audio library index, pulled out her 1st album-on cassette- (Whitney Houston). Had recorded it on my daughter's 10th birthday, so I guess we had a party and one of her guests had brought over the album--and I made a copy while they were outside swimming. Great singing.
 
I did not see that she had died, until I was looking at the obituaries in our Sunday paper. I was totally shocked. I thought that she had a wonderful voice and was so pretty. She was way too young.
 
I still have the VHS tape I did of the 1987 Grammy's and Whitney's performance.
Great loss.

 
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