Saturday, February 11, 2012

SO EMOTIONAL:  The Associated Press is reporting that Whitney Houston has died at the age of 48.  Cause of death is unknown at this time, but given what we've learned through the years we can presume some things, which would make this news shocking, but sadly not surprising.

Think about what it takes to have a voice so gifted to make one's rendition of the National Anthem the definitive one, to have scores of American Idol contestants' efforts compared to her heights, a catalog of hits so deep that had her career ended before "I Will Always Love You" she would still be thought of as the premier R&B singer of her generation.

What tremendous talents. What a damn shame.

added:  Sasha Frere-Jones. "With the weird blend of investment and helplessness that typifies kin, we’ve watched Whitney Houston die in front of us, slowly and unmistakably, for more than a decade.... Considering how many times Houston confronted her own addiction in public, her end confirms that the pull of addiction can be stronger than the pull of dignity."

25 comments:

  1. kenedy jane9:09 PM

    So true - incredible shame.  My daughter grew up hearing stories and watching videos of Whitney as I explained how amazing she was.  I had naively hoped that our Super Bowl anthem-singing diva would return.  So sad.

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  2. Meghan9:13 PM

    I remember watching her on Silver Spoons, which makes me feel really old, but also illustrates how long she's been anpart ofthe scene. I too figured she'd find a way to clean up and return to glory. 48 is way too young but especially so when you think it's been a decade (+\-) since she was really capable of performing the way she used to.

    I hope Bobbi Kristina finds peace.

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  3. Eric J.9:20 PM

    Out of respect for Ms. Houston's memory, I think NBC needs to cancel "Whitney."

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  4. Linda9:32 PM

    Beyond sad.  Her songs are woven into so many of my college and young adult memories.

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  5. Maret9:33 PM

    I'm so sad about this andwhile hearing the news was shocking, it wasn't surprising. I feel awful for her daughter particularly. And I just remember knowing all the words to all her songs in the 'I Wanna Dance with Somebody' days.

    I'm also wondering what the Grammy's will do tomorrow. Pat of me thinks they should just have Dolly Parton come out and sing 'I Will Always Love You' - her version is so simple and sweet and moving and it means no one would be trying to replicate Whitney's sound, but honoring her nonetheless.

    This has been a big year of loss for music (since the last Grammy's): Amy Winehouse, Clarence Clemons, Etta James, Don Cornelius and now Whitney.

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  6. isaac_spaceman10:07 PM

    I'm not knocking Houston's voice in any way, but anybody's Star Spangled Banner is a distant second to Marvin Gaye's. 

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  7. Michele10:09 PM

    http://youtu.be/I0nVeH__Ags

    The first Grammys performance that I remember being awestruck by. I just watched this again about five days ago - the last four minutes of it are incredible.

    So sad for her daughter.

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  8. How sad.

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  9. Marsha10:59 PM

    What an incredible waste, of both her talent and of what should have been the second half of her life.

    I can't believe she was only 48.

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  10. SI, 9-25-89:

    <span>Four Eagle veterans left an exhibition game in Philadelphia this year at half-time. They had permission from [Coach Buddy] Ryan to go to New Jersey to attend a birthday party for singer Whitney Houston. "What's the big deal?" says Ryan. "It was important to those guys. That's the girl who sings </span>One Moment in Time<span>. Hell of a song."</span>

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  11. Marsha11:14 PM

    Thanks for sharing that. I don't recall that I've ever seen it, and it's a great showcase of her talent.

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  12. Adam C.11:15 PM

    Well, I wasn't at Marvin's League That Ceased To Exist All-Star Game, but I was at that Super Bowl.  And what I heard that day from the second to last row of the Tampa Stadium end zone was Goosebump City.  Credit to Marvin for doing it fully live in an arena and turning out an incredible interpretation, but credit to Whitney for giving us a moment that was - and really, I mean no hyperbole here - about as big a moment as any musical performer has ever delivered.

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  13. Paul Tabachneck2:03 AM

    We lost one of the best voices of our or any generation here.  At her best, she was a true artist -- though she didn't write her songs, she committed her full heart and soul to bringing new life to them beyond the page, and that is way more than most of her contemporaries ever cared to do.  I can remember well listening to her first two albums, start to finish, again and again on a road trip.  It was a good road trip.

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  14. isaac_spaceman2:29 AM

    I'm well aware that if I said something like "I'm willing to have the debate about which version of the National Anthem was better, but let's wait a respectable period of time first," 99% of the people here would say to themselves, "Jesus Christ, Isaac Spaceman, let it go, you miserable asshole" and then set their outlook reminders for (now+a respectable period of hours from now) so that they could take a vacation from this blog that day.  So I won't say it.  But if we ever did wait that respectable period and have that debate, I would be certain to remind you that, today, your opening bid was that Houston singing the National Anthem before a football game was the biggest musical moment in the history of performed music, ahem, "no hyperbole here."  

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  15. guest4:49 AM

    So why bring up a comparison now? Why start a debate on essentially an obituary comment thread?

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  16. guest4:57 AM

    Also, if I might use your words:  Jesus Christ, Isaac Spaceman, let it go, you miserable asshole, let's let folks have a moment to appreciate Whitney Houston and their memories of her, without having to get into a "who's better" debate.

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  17. Okay, but let's be clear that _I'm_ the miserable asshole around these parts.  Isaac, by comparison, is erudite and gentlemanly.

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  18. She had a beautiful, amazing voice, no doubt about it. But was she singing live that day? I feel like I read somewhere years ago that she recorded the anthem in a studio instead of performing it live at the Super Bowl. 

    Still, very sad and what a loss for her friends and family -- especially her daughter.

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  19. Melissa R.11:29 PM

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star_Spangled_Banner_(Whitney_Houston_song)

    Fascinating read.  Indeed, she did not not sing the Star Spangled Banner live.

    Also of note:

    Houston was the first musical act to take the national anthem Top 10 in the US, and have it certified platinum.  It also surprisingly peaked at #5 on the Canadian Singles Chart

    NFL officials didn't like her version and tried to get her to tone it down.  Thankfully, she refused.

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  20. sea0tter129:22 AM

    Why do I think that somewhere, someone got a wish from a genie and wished that "Whitney" would go away? You know how genie wishes work out ...

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  21. isaac_spaceman10:51 AM

    Hey, "guest," it doesn't bother me one bit that you want to lash out at me for disagreeing when Adam called Houston's "Star Spangled Banner" definitive (it's not definitive, at least in the sense that words have meaning).  It does bother me a little that you can't see fit to recognize that my second comment was about the baffling human tendency toward hyperbole in the face of celebrity death, not about Whitney Houston at all.  I suppose that if I were predicting to whom you were going to direct your outrage, I would have guessed the guy who focused on her addiction instead of the guy who said that Marvin Gaye sang one song better than she did, but celebrity-death grief is a volatile cocktail. 

    But I assume, since you took the bait and addressed me directly, that you've been around here a while.  Why not post under your regular handle? 

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  22. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MrmoIyLlSw

    I never watched the Merv Griffin Show.  I was 13 years old when I saw this...for no reason that I could fathum. I was not a big fan of pop music at the time.  But I remembered her.  I remembered when I finally saw the video for "How Will I Know" that she was that girl who sang on the Merv Griffin Show that I saw that one time.

    I think, even though it wasn't my type of music, the fact that I remember her, shows what a talent she was.  You couldn't help but see the talent.

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  23. How incredibly sad.  I was a little surprised by how affected I was by this news (in comparison, Michael Jackson's death meant nothing to me), but ever since I heard it, her 80s songs have been going through my head: How Will I Know, I Get So Emotional, I Wanna Dance With Somebody - and I've realized how much her music was a part of my childhood.

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  24. Adam C.7:34 PM

    Isaac, you make something of a fair point (not miserably or assholishly), and perhaps I should have put proper air quotes around "moment" to indicate I was trying to make a slightly less literal comment than I'm sensing you took it to be.  But it was indeed a big "moment" on a big global stage, particularly taking into account all of the context around that game; the Gulf War and the attendant heightened security, including the experience of being frisked for the first time ever upon entering a sporting event - remember, folks, this is January 1991, when our US experience with large-scale terrorism was pretty much Bruce Dern in Black Sunday; and the performance itself (which, as I alluded and as erin and Melissa R. below noted, we later learned was not a live rendition, contra Marvin's) - punctuated by a flyover (USAF from the local MacDill base? Blue Angels? I can't exactly recall) that totally nailed the timing.  Jingoistic?  Maybe, but extremely effective under the circumstances.  So I stand by my opening bid and look forward to yours. (Marian Anderson at the Lincoln Memorial? Dylan goes electric? Do tell.) 

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