When the phone rang last it was to report two deaths. One was yet another female homicide and the other the death of mega star Whitney Houston. Both were devastating for various reasons. The blood of females continue to drench the soil and it makes me scared,helpless and angry at the same time.
Ms Whitney was an icon, She was gorgeous,regal and had the most amazing voice ever. It seemed like everything she touched turned to gold. From being the first black woman to grace the over of Seventeen magazine, to an endless succession of hits,to lighting up the screen she had the fans eating out of her hands. As a 90's teen her music was a constant in my life. She was singing on subjects that we angst ridden teens identified with. "Saving all my love for you", "I wanna dance with somebody" , "How will I know" were favorites of the girls of3B5. "Where do broken hearts go" became our anthem for our girlish heartbreaks even though in most cases the object of our affections were totally unaware of our interest. Later on in life at dark moments "The greatest love of all" and "When you believe" helped to put many a situation in perspective.
Then there was the style. I absolutely adored her sexy but classy look.(See pic to left). Towards the end there was the public display of a private problem. Many would prefer to reduce her life to her struggles with drug addiction as if it were the single defining factor. I can't and I won't because I believe we or most of us have our demons. We however, have the luxury of not having them played out on the public stage. It was hard to see her struggle to hit the high notes that once came as easy as breathing and even harder watching her physical deterioration. In the end she was a human as human as all of us.
Rest in peace sweet girl and thanks for sharing your talent with us.
# posted by Abeni @ 11:02 AM
