A message beyond the grief

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

The death of American pop music icon Ms Whitney Houston on Saturday has no doubt shocked the world and plunged the entertainment fraternity into deep mourning.

In fact, so great was the loss that it cast a pall over the annual Grammy Awards, the music industry's biggest night, staged on Sunday in Los Angeles, California.

Although the Grammy Awards was already planned, the organisers fittingly made a few adjustments to pay tribute to Ms Houston, a six-time Grammy winner who was regarded as a sensation from the release of her very first album in 1985 and who was one of the world's best-selling artistes from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s.

An Associated Press report on the Grammys told us that the evening's most moving moment came as Ms Jennifer Hudson — who called Ms Houston an inspiration and one of her biggest idols — emerged to sing one of Ms Houston's signature songs, a cover of Ms Dolly Parton's I Will Always Love You.

"Dressed in black, with only the accompaniment of a piano, Hudson appeared to fight back tears as she sang the song, ending with the line, 'Whitney, we will always love you'," said the AP report.

Throughout the night, other artistes paid tribute to the singer who awed millions of people across the world "with soaring but disciplined vocals rooted in gospel and polished for the masses", the AP reported.

Her vocal prowess, we are told, was regarded as a bridge between the earthy passion of her godmother, Ms Aretha Franklin, and the bouncy pop of her cousin, Ms Dionne Warwick.

Throughout her career Ms Houston sold more than 170 million records, had 11 number one hits in the 1980s and 1990s and won an impressive string of awards.

However, her glittering career started what was to become an irreversible plunge as she battled with substance abuse during her stormy 15-year marriage to fellow American singer Mr Bobby Brown.

Many of Ms Houston's fans have criticised her for entering the union with Mr Brown, while others have blamed Mr Brown for her downward spiral. We, however, from this distance, cannot make a judgement either way.

What we suspect, though, is that Ms Houston became a victim of the merciless pressures of stardom. For she was indeed one of the best singers ever to have graced this planet, and as such would have been in high demand by show promoters, not unlike her late compatriot Mr Michael Jackson.

Ms Houston, of course, joins a lenthening list of illustrious stars who departed this life too early, succumbing to the demons that often afflict people in the entertainment industry.

While we accept that her fans are devastated by her sudden passing, we would encourage them to use her life as a guide to embracing what is good and avoiding that which can prove detrimental to one's health.

It is probably most telling that before she died Ms Houston finished working on the remake of the 1976 film Sparkle, which poignantly tells the story of a singing group dealing with the troubles caused by fame and drugs.

Maybe the Creator, in His wisdom, guided her to that project in order to send us a message.

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COMMENTS (6)

Beresford Davidson
2/18/2012

All human beings arrived with a song of many and are measured by those songs we sang so well. Whitney arrived with a gift to sing well those songs unheard that move our soul. She was then overthrown by the leaches of the entertainment business known otherwise as pushers and drug dealers. They too have songs they find undeliverable from their view of life and so they latched onto her and many others like her sucking them into untimely death. America is a dangerous place for the talented; show the tip of your strength here and those leaches come upon. May she now rest in peace.

Anthony Johnson
2/14/2012

@Mark Forbes..why don't you go to the Gleaner website and say the same thing about their cartoonist. He bashes the JLP everyday too. Clovis is just depicting what Audley Shaw said earlier in the week to PP. He should get to work and stop complaining. If JLP had highlighted what they received from the PNP in 2007 when they came into power, you would have realized that what the PNP is dealing with now is the same nastiness they themselves started in their 18yrs of destruction, so stop whining.

Andrea Watson
2/14/2012

who you hook up with can either make or break you case in point Celine married a mature level headed man she is alive and still singing like a bird decades after Whitney marrried a bad boy who did drugs with her lost her voice and died in some hotel tub.She has been doing drugs for more than 20 years she told Oprah,she had the money and time to get help & recover if she wanted to. She got pulled in and couldnt even make the sarcrifice to clean up for her child's sake-fact, Whitney loved Whitney

pat green
2/14/2012

She came on the scene when I was in college and was d THING. This friend's talk was that God was unfair to give her looks, height and talent. Bobby cant be faulted soley but he never enabled his wife 2 be her best but facilitated her demise.It shoud serve 2 remind us 2 be more mindful of our choice of partners/frens if they dont add value 2 your life then....D pressures of showbus? D returns R HIGH likewise d risks. She cud say no 2 some requests she had d means to but she made d deadly choice

Mark Forbes
2/14/2012

Typical Clovis. He had no problems with Shaw's 4-year long jeremiad but takes issue be cause he feels Phillips shouldn't be highlighting the problems he inherited. Why? Because in doing so he is trespassing on Shaw's copyright?
Blinded by bias, Clovis has fallen so far down the manhole of political partisanship that he will never be able to climb back up to the road of fairness and balance.

Adam Godson
2/14/2012

Thank you for not making a judgment about her ex-husband Bobby brown.
Not speaking ill of the dead,but there are some who maintain that Ms Houston's drug use preceeded her relationship with Mr Brown,and that she might not have had as clean cut an image as was presented to the public,but some people just prefer a story which says that the bad boy bobby corrupted the innocent princess.
Like you,though,I have no evidence of this,but it is something to think about.
May she rest in peace

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A message beyond the grief