AP reporting it too.

How sad.

That was quick, even by dead celeb standards.
twitter.com/DianaInHeaven/status/168502634121134080

All over CNN, no news of where or when. Lots of talk about her looking bad and her struggle with alcohol and drugs.

Brick City Represent.

RIP

Yeah. Devastating. This is all wrong. But then, it was never quite right from the beginning with Whitney. RIP.

The night before the Grammys. Clive Davis' pre-Grammy hullabaloo has been called off. High possibility of some cringe-worthy moments tomorrow night.

Isolated vocal track of "How Will I Know"

Wasn't a fan in any way, shape or form, in fact i absolutely can't stand the vocal gymnastics involved in R&B, but there sure was one fucking hell of a voice in there.
Very sad indeed to see a talent like that pissed away and a life ruined.

Drugs are a curse.

Calvert W. McCutcheon wrote:
Wasn't a fan in any way, shape or form, in fact i absolutely can't stand the vocal gymnastics involved in R&B, but there sure was one fucking hell of a voice in there.


This.

RIP

Too bad the voice was wrecked as well. Sad. Very Sad.
RIP

It's very sad for those that knew her and had to watch her decline, especially those who repeatedly tried to get her help. It's especially sad because, as I understand it, in her younger days she was a lovely person who cared about people.

But let's be clear...

Just because she died does not mean "I Will Always Love You" is brilliant. It's not. Not at all. It was a perfectly nice sad country song given the American Idol treatment and turned up to 11 for the sort of people who pay to see Celine Dion in Vegas. I don't care If she died winning the Medal of Honor while saving African orphans. That doesn't redeem it. And now I'm going to have to hear it everytime i go to the supermarket. It's even got a 16-wheeler gear shift in it, FFS.

And The Bodyguard is a pile of shit. The beginning of a series of bad moves for Costner.

Over here, at least, she's also well known for belting out and admittedly impressive version of the Star Spangled Banner at the SuperBowl, but its not remembered for how she sang. It's remembered because it was during the first Gulf War and all that arm-chair patriotism shit.

Whitney Houston obviously had a fantastic voice, but many of her songs tended to be overproduced, usually because of that great voice. "I Will Always Love you" is an obvious example of that. Sometimes her vocal pyrotechnics worked very well. "Saving All My Love For You" is a very good example of how to use a voice like hers. From the same debut album, she turns "All At Once" from a pedestrian, mass-produced ballad into a pretty decent soul song.

Having said that, her songs worked best when her voice and production were restrained. Her 1998 album My Love Is Your Love had some really good R&B tracks that didn't trade in power notes (and, alas, some that did, such as the inevitable duet with Mariah Carey).

The timing of her death is the ultimate triumph though. If you are a diva and you have to go out at 48, then you ought to do it on the eve of the Grammys, when there will be an overload of grief, faked grief and ostentatious fawning.

Bloody hell. Not quite in the 27 club but it goes to show that once the crack takes hold then it will take you down no matter what.

The voice was something, no doubt. One obit credits her with the backing vocals for Chaka Khan's I'm Every Woman, which I never knew but there is something in that Whoa-Whoa-Whoa that is definitely Houston.

It was a shame that the disco-soul sound of that time had evolved into the horrible R&B/Power ballad that became her stock in trade. Million Dollar Bill, which samples another gospel disco legend in Loleatta Holloway, is by far and away my favourite Houston track and shows what she could have done had she broken through earlier than '85. At least Michael Jackson had a legacy from that era which immortalised him from the dross he produced post-Thriller.

Instead her legacy is as the inspiration for identikit divas such as Carey and Knowles. She won't be forgotten for her sheer popularity, but her legacy of work could have been so much better. Not her fault, she was just a little out of time.

RIP.

Goodbye Houston

It's reported over here that it's come down as a shock in both US and UK.

It's not the slightest shock to me, and neither was the death of MJ. If you want to talk about shock, it's how Keith Richards is still alive, or Ozzy, with that 100% business wife of his in the same house.

I didn't like the power ballads, nor the doormat/fuckpuppet lyrics of Saving All My Love, but I'm Your Baby Tonight is a masterpiece. Wonderful voice, and she looked fabulous for a while.

No-one seems to have a bad word for her, only for her choices. Sad.

The only thing she did was make soul/r'n'b so boring it became a tipping point for black music in general. Post "I will always love you", you could argue most aspiring soul singers looked to hip-hop for musical inspiration and gang mentality. Over-produced lovers' mush thankfully reached the end of the line with her, probably even she knew it was a load of toss, getting out of her box on crack to escape the obligation to sing that song one more time.

You could argue that R Kelly tried to bring soul/r'n'b back down again with "I Believe I can Fly", but that song is so OTT it's good, and by that time it was an exception rather than the rule.

You want a bad word?

She was one of those full of herself morons who had a 50-item long list made for wherever she was to stay, so that a few times they had to re-paint the room.

Actually, that could be a thread in music. Who's had the craziest such demands.

I saw her live once, during the Bodyguard tour. Went with my then girlfriend who was a big fan. It was the most pointless couple of hours I've ever spent related to live music, knocking Yngwie Malmsteen(1985_Rising Force) off the most poinless money spent on a live act throne.

She was close to two hours late, and sang as if she was warming up for a rehearsal for the performance in the first Las Vegas X-factor knock-out round. Kind of wandered about the stage half-arsing through the songs.

Presumably those painting the room and complying with the daft requests got paid, and/or had the power to say "no".