Reports that Whitney Houston has died

Very sad.

A fabulous musician whose life had a tragic tinge to it.

Engelbert

I’ve never been a fan of WH, never liked her style of mezzo-soprano belting that was inflicted upon my young delicate ears back in the 80’s and 90’s ...and if I could, on every such occasion the radio would be turned off for a more peaceful experience.

But out of respect and honesty I can say to being quite shocked and saddened by this news of her premature death, 48 years of age is far too young to die.

Debs

I'm the same Debs. Normally I'd be saddened by the death of anybody whom I didn't know personally but for some reason this affected me more than that. Much more than Michael Jackson but he died a couple of days after my mother so I had other things on my mind then.

The very public disintegration of somebody like this will hopefully draw attention to the millions going through the same thing in anonymity. Perhaps.

+1 x 2 Debs & Tom, I don't imagine too many WH records get a turn on Naimite systems, but for sure she has been an iconic leading light in setting her musical genre into history.

Her style may not be to everyone's taste,  but her voice (in the early days) was outstanding.

I just hope in the coming days when we will all get feed up with the tributes & endless repeats of "I will all ways love you", that we get to hear some of her pre-famous gospel material.  

Sad to hear of anyone's premature death.  I'll admit to owning a copy of her first album on vinyl, but I'll also say I can't stand the way she mangled Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You".  That overly pretentious, flowery ending always makes me cringe.

Funny how few of us here actually liked her music (myself included) yet the music forum displays pretty broad tastes generally, including a fair amount female vocal, soul, world, AOR, gospel etc..

Still, she sold squillions of records...I guess some people look for other things in their listening. Nothing wrong with that of course, takes all sorts.

JamieW - I think, almost as you imply(?):

1- she was manipulated in to the wider MoR commercial arena - unlike some of her contemporaries, who stood and still stand true to their soul roots.

2- the production quality of her albums (those I have had the misfortune to hear) is poor - almost compressed to 'radio quality' on LP. Which raises questions over the level of her talent and why this was done.

Houston, we have a drug problem.

Great voice, huge amounts of talent, good looks... never really liked her music though, bit too MOR, too many power ballads for me.

Interestingly enough, her death resembled that of another member of soul royalty, Michael Jackson. A huge shock, but not, on reflection, all that surprising. It was merely the final chapter in a long, sad personal, artistic and commercial decline.

But at least she wasn't a predatory paedophile.

I totally admired her singing. She was a truly great singer. That she didn't record much stuff that I actually liked, doesn't diminish this. So sad....

I have no doubt those media oultets who ridiculed and villified her drug and alcohol problems will now cover their front pages with tributes.

'Fraid her music did nothing for me. Sad, not least because as with Ms Winehouse it had an air of inevitability.

Bruce

Guy i have got to know well thru the gym at my sports club is an ex boxer and has looked after many many PRIMA DONNAS over the years including W/H. He has told us some great tales about some of these so called megastars. She once had to do an interview and he pointed out to her the room up a flight of stairs where she had to go. Her reply to him was sorry.....i dont do stairs.

Dont want to see anybody die young,but i dont have any time for that sort of rubbish.

Mista h

Mista h, Either you or your pal have your divas mixed up. 'I don't do stairs' is an old line famously attributed to Mariah Carey, not Whitney Houston.

Fair chance i will be playing racketball with the guy tomorrow morning and will check things out.

If he has been winding me up you have an apology coming,and i will probably give him a good slap.

Mista h

Hey, no big deal. It's just a funny story - see here.

Better have your guard up when you give your boxer friend a good slap, eh?

I had no problem with WH as a person but think her music and singing were torture on the ears. 

So which channel will be the first to run "The Bodyguard"...? 

Sad to see anyone "go", let alone in that way, but I never thought I'd see the day when Whitney Houston could be related to the Bill Hicks sketch on musicians dying...

Was never a great fan of hers but she had something more to her than the manufactured pap that infests the charts nowadays whereby sometimes I even find myself thinking "In comparison to this, even Sigue Sigue Sputnik weren't bad!"

Phil

I never bought any of her albums because they were just too pop for me. But whenever her songs came on the radio, I just loved them (I'm a softie really). I thought her voice was fantastic and there was a real show of emotion in her voice from the early days until she lost her way. Very sad, her songs always touched me.

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

Mariah was also claimed to have said something about starving people in Africa. Something like "Well it's great that they're all so thin, I mean, I'd love to be that thin, but without all the flies and disease and stuff."  

I guess (sadly) that planet rock 'n' roll is a precarious place. Like most on here I never bought any of her records but i'll always remember her compelling performance at Nelson M's 70th birthday concert.

RIP.

Strat

Sorry guys the "don't do stairs" was Whitney, the other was Mariah.

Strat

Strat, Mariah doesn't do stairs. Open the link I posted a couple of hours ago, and then try the same for Whitney.

winky, not true: http://www.snopes.com/quotes/carey.asp

I never claimed it to be true. It still amused me. I could just imagine her saying it. I'm for everything that skewers the cult of "celebrity".

I quoted that one about famine here before, and discoverd that it was made up, but it says a lot about Ms Carey that so many of us believed it. She did say some other pretty stupid things, and I always thought the staris one was Carey too.

I can't stand the music of either Carey or the late Whitney Huston, and both have done some bad things. I do seem to remember that at a charity concert a blue screen was unfurled behind Whitney Huston so that the footage could be used in an advert later. I think Whoopi Goldberg who was comparing the show had to be held back when she discovered what the blue screens were for.

Still I would not wish such a death on someone, famous or not, and her loss will mean a lot to many people, and it is very sad for anyone close to her.