Whitney Houston Week
"All At Once"
[Editor's note] My life-long love of music started with two women: Whitney Houston and Tina Turner. Back when I was only a single-digit old and tapes were en vogue, I listened to Whitney and Tina to the point of near-exhaustion.
In fact, one of my earliest memories is of me singing "I Will Always Love You" in the back seat and my mom being surprised and impressed that I knew all the words. She was less impressed with my singing ability or lack thereof. In any case, I think that was the start of my diva worship.
As I was watching the coverage of Whitney's untimely death this weekend, I was struck by something that CNN's Don Lemon said. When handed note cards with facts from Whitney's life, Lemon said he didn't need them. He went on to say that anyone who is 25 years or older knows everything about Whitney Houston.
Poignantly true. We knew the good and loved her in spite of the bad. I think a lot of people were rooting for Whitney Houston, myself included. But I think our cheers of encouragement were drowned out by her own demons.
Millions of us will mourn and miss her. And I have no doubt that few of us will find comfort in knowing what really killed her. The sad fact is that we've lost a voice for the ages.
But instead of wallowing in the tragedy of all this, I want to celebrate her life. I want to focus on the power and majesty of her talent. So in an effort to do just that, this week I'm going to be highlighting some of my favorite Whitney songs.
Today's installment: "All At Once" from the 1987 American Music Awards:
In fact, one of my earliest memories is of me singing "I Will Always Love You" in the back seat and my mom being surprised and impressed that I knew all the words. She was less impressed with my singing ability or lack thereof. In any case, I think that was the start of my diva worship.As I was watching the coverage of Whitney's untimely death this weekend, I was struck by something that CNN's Don Lemon said. When handed note cards with facts from Whitney's life, Lemon said he didn't need them. He went on to say that anyone who is 25 years or older knows everything about Whitney Houston.
Poignantly true. We knew the good and loved her in spite of the bad. I think a lot of people were rooting for Whitney Houston, myself included. But I think our cheers of encouragement were drowned out by her own demons.
Millions of us will mourn and miss her. And I have no doubt that few of us will find comfort in knowing what really killed her. The sad fact is that we've lost a voice for the ages.
But instead of wallowing in the tragedy of all this, I want to celebrate her life. I want to focus on the power and majesty of her talent. So in an effort to do just that, this week I'm going to be highlighting some of my favorite Whitney songs.
Today's installment: "All At Once" from the 1987 American Music Awards:
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