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“I was lost. Now I’m free…”
- Whitney Houston, “I Believe In You and Me”
Whitney Houston died yesterday at the age of 48. Her death is shocking and has come way too soon. Though Whitney had an amazing career for the last 10 years it has been overshadowed by substance abuse, a turbulent marriage and as a result, her work in both the music and film industry has been stalled. Though right now the cause of her death is unknown, it is believed to be due at least in part to substance abuse. Not even 50, this is a great tragedy. According to the Associated Press, her downfall was so long and sad that, in an impatient public’s mind, it overshadowed her many accomplishments. Will her last 10 years what be what people remember instead of her stunning career?
“She was undoubtedly one of the greatest superstars of all time, and to hear this news it greatly upsets me,” former American Idol judge and X Factor creator Simon Cowell told CNN Saturday night. “She was the benchmark. She truly was.” From the mid-’80s to the late ’90s, Houston was the reigning Queen of Pop. The New York Times wrote that Houston “possesses one of her generation’s most powerful gospel-trained voices, but she eschews many of the churchier mannerisms of her forerunners. She uses ornamental gospel phrasing only sparingly, and instead of projecting an earthy, tearful vulnerability, communicates cool self-assurance and strength, building pop ballads to majestic, sustained peaks of intensity.” The multi-Grammy winner made a smooth transition into the world of film with hits like The Bodyguard, The Preacher’s Wife and Waiting to Exhale. She was also a successful producer with ABC’s Cinderella starring Brandy. She truly was on top.
Yet despite such career triumphs, Houston found herself hooked on drugs by the mid-90s and in a troubled marriage with Bobby Brown. Speaking with talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey in a 2010 interview, she confessed that by the mid-’90s, doing drugs had become a daily routine. She confessed to abusing cocaine, marijuana and pills. ”I would do my work, but after I did my work, for a whole year or two, it was every day,” she said. “I wasn’t happy by that point in time. I was losing myself.” Houston also blamed her tumultuous marriage to Brown, whom she divorced in 2007, for her troubles. Over the course of their marriage, he was arrested several times, on charges ranging from DUI to failure to pay child support for children from a previous marriage.
Houston would go to rehab twice before she would declare herself drug-free to Winfrey in 2010. But in the interim her career suffered as she pulled out of concerts at the last minute, a stop at an airport due to drugs, and public meltdowns. She was so startlingly thin during a 2001 Michael Jackson tribute concert that rumors spread she had died the next day. Her crude behavior and jittery appearance on Brown’s reality show, Being Bobby Brown, was an example of her sad decline. Her Diane Sawyer interview, where she declared “crack is whack,” was often parodied. She stayed out of the spotlight until 2009 when she came back with the album I Look To You. It was deemed a solid career comeback as it topped the charts and eventually went platinum but after that Whitney continued to stumble in her career. During an infamous Good Morning America appearance Whitney could barely get those defining notes out she once hit so easily and triumphantly.
Though the last ten years of her life and career were overshadowed by personal problems, she will still always be remembered as a true great talent. She entertained the world with her voice and influenced so many singers who came after her such as Christina Aguilera and Mariah Carey. ”Heartbroken and in tears over the shocking death of my friend, the incomparable Ms. Whitney Houston. She will never be forgotten as one of the greatest voices to ever grace the earth,” Carey tweeted.
