One Moment In Time

Whitney Houston passed away on 11th February this year.  I wanted to wait a while to collect my thoughts and digest what happened before I decided to write about it.

I first realised how good Whitney was when I heard 'The Greatest Love Of All', being a fan of George Benson it almost pains me to say it but her version is just so much better and it was one of the first songs that made me listen to the lyrics and appreciate song writing as an art.  Songs such as this, One Moment In Time and Where Do Broken Hearts Go will always hold a special place in my heart, her music has helped me through some very dark times but it also forms part of the soundtrack to some fantastic times as well, for that I will always be grateful.


The first Whitney album I actually brought was My Love Is Your Love, the highly anticipated and highly successful come back album following her three soundtrack releases and to this day it remains one of my favorite albums, never aging and still sounding good some twelve years after it's original release.  I was lucky enough to see her live in 1998 as part of her world tour and she was outstanding, probably the best singer I have ever seen live (I've seen many), quite simply flawless in every way.


Her problems are well documented and she has been pulled apart by the media for her mistakes, and that's all they were.  Mistakes.  We all make them.  We all step off the line once in a while and need some help.  We are all only human after all.  But the press couldn't leave her alone, the same people that built her up were more than happy to step in a tear her apart in front of the world.  It's ironic that it took her death for them to suddenly begin to start saying how good she was again, a part of humanity that makes me sick!


When she announced her come back in 2010 I wanted it to be good, I wanted the old Whitney back.  The Look To You album, although a great success was not (quite) right but... it's OK!!!
When she released tour dates I knew it was too soon for her, way to soon, and I was dubious but I wanted to go.  
To say I was disappointed is an understatement, she was a mess, a tragic mess, and we left early because I couldn't take anymore.  I was gutted for her.  The bashing she got after was in all fairness well deserved, she wasn't ready and she shouldn't have done it.  


When I found out she had died I was absolutely gutted and couldn't stop crying.  I felt silly really because it's not like I knew her but I really couldn't help myself, it was such a tragic loss and a waste of one of the greatest talents in the music industry.


We will never have another Whitney, her voice was one in a million and no one will ever be able to song those songs as beautifully as she did.  At her funeral Clive Davis said she was in good spirits, talking about another come back, saying this time she was truly ready, she had been exercising, cutting some tracks, her voice was getting better.  Of course this could all be BS but I hope not because I want to remember Whitney for the good times, for the music, for the voice, not the drugs and the ex husband and the terrible concerts.


Whitney may be gone, but her music will live on forever and if your ever going to have a lasting legacy this is one to be proud of.


Good night Whitney, I hope you find the peace you truly deserve...