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| A Youthful Whitney |
Songs from her first album self titled ‘Whitney Houston’: All at Once… You
give good love… and saving all my love for you.., were party or as we called
them then, Fete anthems.
Fast forward to Saturday February 12, 2012; just imagine my
shock and awe at reading my twitter timeline @maninja2 and seeing “RIP Whitney
Houston” trending. It is hard to describe exactly how I felt at that moment but
I knew my stomach rumbled, my knees buckled and my eyes swelled with tears.
Over
the years I used the internet to keep tabs on Whitney… waiting, hoping and
wishing that she would recover from the many trials and tribulations her life
had undergone, but it seems it wasn’t to be as drugs and bad decisions got the
better of her and that all conquering voice that she was so richly blessed with.
Whitney’s soulful
traits run deep into the hallowed halls of Americas R&B royalty; from
Mother Cissy Houston to Cousin Dionne Warwick and Godmother Aretha Franklin it
is no wonder she could make the music she did for so many years.
Whitney’s Career
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| Whitney at the Grammy Awaards |
Born August 9, 1963 - Whitney
Elizabeth Houston was
a singer, actress, producer, mother, wife and model. Did you know Whitney is
the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness Book of World Records?
Her list of
awards include:
(2) Emmy Awards
(6) Grammy Awards
(30) Billboard
Music Awards
(22) American
Music Awards
All toll, this amazing
woman has a total of 415 career awards as of 2010 having sold over 170 million
albums and singles worldwide which by the way, is also a record. Houston is the
only artist to chart seven (7) consecutive No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hits. WOW what a career!!!
1.
Saving
All My Love for You
2.
How
Will I Know
3.
Greatest
Love of All
4.
I
Wanna Dance with Somebody
5.
Didn't
We Almost Have It All
6.
So
Emotional
7.
Where
Do Broken Hearts Go
Some people work
their whole lives and are regarded as great for maybe having one (1) billboard hit;
Whitney had all of seven… yes 7!!! Who else can
say that? Mmmm clearly I will have to
research that for my follow up post on this great woman, my childhood crush.
Other Key Achievements
·
Houston
is the second artist behind Elton John and the only female artist to have two
number-one Top Billboard 200
Album awards.
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| Just Whitney - Album Cover |
·
Houston's
1985 debut album, Whitney Houston became the
best-selling debut album by a female act at the time of its release. The album
was also named Rolling Stone's best album of 1986, and was ranked at
number 254 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All
Time.
·
Her
second studio album, Whitney (1987), became the first
album by a female artist to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
·
Houston's
crossover appeal on the popular music charts as well as her prominence on MTV,
starting with her video for How Will I
Know, influenced several African-American female artists to follow in her
footsteps.
Combining Film & Music
·
Houston's
first acting role was as the star of the feature film The Bodyguard
(1992). The movie's original soundtrack won the 1994 Grammy Award for Album of
the Year.
·
I
Will Always Love You from the Bodyguard sound track became the best-selling
single by a female artist in music history. With this album, Houston became the first act (solo or
group, male or female) to sell more than a million copies of an album within a
single week period.
·
The
album also makes her the only female act in the top 10 list of the best-selling
albums of all time, at number four.
· Houston
continued to star in movies and contribute to their adjoining soundtracks,
including the films Waiting to Exhale (1995) and The Preacher's Wife
(1996).
·
The
Preacher's Wife
soundtrack would go on to become the best-selling gospel album in history.
· Three
years after the release of her fourth studio album, My Love Is Your Love
(1998), she renewed her recording contract with Arista Records.
·
She
released her fifth studio album, Just Whitney, in 2002, and followed
that with the Christmas-themed One Wish: The Holiday Album in 2003.
Marriage
 |
| Whitney with Husband Bobby Brown |
Then came Bobby
Brown, he and I were about the same age and my thoughts were then; why him?
Then by the late 90’s when rumors started to fly about Bobby’s constant run in
with the law for Marijuana possession and use, Whitney’s weird behaviors and
use of hard drugs; you just knew this union was going to be the destruction of
her sublime talent and immaculate achievements that had made her a global
megastar and simply the most unmistakable voice in all of show business.
Only Whitney &
God knows why she remained married to Bobby for as long as she did. In many media
interviews she professed her undying love and adoration for Bobby, which one
would suppose would have been the reason, along with trying to hold her family
together for daughter Bobbi Kristina. Her 14 year marriage came to an end in
2006 when she divorced Bobby, I guess she must have finally come to the realization
that she was so much better than what she became… she had lost so much of what made
her legendary; her voice, that striking beauty and that unbelievable presence
that we the fans who adored her knew as just – Whitney!
Walk good my love
and continue to bless angels with that unmistakable voice you were blessed
with, until we meet again – ‘Saving all my love for you’!
Some Trending Tweets since Whitney’s passing
@Lgrandison Leethan
Grandison
I WILL ALWAYS
LOVE YOU. Thanks for being with us ONE MOMENT IN TIME. R.I.P Whitney Houston.
@VH1VH1
@CaroWozniacki Caroline Wozniacki
@LadyGagaAsian Lady Gaga
R.I.P Whitney
Houston -She was kind, sweet, wonderful, amazing, beautiful. A voice, a talent
& spirit that will forever remain incomparable
@MadonnaNation Madonna Nation
R.I.P. Whitney
Houston. We will always love you and never forget your voice. May the angels
protect you and sadness forget you.
Great post. Her body of work speaks for itself. She was a true legend and her voice was one for the ages. Sad to hear that such a beautifully talented soul has left the world.
ReplyDeleteA tremendous loss, indeed.