Crack is wack

 

Whitney Houston had it all the way very few artists ever did: she was strikingly beautiful, she was an outstanding actress — and she was an otherworldly singer. Elvis was good looking and a great singer, however he did not fare as well when it came the film industry (the same could be said about The Beatles, by the way). Michael Jackson — pretty much the same story, with a bit of a caveat: although Jackson’s voice was undoubtedly unique, it may not have been as formally spectacular as Houston’s, but he could arguably dance better than she did, so there was that. Madonna, meanwhile, had the looks, some acting chops — although nowhere near Houston’s — but clearly didn’t possess the same vocal skills…

The list goes on, and simply goes to show one thing over and over again: there was rarely a talent so incredibly powerful as Whitney Houston’s. We all remember her biggest songs: “Saving All My Love For You” (from her very first album), “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)”, “I Have Nothing”, “My Love Is Your Love”, the Mariah Carey duet “When You Believe”… and, of course, the Dolly Parton cover she so completely made her own, “I Will Always Love You”, taken from the same Bodyguard soundtrack as “I Have Nothing” and “Run To You” among other hits. Bodyguard, by the way, also happened to be her acting debut, the film being about as historically successful as its soundtrack. And then there’s her 1991 Super Bowl rendition of the Star Spangled Banner which ranks up there with Hendrix’s guitar homage…

However, in the late 1990’s, Whitney Houston’s behavior — and appearance — started to noticeably change. Her relationship with (then-)husband and singer Bobby Brown was often commented on in the press, usually negatively. Although Brown’s career never reached Houston’s heights, he was an original member of the highly successful band New Edition — until he was voted out. There has been a lot of speculation as to the feelings one might have had about the other: what we know for a fact is that their relationship was quite volatile and that Brown was no stranger to drugs. Houston eventually confessed to using some herself, although famously denying in a 2002 interview that she ever took crack cocaine, which had become a core societal issue by then. She did that by citing Keith Haring’s famous line “Crack is wack”, even though many people believed that she had indeed fallen prey to that very drug…

Again, let us not try to investigate this highly sensitive — and utterly tragic — topic here. What we know is this: while Houston’s 2009 comeback album I Look To You was quite successful, the singer kept on behaving erratically and the follow-up tour that she undertook was marred with rescheduled and/or poorly received shows. On February 11th 2012, she was found unconscious in a hotel room bathtub. The cause of death, which became public later, referenced several drugs that had been found in her system. And the world mourned the loss of a major talent: however sadly Whitney Houston’s life ended, let us never forget how tremendous her work was — and how much it lives on to this day…