Whitney Houston (1963-2012)

[my chicken is infected]

Very late, but I'm bored and looking through old posts, and found this.

Her death pretty much gutted me. Today I'd name Dolly Parton and Celine Dion as my favorite female singers, but before either one of them, it was Whitney Houston. In fact, she was my first favorite female singer. I got a used copy of The Bodyguard soundtrack on cassette tape in '93 and pretty much played it to death. I've seen most of her films multiple times, with Cinderella being my favorite. I've said many times over the years that in her prime, nobody could touch her voice.

Even now, I can't go a week without listening to her. Her range and lung power may have diminished over the years, but her phrasing was impeccable and you could always hear joy in her, whether she gave the most angelic and flawless vocal performance or in her last recordings for Sparkle.

On a funnier note, I found myself cheering myself up after her death by going on YouTube and watching parodies - mostly Mad TV parodies. Many people have parodied her over the years, including a so-so one by the otherwise amazing Maya Rudolph on SNL. But only two come to mind as not only making fun of her, but also paying tribute to her and doing it pretty much spot-on - Debra Wilson on Mad TV and Twitter user @JamaalDPittman for the Got 2B Real YouTube series, which takes footage of R&B female singers such as Patti LaBelle, a favorite of the show's creator, Aretha, Whitney, Mariah, Rihanna, Beyonce, Dionne, Chaka, and others, and adds some hellaciously funny and acidic voiceovers for a wicked, shadetastic good time. It definitely helped me not be so sad about her passing, because I got to laugh with Whitney - even if it was someone else emulating her in a comic fashion.

[Disney's Divinity]

I just read that her daughter, Bobbi Kristina, had been found unresponsive in a bathtub yesterday. At first, I'd heard that she was breathing, but now they're saying she's in a medically-induced coma. Some are saying the similarity between this and what happened with Whitney indicates it could possibly have been a suicide attempt, but no details are confirmed. I'm really hoping she can make it through whatever's happening.