Whitney Houston: Rest in peace

Having the voice of an angel should not be a curse. But it seems the demons that plagued Whitney Houston’s personal life finally took their toll. Like many troubled stars before her, she was found dead in her hotel room.

At the height of her fame during the late 1980’s and early 1990's, nobody came close to a silky smooth voice that could do almost anything. Her first album sold 25 million copies with number one hits all around the world. Her second album was equally successful with perhaps her most famous song of all, ‘I wanna dance with somebody’. In her film The Bodyguard, in which the lead role was earmarked for Madonna to play, Houston received plaudits for both acting and her singing.

But it seemed her marriage to then bad boy Bobby Brown, led her on a downward spiral which ultimately claimed her life. Of course it would be far too easy to blame Brown, but as individuals, we ultimately must take responsibility for our own actions.

For her fans, particularly in the Black community, it was particularly painful to watch a mother and someone so talented, be seen in those infamous pictures being arrested, dishevelled, unable to find a way out of her very public slow motion ‘train crash’.

We must hope that after we rightly pay tribute to a ‘sister of soul’ who gave us all so much pleasure, that we engage better in a debate about drug addiction as an illness, not some trendy lifestyle choice. As we have seen already in the past year with Amy Whinehouse, the way addiction crushed the talent and soul it is anything but trendy.

But right now Whitney, voice of an angel, we all hope and pray you can rest in peace.

Simon Woolley