I was at a party Saturday night when a friend announced Whitney Houston had died. 

In this age of social networking it’s pretty easy for some hoax to go viral and get a bit carried away.  I chalked it up to another one of those hoaxes and continued on with my evening.

Genuine shock weighed on my face the next morning when I read that the news was true.  I don’t have any Whitney Houston albums, but growing up in the MTV era coinciding with Whitney’s meteoric rise to fame, it’s hard to not think we grew up with her.  For a long time Whitney was everywhere and sometimes you couldn’t avoid her.

Speculation is rampant regarding the details of her passing, but I’m not here to speculate.  The fact is, the woman had jaw-dropping pipes few could compare to.  Given all the flashbacks of Houston’s videos and performances over the last 36 hours or so, another thing struck me (and probably is the biggest reason everyone was rooting for her), in every performance or video, she gave it her, looking like she had won the lottery every single time she sang.  She not only inspired people to sing with her gifted voice, she made it look like she was having the best time doing so, and totally effortlessly.

Her first hit came with “You Give Good Love” in 1985 which only hinted at how this woman would impact the music industry.  Strikingly beautiful, Whitney delivered a simple beautiful song and made spines tingle with that voice.  From there she would chalk up seven number one songs in a row, and this is before her cover of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” broke all sorts of records.  She simply made the song her own and I’m sure the majority of people were surprised to hear this was a Parton song.

How many others can say they put the national anthem into the upper reaches of the charts?  Watch the clip of her singing it at the Super Bowl.  Clearly she is overjoyed and both her voice and that enthusiasm radiate throughout the stadium.

While fingers point as to what brought this woman down, let’s not lose sight of the fact Whitney truly loved music and performing for her fans.  This love crossed boundaries making this all the more tragic.

We’ve lost some of music’s most infamous female voices over the past year; Amy Winehouse, Cesaria Evora, Etta James and, now, Whitney Houston.  The world is a sad and quieter place for it.  Whitney, when you sang “The Greatest Love of All”, you sang of learning to love yourself as the greatest love.  While I was never in your inner circle, it seems your love for your family and fans prevented you from loving yourself the way we did.  The world has lost one of its greatest voices in you, but I hope you’re warming up one amazing choir in that special place we’ve all been dreaming of.  May you rest in peace.

My Whitney Houston highlights;

The Star Spangled Banner – not only does she tackle this difficult song, she nails it and can you see anyone having a better time doing so than her?

The Greatest Love of All – A beautiful empowering song.

I Will Always Love You – probably what she will be remembered for and with good reason.

How Will I Know – okay the song is a bit dated, but who doesn’t want to be in this video?  It’s the greatest 80s party!