Unless you’ve not had the television on this past weekend, read the newspaper, or caught up on the latest news via your favourite online source, by now you will have heard that one of the greatest voices of our generation, has been forever silenced. Recording artist, actress, and producer, Whitney Houston, passed away in Los Angeles on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012.
Houston’s passing, on the eve of the biggest party of the year for the music industry—the 54th annual Grammy Awards—is yet another reminder of the price of fame. On Saturday night, one of the commentators on a news channel, I can’t remember which anymore, poignantly stated that for a singer who had such effortless control over her vocals, she had such little control over her personal life.
During the mid 80s and the 90s, Houston enjoyed an incredible success, which significantly contributed to her overall numbers of 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, and 22 American Music Awards. These are just 58 of the 415 career awards she had won as of 2010.¹
On November 3, 1992, I Will Always Love You was released. This remake of a country song originally penned by Dolly Parton, would become one of Whitney Houston’s signature tunes. The song was recorded for the soundtrack of the movie The Bodyguard, starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner.
I Will Always Love You would go on to win Houston a boatload of awards, including Record of the Year, and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female, at the 1994 Grammy Awards.² The song features a sax solo by Kirk Whalum. Whalum did a lot of work with Houston over the years. He also toured with her as an opening act.³
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may she rest in peace,a loss to everyone not just the music world.how many more?
Yes, that was the sentiment of Tony Bennett on Saturday as well. It seems to me he wasn’t yet over the death of Amy Winehouse—he had done a duet with her not too long before her death.
How are you doing Sam? I’m doing alright. I’m tired, but that’s pretty normal nowadays. We’re in the homestretch of the move. We’ll be putting our old house up for sale in the next couple of months. The basement is now fully restored with new flooring and a hot water tank. It’s now a matter of sorting the remainder of the things at both houses, combining the remainder of the things together, and disposing of all the things we don’t need/want/have room for as we go along. I figure by the end of summer we might be all done with everything.