Whitney Houston, a woman with one of the most recognizable singing voices in the music industry, was found dead in a Beverly Hilton hotel room on Wilshire Boulevard yesterday. At just 48 years old, her untimely end has sent shockwaves throughout the entire music industry and beyond, following in the unfortunate footsteps of so many other troubled superstars who fell victim to drug abuse.
Yet a majority of fans and admirers did not turn to pictures of Houston doing drugs or stumbling out of a restaurant upon hearing of her death. Facebook and Twitter witnessed a surge of traffic as thousands paid their respects. These were not messages of hatred, or judgment. Of course, there were a small percentage of insensitive commenters who felt compelled to criticize her addiction, but that was expected. Most messages were of sympathy and compassion, expressing sadness in the face of a death that could only be described as a tragedy.
Admittedly, Houston had her critics. She was a bad mother and an erratic performer toward the end of her short life. According to an article published in The New York Times, paparazzi and other onlookers crowded outside the hotel upon hearing the news and many couldn’t believe how a woman who once dominated the music world had fallen so far from grace. As of now, the cause of her death is unknown, but rumors are already circulating that substance abuse is a likely cause. Watching someone struggling with addiction in such a public domain is bad enough, and yet out of the millions who adored the troubled singer, not one managed to prevent her death.
Whitney Houston will always be remembered as a singer and entertainer first, and an addict second. Her voice first appeared in an album recorded and released in 1985, and will remain in the hearts and minds of many who survive her today. Houston’s troubled marriage to Bobby Brown, a Roxbury native, will certainly be a prevalent part of her legacy, but it will not dominate her music. She will be hailed as another example of our generation’s “fallen stars”; stars in music and film who got so engrossed in fame that a stable reality slipped further and further out of reach.
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