Its funny how things effect you. Waking up sunday to find that Whitney Houston had died just left me with a particular sad feeling. I currently don't own any Whitney stuff and i don't listen to any of her material (unless it appears on a radio) but that was not the case 20 years ago.
I wouldn't say that back then i was a massive Whitney fan or anything but her anthemic songs and pitch perfect vocals ran deep in the sand of my teenage years. Didn't we all grab a hairbrush and screech out those high notes imagining for a moment that we shared in her incredible gift and talent. Those boppy numbers like 'I wanna dance with somebody' had us all up dancing in our white stilhettos at the youth club disco and those wonderful ballads sent boys and girls alike flying to the safety of the wall at opposite sides of the hall waiting for someone to make the first move.
I heard someone on the radio talking about Whitney's roots and how she came from a gospel background, singing in church and dazzling the congregation. They probably knew back then that she wouldn't stay, that greatness was calling her. That in fact maybe if she had of stayed she may have been spared the crushing unhappiness that seemed to slowly snuff out her life glow.
I remembered seeing this film a long time ago (probably if im honest because Denzel Washington was in it!) and thinking those songs that she sang as the leader of a gospel choir were so uplifting that just being in that church would have lifted your soul and sent it soaring round the chapel with her astounding voice.
see if you can clock the serious A lister who appears towards the end 🙂