Whitney Houston was the first black woman I wanted to be like....

[Anonymous]

As a little white Irish girl, living among mostly Italians, Polish, and Irish....Whitney rocked my world. I was in awe of her and it sounds corny, but she changed what I thought of AA's....not b/c I thought anything bad before, I just had so little to go on. Whitney was a goddess...I had posters and magazines and so did all my little white friends. There was Michael...but Whitney was so beautiful and her voice was simply the best.

I think she did that for a lot of young white America. Maybe, maybe not. But I idolized her, tried to sing like her, dress like her, everything. And when she was kissing Costner on a screen, that was a big deal for my generation (I am 35)....and I am sorry her life could not match her amazing talent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a little white Irish girl, living among mostly Italians, Polish, and Irish....Whitney rocked my world. I was in awe of her and it sounds corny, but she changed what I thought of AA's....not b/c I thought anything bad before, I just had so little to go on. Whitney was a goddess...I had posters and magazines and so did all my little white friends. There was Michael...but Whitney was so beautiful and her voice was simply the best.

I think she did that for a lot of young white America. Maybe, maybe not. But I idolized her, tried to sing like her, dress like her, everything. And when she was kissing Costner on a screen, that was a big deal for my generation (I am 35)....and I am sorry her life could not match her amazing talent.

She was a sacrifice for the Grammys.

[Anonymous]

ouch PP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ouch PP

It's true.

what of this?

Michael Jackson - gone before the 2009 BET awards

Amy Winehouse- dead before the MTV awards

And now Whitney - dead days before the Grammy Awards

coincidence?

I feel sorry for Whitney - and the rest, as they're all just pawns in this sick "business."

[Anonymous]

OP, I agree. I remember her first from her modeling days at Seventeen. She was so beautiful and it seemed like she was in every issue and often on the cover. I remember loving to read her interviews in that magazine as well. She was such a great role model back in the 80s and then she went on to sing with that magnificent voice. It does seem like her life went straight downhill when she met Bobby Brown but perhaps she was already doing drugs by then. As always, drugs, especially coke, were so prevalent in the modeling/music scene.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a little white Irish girl, living among mostly Italians, Polish, and Irish....Whitney rocked my world. I was in awe of her and it sounds corny, but she changed what I thought of AA's....not b/c I thought anything bad before, I just had so little to go on. Whitney was a goddess...I had posters and magazines and so did all my little white friends. There was Michael...but Whitney was so beautiful and her voice was simply the best.

I think she did that for a lot of young white America. Maybe, maybe not. But I idolized her, tried to sing like her, dress like her, everything. And when she was kissing Costner on a screen, that was a big deal for my generation (I am 35)....and I am sorry her life could not match her amazing talent.

Ugh, sad that she changed your views on AA's. Now you think all AA's are crackheads....

I laugh at that quote. Whitney was a crackhead. Whitney's husband is a crackhead. Whitneys daughter is following in their footsteps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I agree. I remember her first from her modeling days at Seventeen. She was so beautiful and it seemed like she was in every issue and often on the cover. I remember loving to read her interviews in that magazine as well. She was such a great role model back in the 80s and then she went on to sing with that magnificent voice. It does seem like her life went straight downhill when she met Bobby Brown but perhaps she was already doing drugs by then. As always, drugs, especially coke, were so prevalent in the modeling/music scene.

Apparently that was the case from the bios I've seen/read about her, the problems were just magnified when she got with Bobby Brown (who had issues of his own).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ouch PP

It's true.

what of this?

Michael Jackson - gone before the 2009 BET awards

Amy Winehouse- dead before the MTV awards

And now Whitney - dead days before the Grammy Awards

coincidence?

I feel sorry for Whitney - and the rest, as they're all just pawns in this sick "business."

Yes. Definitely a conspiracy. Absolutely nothing to do with all of the drugs and alcohol they were pumping into their bodies.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I loved Whitney also, from the time I saw her in Seventeen. I'm white too FWIW.

[Anonymous]

The whole premise of this thread is vaguely insulting ... like no. AA woman was worthy to be admired before she came along. I get the sentiment of the OP, just wish the tagline wasn't so worded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: The whole premise of this thread is vaguely insulting ... like no. AA woman was worthy to be admired before she came along. I get the sentiment of the OP, just wish the tagline wasn't so worded.

Yes, I feel the same. It's kind of weird but when I read the post I got it. Whitney was very "cute" and non-sexy when she first came out. Kind of like a white girl persona as opposed to Tina Turner or Diana Ross, for example, who were earthy and sexy (TT) or glam ice queen (DR).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: The whole premise of this thread is vaguely insulting ... like no. AA woman was worthy to be admired before she came along. I get the sentiment of the OP, just wish the tagline wasn't so worded.

I can't speak for the entire Negro Community™, but I am AA and didn't find it insulting. Yes, the OP's view was a simple one, but she was what, ten years old or younger? Don't most kids perceive the world in simple ways?

And the OP didn't say no black woman was worthy of admiration before Whitney Houston, just that she (OP) had very little exposure to black people and Whitney positively influenced her perception of black people.

[Anonymous]

AA woman here and I don't find it insulting. I think what makes it all of this so disturbing is that Whitney was completely packaged and marketed to us - but she wasn't her TRUE self. When she married BB that's when I knew she wasn't like me.

I was really rooting for her to get herself together but I guess she just couldn't overcome it.

Her voice though - seriously amazing.

[Anonymous]

OP here, I knew that, no matter how I worded it, it was going to come out kind of weird...but I appreciate that some posters understand from where I am coming.

I saw and listened to other black artists (as my parents did), but I was a true FAN of Whitney...good or bad, she was a real cross-over artist (race-wise). Maybe this is a bad thing (inauthentic?), I don't know...but I had never heard a voice like hers before.

I have rooted for her ever since. Wanted her to come back, sing again, get better, get well...

Anyway, I think a lot of little girls (white and black) born in the 70's were wowed by Whitney.

[Anonymous]

I hope people come to realize that this is what domestic violence can be like. Self-medicating to dull the pain that someone in inflicting on you and then look, you're a drug addict! You must be crazy and a terrible mother to boot! This is happening all over the country, where domestic violence has such a ripple effect on someone's life, and then it becomes easy to just label them a drug abuser/mentally ill/alcoholic, whatever.