The Greatest Voice of All, Whitney Houston, is Silenced

EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK, SAN BERNARDINO, CA – America’s greatest singer of all time, Whitney Elizabeth Houston, was born on August 29, 1963, of parents John Houston and Cissy Houston. Ms. Houston died last Saturday, February 11, 2012 in her hotel room in Beverly Hills, CA. She started singing at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark as a child, and professionally as a young teenager in 1977, and Whitney Houston went on to break all records for single female performing artists. She not only wowed her contemporaries, she resonated with children and teens, and won the respect of the industry’s top veteran artists. Tony Bennett said Whitney Houston “was the best singer he had ever heard.” Her father served as her manager for many years, and her mother is a renowned gospel singer. Her debut album “Whitney Houston” (1985) was the bestselling album in both the U.S. and Canada for the entire decade of the 1980’s, was Rolling Stone Magazines’ Best Album of 1986, and became the first album by a female artist to earn the-10-times platinum mark. Whitney as also the only music artist to chart seven consecutive No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hits (“Saving All My Love for You”, “How Will I Know”, “Greatest Love of All”, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)”, “Didn’t We Almost Have It All”, “So Emotional” and “Where Do Broken Hearts Go”). She is the second artist behind Elton John and the ONLY female artist to have two number-one Billboard 200 Album awards, earning 30 Billboard awards and 99 Record Industry Awards (RIAA) for topping the sales charts throughout her career. Whitney Houston’s glorious rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner,” performed in 1991 at Super Bowl XXV is the only recorded version of the national anthem to be certified platinum, and it raised millions for the victims of the 9/11tragedy. Her famous “How Will I Know” video won MTV’s best female video, and her “I Wanna Dance” video and single were nominated and remains one of the most viewed videos of all time. In addition to top sales, Whitney continued to garner critical awards and accolades throughout her career, winning over 415 awards out of over 500 nominations, including an Emmy, six Grammys, 22 American Music Awards, 7 Soul Train Music Awards. Her fan base was enormous and international, and Whitney also won six People’s Choice Awards, and 16 NAACP Image awards, and was awarded the World Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement, and Performer of the Century by the RIAA, and both American and Europe MTV Awards. In addition to her videos and taped liver performances, Whitney made four films in her career: “The Bodyguard” which topped international sales and whose soundtrack broke all records including songs such as the exquisite “I Will Always Love You”, “I’m Every Woman, and “I Have Nothing; “The Preacher’s Wife” which also topped gospel charts and won NARM, Essence, Blockbuster, and Kids Choice awards; and her songs for “Waiting To Exhale” (Exhale (Shoop Shoop) won a Grammy, American Music, Soul Train, People’s Choice, and NARM awards; and her last film (as yet unreleased) “Sparkle” in which she both starred and served as executive producer. Whitney is survived by her mother Thelma, her brother Gary, her daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown, and her ex-husband Bobby Brown. Private Funeral services will be held in her hometown of Newark New Jersey, where she was idolized as the hometown ‘Jersey Girl” and where her image has been emblazoned on the face of the city’s Prudential Center since news of her death. She was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2006. Her family will hold private services for her at her childhood church, New Hope Baptist Church, on Saturday, February 18, 2012. Whitney Houston gave us her many gifts: her art, her joy, her laughter, her smile, her beauty, and most of all her incomparable soaring voice that did not require ‘surround sound’ technology. The saddest thing next to losing her, is the fact that she may not have ever found what she was searching for, and no matter how we loved her, we could not give back to her by helping her find it. I for one will never listen to the lines from “Greatest Love of All” as she sang “I never found anyone who fulfilled my needs…A lonely place to be,” without thinking of what her internal struggles may have been. No matter what the tabloids write, no matter what parasites and ‘haters’ crawl out from under their mucky rocks, the only one who can truly ‘tell all’ is no longer with us to speak for herself. However, in this ‘One Moment in Time,’ Whitney is truly free from the issues that prevented her from conquering the issues (and cruelties) that plagued her, and is at rest with Jesus and her father. As for her heartbroken family, friends and millions of fans who loved her greatly, we held out our hearts open and hopes up for Whitney, that she would finally reach deep inside and find her path to the greatest love, because “Learning to Love Yourself is the Greatest Love of All.” (Lita Pezant, WSSN 2-16-12)