1963 - 2012

On so many levels this is really, really sad. There's no need to write anything here about her talent, Bobby Brown, her comeback tour, her rehabilitation and so on etcetera as all of this will doubtless be hashed out and re-hashed and examined for the next, oh let's say, four or five weeks by writers way more eloquent and knowledgeable than me. But I would like to add this: as an artist and as a woman, Whitney Houston was a f-o-r-c-e. She is the only female artist to have two number one Top Billboard 200 Album awards, her first release in 1985 became the best selling debut album by a woman at the time of its release. Her second album in 1987 became the first by a female artist to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 charts. 'I Will Always Love You' is the best selling single by a female artist. Ever!

Actually, I'll also say this: it sucks that yet another legendary musician has been wasted and destroyed by their own fucked up decisions. She was 48, Whitney Houston doesn't need to be dead right now.