RIP Whitney Houson

What did she contribute? She sang some pretty songs with a pretty voice, but she didn't write the songs and she wasn't an innovator of any sort. Seems to me her songwriters contributed more than she did.

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that's what she 's contribute, sang with her good voice. she get paid for that... for 50 years

and yes, the songwriter did more and get paid up to 50 years after they're dead. but that doesn't make her any less unimportant

I think that she is made less important by the fact that she didn't write the songs. She was the replaceable part of the equation; any other talented singer could have sung them as well. In fact, some of her major hits were originally intended for other artists to sing, such as Janet Jackson.

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Are we seriously hatin' on a dead person right now? Really?
Are you that jealous of her?

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Everyday I'm tumblin'

Mostly I'm just tired of seeing/hearing about her everywhere when I don't consider her to have been that important in the first place.

Also, it shouldn't matter if a person is alive or dead when we critique their work and importance to their industry. We're all going to spend a lot more time dead than we will have alive.

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You still sound like you're just plain jealous.
As unimportant as her work may have been to you, this really isn't the thread to voice that out - and if she really wasn't that important to you, then you wouldn't comment on it in the first place.
Do you go to funerals and spout out random bullshit and/or criticize their lives?
She did what she did best and made a lot of money.
What have you done with your life?


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Everyday I'm tumblin'

wow apparently some people never even heard of whitney houston before o.o thats shocking...
anyway, her death was expected she hasnt been active for umm...10 years now? but i still feel a little sad
ive always loved "i will always love you"
her voice was powerful and perfect
rest in peace

whitney was known for her amazing voice. i find it a little silly to be so disappointed because she didn't write her own songs. there are plenty of artists out there that don't write their own songs. it doesn't make their songs or their careers any less significant.

and ditto with @sarah-eats-cupcakes, i was surprised to hear that some people haven't heard of her. she's pretty popular in the US, even if she hadn't been making any hit music lately.

1 less, only about 7 billion remaing...puh im getting worried now.

Yes, I agree with KaoriNite. Arguing that Whitney Houston was unimportant because she didn't write her own songs is like saying Luciano Pavarotti and Maria Callas were unimportant because they didn't write their own songs either. Just because she was a pop/gospel artist and not opera doesn't make her talent any less great.

That's the thing: no other singer could have performed her songs just as well. (Clive Davis mostly gave her crappy pop songs and she turned them into something memorable through her voice.) Few people will ever have her vocal range, and among those who do (like Mariah Carey and Christina Aguilera), none have the ability to put emotion in their songs and give the listener chills the way she did. Tony Bennett, in fact, credits her as possibly the greatest singer he's ever heard. And Whitney's version of the "Star Spangled Banner" at the 1991 Super Bowl is considered one of the greatest moments in American TV history. Just the performance:

http://youtu.be/5jeUINzHK9o

A discussion of the performance on Television's Greatest Moments:

http://youtu.be/Z1QmeEdFOSc

Furthermore, Whitney Houston was important for a lot more than just her incredible voice. Not only was her gospel style the direct inspiration for many of today's contemporary artists, but the success of Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson together opened doors for other black recording artists that had been previously closed to them. (Whitney's career was especially important to black women.) Culturally speaking, she broke down a lot of racial boundaries.

So while I do agree, Whitney's personal life was nothing to be celebrated (yes, it's true, drugs killed her voice and took away her career at least 10 years ago), acting like she wasn't a major talent and wasn't important to popular music or to American culture is ridiculous.

Personally, I'm not a pop fan and wasn't a huge fan of her music (though I am a fan of music and popular culture in general) and it's clear enough even to me why her career was important. Even if some of you don't agree, there is good reason why the music industry was so shaken by her passing.