who I love: whitney houston

The world is devastated, no doubt by the loss of a music goddess, Whitney Houston, whom I consider the Beyonce or Jennifer Hudson of my day. With her all-powerful voice, strong beautiful presence, and fierce attitude this woman rocked us to the core with songs like "I Have Nothing," that when belted, made us feel more alive and definitely, understood. Not to mention songs like "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" that made us feel like doing just that!

Photo credit: Rolling Out

Among other favorites, I remember "I Will Always Love You," from The Bodyguard, a movie I never tired of watching, even 20 years after it's debut. It's not too often a singer can crossover into Hollywood and be successful, but I believed in the love between Kevin Costner and Whitney. She was just that good!

And even her recent works, "I Look to You," which included a few recent favorites like "Million Dollar Bill" and "Didn't Know My Own Strength," doubled us over in awe of a voice so powerful and lyrics so moving that we thought nothing - not even death - could ever take away that voice away. Now that it is gone, I'm sad that circumstances didn't allow us to celebrate this woman's achievements - as many as there were - a lot sooner, or at least more often and in her presence. It's undeniably heartbreaking to see another great artist silenced by causes that could have most certainly been avoided.

This week who I love is a woman who we all loved, Whitney Houston.