Whitney, Diet Coke and Me

Like millions of people around the world, I'm in disbelief that Whitney Houston is gone. Just the other day while standing in line at the grocery store scanning the tabloids, Whitney was on the cover of more than one for the alleged return of her drug woes.

Like many from the 80's, I was a huge Whitney Houston fan. I was just a teen the first time I heard "Saving All my Love for You" on the radio. It was hair-raising and phenomenal and there was nothing else like it on the radio at that time. Prior to that song, I knew at that young age that I liked music. Hearing that song, made me LOVE music.

I remember around that time that Diet Coke was doing this contest where if you looked on the inside of the bottle cap, the little rubber thingy came out to reveal a win or no win. If it was a win, you had to dial the toll free number for a chance to win concert tickets. I remember buying endless bottles of pop, then going to the lobby of the hotel in town to use the payphones to try and win. Never did I get anything but that stupid busy signal. I must have spent every penny of my allowance on Diet Cokes for that shot to see her show. I suspect Whitney is the reason I'm a DC addict to this day.

There'll be much fodder and speculation over the next few weeks about Whitney's battle with drugs ultimately costing her life and many fingers pointing at Bobby Brown for leading her down the path of destruction. I recently watched a biography on Ricky Martin. He said something that struck me as sad. He said "I have all these millions of fans around the world, but I can count on 3 fingers the number of good, close friends I have and trust". I think Whitney was a lonely, lost soul looking to "friends" for comfort. Her friends were drugs unfortunately. And they were never very good friends to her. I think many of us are sad for her loss, but also sad because we were really rooting for her to kick those friends to the curb one day, and she just couldn't quite finish the job.

In 2009, Whitney made her comeback with the cd "I Look To You". Below, my favourite song from that cd that was Whitney to the core. Rich, soulful vocals that wrap around every word like melting butter on popcorn. In light of her death, the words hit home a little more today than they did two days ago. And the end...what we call a cold ending in the business combined with those final words, pretty much a metaphor for Whitney's life.

RIP Ms. Houston. May you find your "true" friends in heaven.