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Singer Whitney Houston dies at age 48 :(

Today's sad news reminded me of a strange occurence a decade ago while working on the assignment desk at WRAL-TV in Raleigh.

A woman called in claiming that she had heard on local R&B station WFXC that Ms. Houston had died of a drug overdose. The date of that call? September 11th, 2001. One of many strange calls we received that horrible day, but I was thankful there was nothing to it. Unfortunately, news of her passing is real this time.
 
She had fallen these past waning years and she was falling hard probably even longer.

"Cocaine is a helluva drug." - Rick James
 
That's odd as last night, a coworker was looking at a photo of her and saying how bad she looked. I said, she did look bad, but she looked better than she had in a long time.

At 48 it'd be unusual to have a heart attack but it could happen. Singer Laura Branigan died at 47 from a brain aneurysm. It's probably due to drugs or past drug use in some ways

As Lauren "Love Boat" Tewes said, "I know having money could buy me a lot of things, but I never thought it could kill me." (referring to her own drug use)
 
OK, Houston's SB 25 lipsynching was "one [very big] moment in time" for her on the telly. Since this thread is on National TV rather than OTA, what were her other big moments on the tube?

ixnay
 
Shortly before learning about her death, I was fast forwarding through her performance for "The Michael Jackson 30th Anniversary Celebration" as I considered making a DVD copy of the program (it was the original CBS broadcast from 2001).

FRR said:
They ought to take that worthless Bobby Brown and hang him up by his thumbs, or other body parts

No need to suggest threats in a public forum.
 
Mario-500 said:
Shortly before learning about her death, I was fast forwarding through her performance for "The Michael Jackson 30th Anniversary Celebration" as I considered making a DVD copy of the program (it was the original CBS broadcast from 2001).

FRR said:
They ought to take that worthless Bobby Brown and hang him up by his thumbs, or other body parts

No need to suggest threats in a public forum.

Right. And nobody has suggested that Bobby Brown had anything to do with Houston's death. Whatever responsibility he may have for being a bad influence on Whitney in the past - well, that may have been wrong but it's not a crime....and we don't string people up for being a**holes. Ultimately, we're all responsible for our our own lives. Brown is no more responsible for her addictions than McDonalds is for "making" people obese.
 
It's a co-dependency thing and I agree Brown had a part in it, but it's CO-dependency. If it was drug use, she played a part in her own demise. I still feel for her though.

It makes me angry 'cause it's a waste, just like Karen Carpenter's death was. Of course I believe all life has value, and both Carpenter and Houston had the money to seek good help.

It just goes to show you, money is nice, but in the end all of us, no matter what, all we have to look forward to is a pine box

RIP Whitney
 
Mark said:
It's a co-dependency thing and I agree Brown had a part in it, but it's CO-dependency. If it was drug use, she played a part in her own demise. I still feel for her though.

It makes me angry 'cause it's a waste, just like Karen Carpenter's death was. Of course I believe all life has value, and both Carpenter and Houston had the money to seek good help.

It just goes to show you, money is nice, but in the end all of us, no matter what, all we have to look forward to is a pine box

RIP Whitney

Oh, absolutely. I feel for Whitney, too. No judgment was implied by my statement. I've lost a couple of friends over the years - wonderful people - to drugs, and there was a time in my life that my judgment in regard to substances was less than stellar. 'There but for the grace of God'...and all that.
 
FRR said:
They ought to take that worthless Bobby Brown and hang him up by his thumbs, or other body parts

Come on we don't need phony righteous people from Westboro Church to protest at Houstons funeral! We heard this before from Westboro when John Edwards wife died but in the form of "God Hates USA" and "God hates gays".

Back to the original topic Whitney Houston was a great singer from the 1980's and 1990's. She had the best voice in the business and she had hits from "I believe in our future" and "I will always love you.". I know she was often compared to Diana Ross, and Aretha Franklin during her peak in the 1990's. But for the past 12 years her life went down the toilet based on what National Enquirer, TMZ and the Murdoch Tabloids said that Bobby Brown screwed her life. But whatever the truth is most of us who grew up in the 1980's and 1900's will remember her more as a singer for the 15 years of fame she had than a tabloid target of the last 12 years. Look I grew up in the 1990's and I only knew Michael Jackson as a tabloid target than a singer. My older cousins will always remember the first 20 years when Jackson was only seen as a singer and good image.
 
recto101 said:
But for the past 12 years her life went down the toilet based on what National Enquirer, TMZ and the Murdoch Tabloids said that Bobby Brown screwed her life.

Let's be honest about this: Houston screwed up her own life. Unless Bobby Brown held a gun to her head, nobody forced her to take illegal drugs or drink excessively.

The booze and drugs not only took a toll on Houston's physical appearance but destroyed that beautiful voice of hers.

Unfortunately this won't be the last time we will hear or read about the death or demise of an entertainer's career and life.
 
Mark said:
At 48 it'd be unusual to have a heart attack but it could happen. Singer Laura Branigan died at 47 from a brain aneurysm. It's probably due to drugs or past drug use in some ways
Please, let's not start any unfounded rumors here. I have never heard anything that would suggest that Branigan's death was drug-related.
 
ixnay said:
OK, Houston's SB 25 lipsynching was "one [very big] moment in time" for her on the telly. Since this thread is on National TV rather than OTA, what were her other big moments on the tube?
Any proof that it was lip-synched? Never heard that one before.

I saw some footage of an appearance on Merv Griffin's talk show, '85-ish. Also, some grammy appearances and the like. And of course, her videos were all over MTV and VH-1 back in the day.
 
FRR said:
They ought to take that worthless Bobby Brown and hang him up by his thumbs, or other body parts

Amen to that. Frankly I am amazed Whitney made it to 48. I saw some behind-the-scenes footage of
a concert tour she was on several years ago. She appeared to be high as a kite the entire time. They
introduced her to the Prime Minister of Israel and she seemed to have no idea who he was, or where she
was, or much of anything else. Very sad end to a beautiful and talented person.
 
Robnoxious said:
She had fallen these past waning years and she was falling hard probably even longer.

"Cocaine is a helluva drug." - Rick James

It's so eerie and ironic, but just about an hour and a half before the media announced Whitney Houston's death, I was watching an episode of Behind the Music on Rick James (and the Soul Train documentary just before that) that aired on VH1 Classic that afternoon. Whitney's substance abuse paled in comparsion to James', who was a known heavy drug user for more than a decade.

By the way, Bobby Brown was in Mississippi performing with his old group, New Edition, the night of her death...blaming him for her death is ignorant and ill-informed.
 
I first heard on NPR, which I had left on after "Car Talk". I was in another room and heard Jennffer Hudson had died.

A few minutes later I was on a computer, for a different reason, and saw the news on a site like this one.

If I hadn't gone to that site, there were all the online newspapers I look at each day to save time when I go to libraries and see those papers for real.

I'm :mad: at the paper I have home-delivered. The library I went to gets the final edition mailed. It had an obituary. Mine didn't because it is a higher priority to get it delivered on time than to give me the news I want! I hope I find the papers I have actually have something to keep. I paid for it, after all!

I later heard Jennifer Hudson was doing the Whitney Houston tribute at The Grammys. And THAT makes this about TV.
 
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