Whitney Houston, one of the greatest Americana voices ever, died last Saturday in a California hotel room during Grammy weekend. Houston was the biggest female star of the ’80′s and influenced countless singers. She released her last album in 2009 but after years of drug abuse she was never able to regain the stardom she once had. She had success as a teen model, singer and actress most notably in “The Bodyguard.” Her service is taking place right now at the New Hope Baptist Church in New Jersey. The latest reports indicated that she died of a drug overdose because she mixed the prescription drug Xanax and alcohol. Despite all of her singular achievements she is an Americana victim. The Clive Davis pre-Grammy party went on even though her dead body was in the building. The blogs kept on trashing her until the day she died. And it’s obvious that she had no-good doctors giving her Big Pharma scripts that an addict didn’t need. Her family wouldn’t even give her a public memorial to allow the fans to say goodbye. Whitney Houston was gifted with a great talent and a wonderful career. But when she fell on hard times the media bashed her and to this day they still blame Bobby Brown for her problems. The music industry, assorted leeches, an incomplete spirituality and her own poor judgement killed her. Whitney Houston is truly a victim of Americana but her voice will live forever.
