Whitney Houston, superstar of records, films, dies

[RFKHumphreyObama]

161. This hurts

I grew up with Whitney's music and loved what I heard of it. I remember my cousin singing "The Greatest Love Of All" at the Diamond Wedding Anniversary for my grandparents in 1990. And of course I remember her in the Bodyguard. I had rediscovered her in recent years -or more accurately -rediscovered my old favorite songs of her that she recorded in the 1980s.

It's so sad. Recently I've been watching videos of her in the 1980s and early 1990s on YouTube. She was so beautiful with the voice of an angel and she sounded like a really nice, sweet, genuine person with so much potential and a great future ahead of her. And then she got involved with that loser Bobby Brown and succumbed to his pathetic low-life lifestyle with his drug abuse and domestic violence record and she got sucked in. Her life from then on seemed to be one of consistent tragedy. In a sense, it feels all the more painful because she failed to take the advice she had given her listeners in "The Greatest Love of All" about learning to love yourself. She didn't take care of herself, made some awful choices in life and paid a very bitter price.

I was elated when she broke up with Bobby Brown -I thought it was long overdue and the best thing she could have done for herself. Even though the damage had been done, I was hoping that she would be able to pull herself up and live a happy and fulfilling and successful life. I was really hoping there would be a happy ending. It's so unbelievably sad to think of how much she lost in life

Rest in peace Whitney. You are loved and missed and I pray now that you have the peace and happiness, wherever you are, that you lost in life. Thanks for your music -it spoke to my soul and it's beauty and quality will be her legacy.