By Rom Watson
c. February 19, 2012
Few things are sadder than squandered potential. Whitney Houston is a recent example.
While channel surfing, I went to CNN and they were broadcasting her funeral. I immediately changed the channel, as I am not interested in funerals, either watching or attending. But it got me thinking about her, and I remembered the morning I realized she was a very good singer.
I had heard Saving All My Love For You on the radio and knew she could sing, but I never listened closely, with undivided attention, until one morning late in 1985 when my clock radio went off and I was too tired to get out of bed. I knew better than to push the “Snooze” button, so I lay there and let the music play. After a minute or two, Saving All My Love For You was played, and this time I really paid attention. Her vocal technique was excellent. I was very impressed. This girl could SING.
After thinking about Whitney Houston, my thoughts turned to Thelma Houston. (I was under the impression she was Whitney’s “Auntie Thelma,” but online research reveals they were not related.) Thelma Houston is famous for her recording of Don’t Leave Me This Way. It was her biggest hit, going to number one on the Billboard charts in 1977, and it won her a Grammy for Best Female R& B Vocal Performance. After the success of Don’t Leave Me This Way, the spotlight turned away and Thelma is sometimes referred to as a “one-hit-wonder.” However, she has recorded seventeen albums.
Personally, I prefer Thelma’s voice to Whitney’s, as I feel she has a warmer tone, a mellower sound. I also prefer Thelma’s story. Thelma Houston is in her sixties now, but she still sings great and she still looks great. She never let her gift diminish. She keeps working at what she loves. And isn’t that the definition of success? Continuing to pursue your art, continuing to do what you love, even though the spotlight may have turned away from you? Or even, in the case of Eva Cassidy, if the spotlight never turns its attention to you during your lifetime?
Eva Cassidy is a singer I admire who died of melanoma in 1996 at the age of 33. During her lifetime she appeared on an album of duets with Chuck Brown, and released one solo recording, Live at Blues Alley. Subsequent to her death, nine compilations of her recordings have been released. She was an amazing talent. Not only was she a great singer with a versatile voice, but she was also a songwriter, guitar player, arranger and visual artist. To quote the Washington Post, “she could sing anything — folk, blues, pop, jazz, R&B, gospel — and make it sound like it was the only music that mattered.”
Vincent Van Gogh painted many a still life of sunflowers, enough that they became tied to his artistry in the minds of many. Although he’s known to have not sold any of his paintings during his lifetime, in 1987 his Still Life: Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers sold at auction in London for more than thirty-nine million dollars.
Artistry gains in value over time, and Eva Cassidy’s recordings, like Van Gogh’s sunflowers, were eventually appreciated.
Whitney Houston will be appreciated not only for her accomplishments, but also as a cautionary tale. Ah well. We all have our demons.
So I will take inspiration not from Whitney but from Thelma and Eva and Vincent. I will aim to work at what I love with the same tenacity, regardless of how much attention, if any, is paid.