Whitney Houston, 1963-2012

by The Awl

“Within her context, there was never a singing star who shone as brightly as Whitney Houston. The run was shorter than almost every one of her competitors, but diva greatness is not a marathon, but rather, a shining example of the possibility of the human being. There will probably never be another Aretha — certainly, the Beyonce BORG and the militias of teenybopper chart-toppers seem to indicate the end of her era — but it’s probable that the never-to-be-famous next Aretha is singing in some church, somewhere. She exists but she simply will never be. Whitney, on the other hand, stretches what we can reasonably comprehend — how could we ever expect to see another with those pipes, that face, that knack for the moment, that personal drama, that incandescent potential?”