Whitney Houston

**Jazz Is All** · 02-14-2012, 10:59 AM

Another truly great talent succumbs to "Charlie Parker disease."

Yes it is tragic, but Bird is the wrong role model, wrong genre and wrong gender. He was never world famous, didn't sell millions of records and never made any money. The exemplars for Whitney were Edith Piaf and Judy Garland. Both were world famous divas whose troubled personal lives and abuse of alcohol and barbituates led to their deaths at almost the same early age: Garland was 47 and Piaf was 48. Both of their careers were seriously marred by the physical toll that their habits had on their bodies. Piaf actually died of liver cancer and Garland had advanced cirrhosis at the time of her barbituate-induced death. I could be wrong, but I wouldn't be surprised if the autopsy shows Whitney to have had a compromised liver as well, although that presumably wasn't the immediate cause of her death.

You'd think that by now everyone would know that mixing pills and alcohol is really really dangerous, but obviously not. It's not just because it can easily result in accidental death--which is what it appears happened to Whitney, like to so many others--but because the combination wreaks double hell on the liver. If you look at the cause of death of many famous people who abused alcohol and drugs, some form of liver disease was involved in the decline of their health, if not the outright cause of their deaths. However you are right, this is definitely the same old sad song with just a different singer interpreting it.

**sideC** · 02-14-2012, 03:32 PM

Charlie Parker was and is world famous. His likeness is on paper currency in Belgium. There are saxophone players all over the word playing in his style. And it doesn't matter to me what caused the death of Whitney Houston. The fact is that she left us way to soon and took with her a talent that won't soon be replaced. R.I.P. Whitney Houston.

**xax** · 02-14-2012, 05:13 PM

This news pisssed me off...it's always the talent that pays the price while the corporate leeche$ roll on, fatt as ever!

**Dr G** · 02-14-2012, 05:21 PM

Originally Posted by xax

This news pisssed me off...it's always the talent that pays the price while the corporate leeche$ roll on, fatt as ever!

Be pissed off at the drug culture.

**xax** · 02-14-2012, 06:15 PM

Alcohol...? illegal drugs?.......prescription drugs?.......

**scargo** · 02-14-2012, 06:21 PM

She was an icon of our times. In her prime, she not only represented talent and artistry, nearly everyone either wanted to be like her or be classy enough to be seen with her. She had sooo much class until she let her life go downhill (her chosen associations didn't help). Such a tragic loss to us all but most especially to her family. RIP Whitney.

**Dr G** · 02-14-2012, 06:23 PM

Originally Posted by xax

Alcohol...? illegal drugs?.......prescription drugs?.......

Any combination of the above. Whether she was using or abusing or just being social, the bottom line is that people wear out faster in that lifestyle.

Even if a successful graduate of rehab, the damage is done on the heart and other vital organs.

**Jazz Is All** · 02-14-2012, 06:50 PM

Charlie Parker was and is world famous. His likeness is on paper currency in Belgium. There are saxophone players all over the word playing in his style. And it doesn't matter to me what caused the death of Whitney Houston. The fact is that she left us way to soon and took with her a talent that won't soon be replaced. R.I.P. Whitney Houston.

I was only responding to the previous post which presented Bird as the bench mark for famous performers who destroy themselves through alcohol and drug abuse. Since he was neither the first nor will be the last I find it paints jazz musicians unfairly and only wanted to point out that her case is more like that of those two, non-jazz, Divas. Yes Bird was famous to jazz fans, and it's great that he is honored in Belgium (unlike the USA), but unfortunately he had nothing like the popular name recognition of numerous pop-stars, among them Whitney Houston. However, that doesn't make much difference since all died senselessly and needlessly early, squandering an enormous amount of as yet untapped creativity.

Futhermore, I have to disagree with your feeling about it not mattering what caused her death. It's not just because of the tragedy of it all, but also because as a star, like it or not, she was a role model for millions of young people who might think that living like that is cool and what making music is all about. I'm sorry but drug and alcohol abuse are not cool, and not what music and show business should lead one to as a lifestyle. Maybe if more people cared, similar deaths could be prevented.

As it is, the fact that every year at least one person in show business dies due to drug and alcohol abuse is something that needs to be actively prevented somehow. Amy Winehouse, Heath Ledger, Michael Jackson, River Phoenix, John Belushi, Janis Joplin, etc. etc. etc. how many more do there have to be? I know that you can't save people from themselves, but perhaps if people saw what the face of a dead star looked like instead of their publicity stills they might wake up to the fact that there are real human beings that need help behind those personnas, not just talents to be awed by and fawned over.

Case in point:

The fantasy:

Compared to:

The reality of what drugs can do: (warning, may be unpleasant to some.)

http://deadcelebsbook.com/blog/files...g1-300x196.jpg