The death of Whitney Houston and the circumstances surrounding her passing is one that we see dished up by the entertainment business all too frequently.
A stunning vocal talent, with the ability to deliver a spine tingling performance as a whisper or a scream and anything in between, Whitney's greatness was never better underlined than by her ability to transcend America's old racial divide and cut through to the mainstream white audience.
Drugs are an 'accepted' part of the music scene, and music has done much to drive the drug culture in developed nations. Whether performance enhancing pharmaceuticals or illegal narcotics, drugs are seldom absent from the entertainment industry. Despite this, a perfect 1980s pop princess is not an obvious candidate for such a sad ending.
But drugs are not the whole story. The precise role of the' entourage' is often paradoxical; the consultants, advisers and other hangers on seem perfectly able to help the talent dispose of a fortune and then be quite incapable of preventing the death of the goose that lays the golden egg.
That said, how much is musical genius fueled by an appetite for chemical recreation? And how much is it intermeshed with the capacity for self-destruction? Whitney's end shares deep resonances with the demise of other such musical icons.
To the Houstons, Winehouses and Jacksons; the Joplins, Hendrixes and Morrisons; the Bolans, Kossoffs and Joneses; the Elvises, Hollidays, Parkers, and the countless others, thanks for the music.
Check out this report at Fox News that covers some of the background to Whitney Houston's death.
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