Whitney HOUSTON

Phenomenal and powerful, Whitney Houston’s voice was her ticket to the history books. But the 10th anniversary of her death is a haunting reminder of the dark side that comes with global adoration.

- Amy Nelmes Bissett

You could hear it a few blocks away. A crowd of hundreds softly singing “I Will Always Love You” in unison. They sang as they walked through the streets of Leimert Park in Los Angeles, tears slipping down their faces and candles held in both hands. Many wore T-shirts emblazoned with the face of the woman who had just lost her life. At intersections, pop-up memorials were filled with teddy bears, red roses and framed posters all lit by hundreds of candles.

Whitney Houston was once described as having the voice of God, a voice too great to simply be an angel’s. And just days after her shocking death at only 48 years of age on February 11, 2012, that vigil, one of many around the world, signified the immense reach of her incredible voice. In the crowd, there were children as young as three and women as old as 80, singing her hits and emulating her dance moves, unified in the knowledge that her death was nothing short of tragic.

Houston was found in the bathtub of her Beverly Hills hotel room, her drowning death contributed to by a heart condition and her cocaine use. It was a climactic end to the roller-coaster journey that had become her life. Houston had climbed to the heady heights of global success, something very few achieve. There had been more than 200 million records sold, more consecutive #1 hits than the Beatles, 1.66 million concert tickets snapped up by fans. But in a tragic decline, Houston plummeted to the depths of drug addiction and her life unravelled just as fast as it had ascended.