VOICES

She was stunning. Youthful.  Gifted.  

When she stood regally, breathed deeply, and began singing of love or heartbreak, the angels above surely disobeyed the 10th commandment before verse ever became bridge.

    
I suspect I can still recite the lyrics to many of her songs, even though I haven’t listened to them in 25 years. I even remember the afternoon I phoned my best gal pal and played a few bars of a fabulous new Whitney song for her (note: I did that by holding the big clunky telephone receiver up to the radio.) 

Best friend listened for one phrase, then screamed over the phone line, “Is that you singing?”

I laughed out loud at the absurdity of such a question. But I was silently thinking, “Don’t. I. Wish!”

What teen didn’t wish to be Whitney Houston back in the day when, unbeknownst to all of us, the gospel choir girl's manufactured, pristinely packaged image was being peddled to all of us wannabes who would listen to her voice, then rush to buy her albums, and every magazine graced with her gorgeousness.

News of Whitney Houston’s untimely death this past weekend was mostly shocking because it was not. Shocking.

 
For decades we’ve been inundated with scandalous images and information about Houston’s lifestyle, marriage and drug dependency.  Her TV reality show and interviews left fans close to certain that we'd been duped by MTV and Sony Music all along. Was the title of Houston’s story to be: “Promising good girl ruined by series of terrible, momentous choices?” Or “Crazy-talented, impossibly-perfect-good-girl was never so perfect, or good, after all?”

Whitney Houston had a remarkable, transcendent talent.  Her voice was a gift.  Seeking to explain her untimely death, our celebrity-obsessed media will surely regurgitate every sordid detail and decision that led to the loss of her voice, image, identity.

So let’s pretend, that in the name of decency - and out of respect for her long-suffering child and family -  the media will choose to shelve clips of crack-cocaine interviews, reality TV show shenanigans, and Diva behavior; graciously celebrating a voice that thrilled, entertained, and inspired.

   
Let’s pretend that the media – so razor sharp at tearing down rather than building up - will choose to focus on women who, in an industry notorious for packaging, using, mocking and discarding talent once it becomes unhinged or passé, maintain their sense of integrity; infusing common sense and dignity to the din of 'celebrity'.

 
Consider celebrity voices of this past week:

Jennifer Hudson - a victim of devastating personal tragedy - whose voice lifted and moved viewers of last night’s Grammy Awards as she sang with a stunning combination of power, composure and grace.

Adele, whose voice restored soul to an industry so often branded by spectacle, and common sense to a populace inured by hyperbole. Adele’s recent responses to the media’s obsession with her weight are as honest as her lyrics: “My life is full of drama and I won’t have time to worry about something as petty as what I look like… That’s not what my music is about. I don’t make music for eyes, I make music for ears.”

Lady Gaga, whose voice was heard by millions of impressionable teenage girls when she answered a question about body image: "I wanted to be a skinny little ballerina, but I was a voluptuous little Italian girl whose dad had meatballs on the table every night ….Every video I'm in, every magazine cover, they stretch you -- they make you perfect… it's not real life …The dieting has got to stop. Everyone just knock it off. Because at the end of the day, it's affecting kids your age, and it's making girls sick."

Ellen DeGeneres, whose voice resonated with millions of citizens disgusted with, and exhausted by the grandstanding and character assassination of those who cannot agree to disagree, to live and let live. Explaining her character, Ellen stated, “If you don’t know me very well…. I want to be clear. Here are the values I stand for. I stand for honesty, equality, kindness, compassion, treating people the way you’d want to be treated and helping those in need. To me, those are traditional values. That’s what I stand for.”

Disclosure: Methinks Jennifer Hudson's voice is a wonder, and Adele is a revelation. Don't know much about Lady Gaga, though her tunes are Mandatory Dance Songs if rocking in my kitchen. I haven't viewed Ellen's talk show, and know little about her, either- other than she likes to dance.   

Today, as I surfed through the noise pulsing around Whitney, I discovered their voices.

I read and listened to their words, rather than their images.

Music for Ears. And Eyes.

Dare to disagree.

Dare to hope.

QUING Hereby Decrees: Common sense will be common once we use our senses. Listening gets to go first.....