Angel on Earth

The passing of the indisputably glorious Whitney Houston yesterday plunged the musical world into deep despair.  Irreprochably beautiful; she possessed a certain pizzazz and fire within her soul that lit her up in a way that no amount of diamonds could (and back in the nineties, they used to hang them on like a chandeliar at Buckingham Palace). Her voice was pure and sweet, untainted by her difficult childhood, and yet it radiated with a strength that reflected the woman that she was. She was a diva, not by the stereotypical Hollywood definition of a high profile starlet who makes unjustified requests, but because of the way she was - regal, queenly, angelic. There was none, and can never again be one like her. She was unrivalled, incomparable, irreplacable.

The blessing of photographs lie in their ability to - in the words of Abba, 'freeze the picture, and save it from the funny tricks of time'. For a person of Whitney's calibre, whose long struggle with internal demons (prompting an uncontrollable spiral into a life of hard drugs) became as much a public concern as it was a highly personal matter, and who had to face having every aspect of her arduous journey documented for vulturic (public) consumption, we can be thankful for the photographs that immortalised Whitney at her prime, doing justice to her memory even when the subsequent news of her descent from glory failed.

(image courtesy of wonderwall.msn.com)

And here she is, in what is easily one of my favourite photographs of Whitney, striking in a gorgeous polka-dot bow-dress (a design that is, coincidentally, coming back into style), grooving as she does what she does best. Her ebony skin gleams in the spotlight, her pearly white teeth are exposed in a genuine care free laugh, and even with minimal jewellery, she is effortlessly beautiful in a way that needs no artificial adornment. 

(image courtesy of wonderwalls.msn.com)

Proving that a true beauty needs to be a chameleon, here she is a disco diva in a sequinned dress with a blazer jacket. The dazzling quality of her outfit does not detract from the raw passion on her face as she belts out one of her classics. Her cheeks are flushed - and even in her grimace as she powers through the high notes, there is an element of a smile behind her expression. She is in her element.

(image courtesy of wonderwalls.msn.com)

Forget the likes of Kim Kardashian and Maria Fowler. When you have a talent such as hers, there is no need to flaunt your body in exchange for fame, but with a body like Whitney's, it certainly didn't hurt to show some flesh. Here she oozes sex appeal in a studded mini dress and a Cleopatra-inspired hairstyle. 

(image courtesy of wonderwalls.msn.com)

Performing at a pre-Grammy party exactly one year ago, Whitney shows the world that the new generation of wannabe soul divas still have nothing on her. Although animal print has been coming back in style over the last few years, Whitney wears her safari inspired ensemble and pulls it off the way a true diva knows how - as if it never went out of style in the first place.

(image courtesy of wonderwalls.msn.com)

Proving that the years of turmoil have not taken a toll on her, Whitney looked positively resplendent in a grecian inspired assymetrical sheath dress on the night of what should have been the beginning of her ultimate comeback. At 47, she cut a flawless figure, putting most women half her age in similiar body-hugging gowns to shame.

(image courtesy of wonderwalls.msn.com)

Reminding us why, despite her long years of absence from the music industry, she still reigned as diva supreme. Oozing sensuality in a dress that flows and clings to all the right places, Whitney proves that balance is always key to staying on the right side of the line by flashing only a few choice areas of her body: her long slender neck and decolletage (a highly overlooked region of the female body), her cleavage, and of course - the crucial element that no self-respecting old school diva could do without: the dramatic slit up one thigh. 

With the face of an angel and the voice of one, her time on earth was ended much too soon - her life had ended before it had truly begun. In the immortal words of The Eagles, she was 'too fast to live, and too fast to die' - with her unresolved issues from her childhood, her god-given beauty, raw talent, female prowess and the unstoppable fame and fortune that ensued, she never really had a chance. And yet despite it all - she held her head like a queen and carried on. She never gave up and she never stopped to take pity on herself - forever gracious, eternally beautiful, her strength of character lives on in the legacy of her music. Rest in peace Whitney Houston, you will be forever missed.