My favourite Whitney Houston song has got to be "Where do broken hearts go". Yet for  a very long time, I could not figure out the words that followed so I threw my own lyrics in the mix and sang along. Whitney had that effect on people. She made music sound so effortlessly sweet that for a second you felt you could sing in tune with her. In my case, I would play "broken hearts" over and over.  When she paused, I paused when she lowered her voice I did too, but when she reached for those high notes,  my voice would crack whilst hers would soar over the octaves, her lips quivering with emotion, goose bumps rushing over my arms.

It had to be a hoax. one of those sinister internet death rumors. But it was not a joke. At 3:55pm on February 11th Whitney Elizabeth Houston was pronounced dead at the Beverley Hilton Hotel. The news rippled across the world, Facebook, Twitter, CNN and BBC. The singer-diva-legend who was dubbed the Voice, was dead and blogs were afire with speculation on the cause of death.

Was it an overdose, suicide or an accident?  Nobody knows yet. All I know is we lost a legend. A truly talented woman who sang songs that are played in taxi stations and radio stations across  the world. Last year, I traveled around Africa and everywhere I went, a Whitney Houston hit song was being played like she just released the album.  She was LOVED. She was a diva, a superstar, yet she was so unguarded and so real, that to many, she seemed like a favourite wild cousin. In three decades, Whitney sold over 170 million records. She sang songs that helped so many people fall in love, walk out of love and stay in love. We miss you Whitney. Hope you've found your way home.