Brooklyn Pays Respect to Whitney

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Robert Samuel performing Whitney Houston's "I Am Telling You I'm Not Going." (Nell Smith)
Robert Samuel performing "I Am Telling You I'm Not Going." (Nell Smith)

 

The lights are dimmed and the spotlight is focused on the center of the stage. The sound of laughter lingers in the air and the bass of the music vibrates through the wooden floor and black leather couches that are positioned around the room. A sea of people surrounds the stage and awaits the next selection of the night. The 1985 hit “Saving All My Love For You” blasts through the speakers, and they erupt into cheers. As the singer takes the microphone, fans sway to the music and boisterously sing along to the words of Whitney Houston, who died suddenly last Saturday.

A few days before the late popstar’s funeral, the Denim Lounge in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, dedicated its first annual karaoke night on Feb. 15 to the singer, Whitney Houston. The owner and CEO of the lounge Wendy McLean said she wanted to celebrate the diva’s life and allow people to express what they felt about her “Brooklyn style.”

Shortly after watching the Grammys last Sunday, McLean began making phone calls to local radio stations to plan the tribute to Houston. “Tonight it’s all about Whitney,” she said “We have people here who are singing her songs, impersonating her and acting out parts of movies.”

Before Brooklyn native Robert Samuel began his selection, he told the crowd that all of his life he has found solace in listening to Houston. “No one could make me feel like they really understood my situation as I was going through it like her,” he said. As the music played, Samuel lip-synced the words to “I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” originally sung by Jennifer Holliday in 1981 for the Broadway hit musical Dreamgirls.

Samuel believes Houston’s voice transcended the original form of any song she sang. “No one else could take a song and make you forget about who originally sang it,” he said “When she sings someone’s song, you swear it’s hers.”

Lenny Green, radio host at 98.7 Kiss FM, remembers Houston’s rendition of the national anthem during the Super Bowl in 1991. “It’s unfair to say what song is my favorite, because I like all of her songs,” he said “But I liked when Whitney took the traditional American anthem and made it her own.”

During her three-decade-long career Whitney Houston sold over 170 million singles and albums worldwide and received a number of awards including two Emmys and six Grammys. She also starred in a number of films including The Body Guard, Waiting to Exhale, The Preacher’s Wife, Cinderella, and was cast in an upcoming film Sparkle. In the prime of her career rumors of Houston’s substance abuse surfaced.

Despite Houston’s fall from grace when she became addicted to drugs, fans still think her legacy should be viewed positively. “True fans know she wasn’t an angel,” said Samuel “But even in her decline she was still good.”

Radio host Green believes Black media has been more sensitive to the personal circumstances that shaped the singer’s life than mainstream news sources. “It is unfair that television media has painted a gruesome picture and highlights that negative chapter in her life,” he said.

Others in the crowd argue that Houston’s death is a wake-up call for young artists. Shemecca Fair, a performer, says when she heard that Houston had died she was shocked. “I am a church girl at heart so Whitney has always been my favorite,” she said. As an aspiring singer, she considers the only way to survive in the music industry is to stay true to yourself and to surround yourself with supportive family and friends.

On Wednesday night, the fans gathered at the Denim Lounge considered themselves friends and family of Houston. “I feel like she’s a friend. Like that’s my home girl,” said bar owner McLean. “She was as real as it gets.”

Though many view her death as a tragedy, the people at the lounge view this moment as a time to celebrate her life. Video DJ Chris Forde who works at the Denim Lounge said Houston sang “life-giving songs.”

While people waited in line for their chance to sing a Whitney Houston song, they enjoyed a hot plate of soul food and posed for pictures. Dressed in silhouetted white T-shirts that featured Houston’s face and the words “Superstar,” employees of the lounge made the night memorable for the fans.

“Next year this event is going to be much larger,” said McLean, as she greeted guests as they entered the lounge. “Whitney will forever be in our hearts and her music will never die.”

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