Chills

I challenge you to not get chills in this lovely rendition of I Will Always Love You by Jennifer Hudson.

Of course, it's not a patch on Whitney's soaring vocals in The Bodyguard, but who could outdo a voice like that - one of the greatest pop voices of the 80s, gradually destroyed by various addictions and a ravaged self-esteem that can only come from a truly bad relationship.

From the start of her career more than two decades ago, Ms. Houston had the talent, looks and pedigree of a pop superstar. She was the daughter of Cissy Houston, a gospel and pop singer who had backed up Aretha Franklin, and the cousin of Dionne Warwick. (Ms. Franklin is Ms. Houston’s godmother.)

Ms. Houston’s range spanned three octaves, and her voice was plush, vibrant and often spectacular. She could pour on the exuberant flourishes of gospel or peal a simple pop chorus; she could sing sweetly or unleash a sultry rasp.

Dressed in everything from formal gowns to T-shirts, she cultivated the image of a fun-loving but ardent good girl, the voice behind songs as perky as “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” and as torchy as what became her signature song, a version of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You.”

But by the mid-1990s, even as she was moving into acting with films like “The Bodyguard” and “The Preacher’s Wife,” she became what she described, in a 2009 interview with Oprah Winfrey, as a “heavy” user of marijuana and cocaine. By the 2000s she was struggling; her voice grew smaller, scratchier and less secure, and her performances grew erratic.

(excerpt from the New York Times website)

Sadly, we've seen what a tragic mix a cocktail of drugs, alcohol, early fame and toxic relationships can do to talent - Amy Winehouse, Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston being our most recent examples.