While others cover Whitney Houston's amazing voice and her contribution to pop music, I will just note here that she was a victim of left-wing racism: because her singing appealed to a broad audience, she was accused of not being "black enough." The AP reports:
Her decision not to follow the more soulful inflections of singers like [Aretha] Franklin drew criticism by some who saw her as playing down her black roots to go pop and reach white audiences. The criticism would become a constant refrain through much of her career. She was even booed during the "Soul Train Awards" in 1989.
"Sometimes it gets down to that, you know?" she told Katie Couric in 1996. "You're not black enough for them. I don't know. You're not R&B enough. You're very pop. The white audience has taken you away from them." [Emph. added]
No comments:
Post a Comment