In neighborhoods throughout St. Petersburg, I asked, “What was the first thing that went through your mind when you heard the news of Whitney Houston’s death?”
“First when I heard about it, I wasn’t exactly sober. I had five beers and just walked out of the bathroom at the bar and a friend of mine told me about it. My first thought immediately was about her daughter. I felt so bad for her. It’s sad that we lost Whitney, but mainly I think about her daughter. It reminds me of when Michael Jackson passed away, but with him I expected it a lot more.”
-Courtney Bright, Total Traffic Network reporter/producer
“I know she increased our drug awareness and why we shouldn’t smoke a lot of rock.”
-Courtney Kent, manager of The Campus Grind
“I told my wife as soon as I heard about Whitney Houston’s death, I felt sad, and angry as well, because Whitney grew up in a family of musicians, such as Dionne Warwick. With their experience with fame and money, the family could have given Whitney better guidance. She grew up around stars her whole life and you would have thought that they would have guided her. As far as her music goes, I danced to Whitney as a boy and slow danced with girls.”
-Frank Biafora, Dean of The College of Arts and Sciences
“I grew up with her. It’s just the era. Her music is when I was raised. I was sad when I heard she died. The biggest thing I remember about her is when she sang the National Anthem in Tampa. Ain’t never been another woman who has won so many awards.”
-Phil Zagcki, mechanic at Phillip Enterprises
“When I first heard that she had died I was really actually shocked. I couldn’t believe that she died because she was so young. I knew that she had some problems with drugs and alcohol but didn’t expect for something like that to happen so suddenly and drastically. And more than shocked, I felt sad that someone with such an amazing talent wasn’t able to deal with her demons because it just seems like a senseless type of tragedy to me.”
-Kelly White, doctor at Veteran’s Hospital at Bay Pines
“How tragic … and remembering waiting in a very long line with my family to see ‘The Bodyguard’ 20 years ago. … It’s very sad. She had the voice of our generation.”
-Jay Styles, music director at Play 98.7
“Cracked out. Something like that at least. She’s young so I thought it couldn’t be from a natural death. I wasn’t shocked when I heard about it. If I had to guess which people to die, I would have guessed her.”
–Jacob Duff, pre-business major
“It was just a big ‘wow.’ It wasn’t believable—you had to see it on the news first. I was just hoping it was one of the rumors. People were coming in the store saying it and I just couldn’t believe it.”
-Venesha Dorsey, owner of Inside Love
