The Death of Whitney Houston

Late yesterday afternoon the news broke that singer-actress Whitney Houston had died at the young age of 48. For me, this is one of those celebrity deaths that takes your breath away for a minute. I grew up listening to Whitney sing. In fact, any female singer probably held a hairbrush in her hand at some point, belting out "I Will Always Love You".

She clearly had a very public struggle with addiction and drugs. In recent years, her performances have been ragged and incoherent. Sadly, I have a feeling that when her official cause of death comes out, it will either be some sort of overdose or some sort of drug related heart attack. The hardest part of all of this for me is the waste of her voice and her talent.

In her short life, she accomplished many things, including being the most awarded female artist of all time (according to the Guinness Book of World Records). She was awarded 2 Emmy Awards, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among a total of 415 career awards as of 2010. She paved the way for singers such as Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera and many others.

I leave you with Whitney in better times - singing what I consider to be the all time best performances of the National Anthem. Rest in peace, Whitney.

The Death of Steve Jobs

Today the world got the news that Steve Jobs passed away. His contributions to the world are numerous... I heard the news from Mike in a text message on my iPhone. I then used my PC to check CNN for more details. Thirty years ago, neither of these things existed. Steve Jobs was instrumental in changing how we consume digital information and how people communicate.

Rest in peace Steve.

The Death of Amy Winehouse

It's always heartbreaking to hear of a celebrity death, especially a young celebrity. Today we learned that singer Amy Winehouse died at the young age of 27. Normally when I hear about a celebrity death (especially someone young) it feels like a quick little kick to the stomach. There's normally that little bit of surprise and sadness about what could have been. With this celebrity death, I thought "Well, that's not surprising". An autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow, but I would not be surprised if she died from some sort of overdose or complications from drug use.

Many people have called her "troubled". I really think her life goes far beyond just troubled. From legal problems to substance abuse problems to health problems, almost all of Amy's life on the music scene has been issues. In fact, her issues tended to overshadow her amazing talent as a singer-songwriter. It's heartbreaking to me to see someone who is surrounded by people spiral completely out of control (a la Britney Spears circa 2008) and to see that no one steps in to help. Amy struggled with substance abuse and mental health issues. In fact, those ended up taking a toll on her physical health (she came out and said that she had early stage emphysema in 2008).

I would like to think that if I ever developed such glaring issues that my friends and family would step in and help me out. I understand that addiction is a horrible disease, but it just sucks to see those around someone continue to use them rather than think about the long term consequences. Amy had been booed off stage in recent performances as she was incredibly drunk/drugged and unable to sing. You would think that her management team, family, etc would pull her out of all performances and get her more help rather than continue to prop her up on stage and hope that she pulled it together. I know you can't blame those around her, but I just wish that people would have stepped in.

They're now saying that Amy is a part of "The 27 Club". She joins Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison, who all died at the young age of 27. Whether or not you agree that she has the same talent as those people, I think they shared the same torment. To me, it's almost like there was just too much talent for one person to handle and they were only here for a short time.

Regardless of how you feel, the music world was definitely robbed of a talent today. Rest in peace, Amy.

Will.i.am Joins Intel

I don't typically blog a whole lot about work, but I thought this was way too interesting not to share!

Today it was announced that Will.i.am (one of the Black Eyed Peas) joined Intel today as the Director of Creative Innovation.

I am beyond excited about this for a variety of reasons. The first is that I really love Will.i.am's work. Last year I went to see the BEP with Adam and Eva and was really impressed with the intermission show that he put on. From sounds to colors to music, he really mixed it up. I can definitely see where our products fit perfectly into the music, mixing and recording that he does.

Secondly, because of the work Will.i.am does in the music world, I think he's going to do some really creative things with Intel. They haven't really gone into detail about what the partnership involves, but I can imagine there's going to be some really fantastic marketing. I can't wait to see what amazing things they come out with to fuse the music and technological worlds, which are already heavily tied together!

Here's a picture of Will.i.am with his brand new badge:

Will.i.am Shows Off His New Intel Badge

Do you think they'll bring him in for a concert?