Welcome Back, Whitney!

Before Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Beyonce Knowles, Rihanna Fenty, Leona Lewis, Alicia Keys and a host of other divas and diva-wannabes there was Whitney Houston.

Her eponymous debut album was released in 1985, stayed number-1 for 14 weeks and went on to sell 25 million copies. I was a holder of one of those copies and I fell instantly in love with her amazing vocal ability and her range (and I am pretty sure her stunning beauty too). She went supernova in 1992 with the soundtrack to the movie "The Bodyguard" which sold 42 million copies worldwide and made a global hit of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You".

So, I have been a huge fan of Whitney's since laying on my bed in my parent's house listening to that album for the first time, and it saddened me so much to watch her decline into drug abuse and marital strife. So it was with great joy that I learned that this week Whitney released her first album in 7 years. Welcome back, Ms. Houston. You were dearly missed.