For the last couple of months, I have been considering doing another regular blog post revolving around music.

I was going to wait for the right moment to do one and I think now's the time.

So, welcome to the first edition of The Music Room.

I'm thinking of doing this bi-monthly with at least 2 different postings a month and this will be mostly reviews of the latest CDS that have come out recently. It's a work in progress and will most likely take a while for everything to come together.

But for now, this is strictly a tribute to a legendary performer just taken from us earlier this evening.

Whitney Houston

At age 48, Houston passed away this evening from unknown causes, at the time of this posting.

Now, say what you will about her problems in the past with drugs and crack addictions and her marriage to Bobby Brown. I can't ignore stuff like that when talking about her. But behind all the controversies and scandals, Houston was one of the greatest singers in the history of pop music.

When she sang, she sang her heart out. This is the kind of singing that you hardly ever get with the singers of today.

Probably the best example of this comes from Super Bowl 25 in 1991 when she sang the best interpretation of The Star Spangled Banner:

This performance was so great that it was #1 in the Billboard 100 for a number of weeks and was even re-released after September 11th and later went back on the charts for a little bit. That's how powerful it was.

Some Of Houston's best songs included One Moment In Time, which was also used in the 1984 Olympics, All At Once, Didn't We Almost Have It All, I Wanna Dance With Somebody, Saving All My Love For You, and The Greatest Love Of All. She even did a really good collaboration with Mariah Carey for the Prince Of Egypt soundtrack, When You Believe.

Houston also made her mark in acting too. She made her film debut in 1992's The Bodyguard with Kevin Costner, which was originally a film slated to star Steve McQueen in the Kevin Costner role almost 20 years before the film came out. The movie wasn't all that great but Houston did show great potential as an actress but the soundtrack was hugely successful, even more than the film, with Houston delivering one of her biggest songs, I Will Always Love You.

She did only three other movies after The Bodyguard, Waiting To Exhale, which is decent. The Preacher's Wife, which was alright. And The Wonderful World Of Disney's presentation of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, which is hit and miss. Houston did one last film that was just shot last fall with Jordin Sparks, Sparkle, which is slated for release sometime this year.

After 1999, Houston's career took a downfall when drug and crack addiction came into the picture, her great singing voice was getting very raspy, and she was reduced to a reality TV show with Bobby Brown. However, it did lead to some funny moments from The Soup.

But like I said, despite her problems in the past, you can't just forget about why she became famous, because of her great singing.

Houston's death is a lot like Michael Jackson's death. Sure, he had some problems in the past but does that mean we should forget the great music he gave us? Hell, no and the same can be said about Whitney Houston.

With the way that the music world has changed, it's sad to see such an icon of music leave us at a very early age and just when it looked like she was about to make a huge comeback. It's a damn shame that we lost an icon like Whitney Houston tonight and I feel that it's only right to end this with a series of some of her best songs. This is for you, Whitney, rest in peace.

R.I.P. Whitney Houston
1963-2012