One moment in time, one life lost
Caribbean Life, February 11-17, 2022 25
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
That song.
It always makes you want to
dance with somebody. It gets
your feet shuffling and your
behind bouncing and the lyrics
pour out of your mouth. And
that singer who first sang it
to you…? You know what happened
to her, but in “Didn’t We
Almost Have It All?” by Gerrick
Kennedy, you’ll get a few more
pieces of the puzzle.
She died two days after he
met her “in a room inside the
Beverly Hilton…”
Gerrick Kennedy fell in love
with Whitney Houston in a
movie theater when he was just
five years old. He purchased
her music as a teen, followed
her career closely, he met her
once, and even now, his partner
knows whose music is
blasting when he sees Kennedy
“floating away” with “earbuds
poking out of my ears.” Now,
nearly 10 years since her death,
Kennedy believes it’s time for a
reckoning.
“We missed so much the
first time around,” he says, and
we need to look at Houston’s
contribution to “our dialogue
around celebrity, addiction…
mental illness, and Blackness
in America…”
“To fully appreciate the
anointing that graced Whitney’s
voice, it’s essential to
understand the almighty power
of Cissy Houston.”
Indeed, Houston learned at
her mother’s knee about God
and gospel music – knowledge
that came from a farback
source: Cissy’s parents put
church and choir center in her
life. God was a beacon to Whitney,
and other musical talents
– cousins Dee Dee and Dionne
Warwick and “auntie” Aretha
– further guided the young
Houston.
Her first album rose to
Number One on the charts;
“She was on fire out the
gate…” says Kennedy. Most
people remember the power of
her biggest hit, that “BOOM,”
Book cover of “Didn’t We Almost Have It All? In Defense of
Whitney Houston” by Gerrick Kennedy.
he says, before Houston’s voice
soars, but a combination of
drugs, bad decisions, and a
bad relationship plagued her
toward the end of her life. We
watched “in horror” as she slid
and “By the early aughts we
were all watching, waiting…
for the worst to happen…”
In his introduction, author
Gerrick Kennedy indicates that
he wanted his book about Houston
to be different from all
the others, more meaning, less
trouble.
He succeeded. To a point.
It’s difficult to extricate
Houston the icon from Houston
the megastar — they are
mostly one in the same — and
stepping back two generations
or profiling other singers and
music executives doesn’t help
as much as Kennedy asserts.
That stuff is all fluff; interesting,
but covered elsewhere.
The best part of “Didn’t We
Almost Have It All?” comes in
the latter third of the book. It’s
there that Kennedy examines
the depth of Houston’s contributions
and the “meaning” of
her decline and death to the
Black community. There’s a lot
of introspection in it, as well as
a shift in how we think about
our celebrities.
Tackle “Didn’t We Almost
Have It All?,” therefore, and
you can expect to see things
you already know, but you can
also expect to be delighted. It’s
a fan’s book, for sure, and reading
it might be the greatest
love of all.
“Didn’t We Almost Have
It All? In Defense of Whitney
Houston” by Gerrick
Kennedy, foreword by
Brandy
c.2022, Abrams Press
$28.00
306 pages
Gerrick Kennedy, author of “Didn’t We Almost Have It All.”
Soca fraternity mourns the death
of Kes the Band’s Ricky Bobby
By Nelson A. King
The music community and
Trinidad and Tobago-based
Kes the Band have expressed
great shock at the death of
the band’s musical director
and keyboardist, Ricardo
Rameshwar.
Popularly known as Ricky
Bobby, the musician had an
asthma attack around 7:00
am on Tuesday and was given
CPR at home when he became
unconscious, according to
CaribbeanNat ionalWeekly
(CNW) on Thursday. He was
airlifted to the Westshore
Medical Center.
His sister Janae Rameshwar
said she and her family await
an autopsy to confirm the
cause of death, CNW said.
It said Rameshwar joined
Kes Band in 2012. Before that,
he spent 14 years working with
Destra Garcia as the keyboardist
for Atlantik and then as the
musical director for her band.
“Rameshwar entered the
big leagues when he auditioned
for a local gig with gospel
singer Helen Baylor who
has Trini roots and successfully
landed a spot in her band
for her concert at the Hasley
Crawford Stadium, Trinidad,”
CNW said.
It said the musical director
also worked with Sterling
Gittens and Peter Regis and
played at the Queen’s Tabernacle
church in New York.
Trinidad and Tobago soc
artist Machel Montano said
on Instagram: “Rest In Peace,
Ricky. Fly high, fellow Sagi.
My deepest condolences to
his family, friends, and all the
teams who were blessed by his
joy, laughter, and music. He
will be missed.”
Destra Garcia also said on
Instagram: “this one hit me
like bricks. I’m numb… Heartbroken.
Farewell, my brother,
my friend, I’m going to miss
you. Living in a world where
you no longer exist breaks my
heart… Thank you for a lifetime
of memories. Love you
forever, till we meet again.
Sleep in peace my darling.”
CNW said Rameshwar was
also a renowned producer, having
worked as “one half of the
Madmen Productions team,
alongside Johann Seaton.”
“Together they produced
songs such as AOA (Machel
Montano) and Show Me Where
Yuh From (Kes the Band),”
CNW said.