... a collection of unsparing, deeply personal essays on the singer’s life and career ... Kennedy’s book, unlike so many before it, is not a gossipy biography but a collection of often powerful meditations on Whitney’s life and the culture that failed her ... it also features a foreword by singer-songwriter Brandy ('Whitney made me feel like anything was possible, even though everything she was doing had been so impossible for Black girls to achieve.')
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.
The thematic rather than chronological structure of the chapters results in some repetition. Even so, Kennedy’s winning argument invites readers to focus on Houston’s triumphs: the ceilings she broke and the pathways she paved. Particularly impactful is Kennedy’s work to locate Houston’s legacy in a historical-cultural context, retrieving, for example, the no-longer-sung, racist third verse of 'The Star-Spangled Banner'—which she breathtakingly performed in 1991—and contemplating the meaning of a Black woman performing the national anthem at such a profound level.
... stirring ... By telling Houston’s story alongside those of contemporary Black celebrities including Beyoncé—who, Kennedy writes, have spent their careers walking the high wire between being 'too Black' and 'not Black enough'—the author both celebrates the legendary singer’s inimitable talent and offers a rousing critique of oppressive systems still at work today. This is a must-read for fans.
The great strength of this book is that Kennedy—who sees Houston through the lens of the Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, and LGBTQ+ movements of the last decade—refuses to pass judgment. Instead, he seeks to understand Houston’s struggles as evidence of a woman who shouldered an enormous burden—not just as a pop icon, but as a deeply devout queer Black artist forced to inhabit an unforgiving premade identity. Thoughtful reading for Houston fans and music historians alike.
