A Song for You: My Life with Whitney Houston

by Robyn Crawford Narrated by Robyn Crawford

Overview

After decades of silence, Robyn Crawford, close friend, collaborator, and confidante of Whitney Houston, shares her story.

Whitney Houston is as big a superstar as the music business has ever known. She exploded on the scene in 1985 with her debut album and spent the next two decades dominating the charts and capturing the hearts of fans around the world. One person was there by her side through it all—her best friend, Robyn Crawford.

Since Whitney's death in 2012, Robyn has stayed out of the limelight and held the great joys, wild adventures, and hard truths of her life with Whitney close to her heart. Now, for the first time ever, Crawford opens up in her new memoir, A Song for You.

With warmth, candor, and an impressive recall of detail, Robyn describes the two meeting as teenagers in the 1980s, and how their lives and friendship evolved as Whitney recorded her first album and Robyn pursued her promising Division I basketball career. Together during countless sold-out world tours, behind the scenes as hit after hit was recorded, through Whitney's marriage and the birth of her daughter, the two navigated often challenging families, great loves, and painful losses, always supporting each other with laughter and friendship.

Deeply personal and heartfelt, A Song for You is the vital, honest, and previously untold story that provides an understanding of the complex life of Whitney Houston. Finally, the person who knew her best sets the record straight.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Crawford’s stunning memoir, A Song for You, is much more complicated. She pays homage to her best friend with fond, funny, sometimes-tragic anecdotes, from their initial romantic connection as camp counselors in New Jersey to blow-ups with Bobby Brown and Houston’s mother, Cissy, years later. Crawford writes with pathos, clarity, and tenderness while tracing the tragedies that rocked her family and the Houstons."
—Pitchfork, The Best Music Books of 2019

“A superb teaching, novel-like book about love that protects but does not possess. We may think we're not ready for this, but we are. . . . I so admire the dignity of this woman. And her beauty.”
—Alice Walker on AliceWalkersGarden.com 

“A generous, loving book that has more insight on Houston’s career—the ride, the fall—than any other single source that I’ve encountered . . . A Song for You is unequivocally worth the wait. . . . Crawford has provided a crucial public service in her lovely, loving book.”
—Jezebel

“The vital, honest, and previously untold story that provides an understanding of the complex life of Whitney Houston.”
—LGBTQ Nation

“[A Song for You] is a story of becoming, of starting over and loving again, of healing in immeasurable ways that are both scarring yet beautiful.”
—She Reads

Library Journal

11/22/2019

With its title taken from Leon Russell's classic song, which Whitney Houston performed live in 1991, this memoir recalls author Crawford's multifaceted relationship with the late singer. After meeting as camp counselors in the early 1980s, the women became inseparable, with Crawford taking Houston to modeling appointments and singing gigs and, ultimately, leaving college to work as her assistant. As Houston's career took off and rumors about her and Crawford's sexuality spread, the two moved from lovers to friends. Quietly pushed aside after Houston's volatile marriage to Bobby Brown, Crawford watched as the singer's family and record label Arista ignored her escalating substance abuse. This is a story of manipulation and control—of a demanding music industry, a neglectful family, and an artist who had few people with her best interests at heart. In between, Crawford shares her own story, including emotional memories of family living with chronic illness. VERDICT Despite poor editing at times, this candid memoir will resonate with fans. This isn't a tell-all, but a tender remembrance. Readers will see Houston in a new light—as an exceptional artist who had few people in her life she could genuinely trust.—Stephanie Sendaula, Library Journal

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173697820
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	11/12/2019
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	788,695

Videos