I was born in the '80s, so I don't really remember it very strongly, but the music is so iconic. And so those artists - Madonna, Prince, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston - you still hear those songs all the time. And there's such a distinctive style - the clothes, the shoulder pads, the big hair, the perm.
I love Whitney Houston. I absolutely love her song, 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody.'
You know, the funny thing was that I grew up listening to, like Whitney Houston and Cece Winans, and a lot of American singers.
When Whitney Houston died, I felt great sadness. My sadness, of course, was about our collective loss - when you listened to this nightingale sing, your body would drop into a chair, your head would tilt up, a small smile would creep across your face, and inside you knew that there was a higher power somewhere: gifted, beautiful, spiritual.
I know I don't want to do another single-camera show. It's so time-consuming. I did a couple of episodes of 'Whitney' as her mom, but I have been laying low. I love being with my kids and being a mom.
One musical that deeply influenced me - and continues to do so - is the 1997 ABC TV movie of Rodgers and Hammerstein's 'Cinderella,' starring Brandy, with Whitney Houston as the Fairy Godmother and Whoopi Goldberg as the prince's mom.
I remember being an art student and going to the Whitney in 1974 to see the exhibition of Jim Nutt, the Chicago imagist. It was then I transferred to school in Chicago, all because of that show.
The Whitney is a museum that has a great rapport with younger artists and the community.
America has a relationship with Bobby and Whitney.
What if Whitney was at her top, and we brought in a name like Whitney Houston, it would sell.
