Watch Your Mouth, Questlove (And Touré)!
If there’s one thing society should have learned within the last few years, it is that just because we can share our personal thoughts and words with millions of people, it doesn’t mean we should.
Now, legendary drummer Questlove of The Roots fame (via Touré, as you’ll see later) is the latest example of why some things are better left… unheard.
On Lawrence O’Donnell‘s show The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell, the death of legendary vocalist and entertainer Whitney Houston was the topic of discussion. Music journalist Touré was on the show, along with a handful of others including Rev. Al Sharpton and Kelly Price (who, of course, had shared the stage with the singer just a few days before).
As they continued to discuss the implications of Houston’s death on the industry at large (and black recording artists in particular) Touré recounted a very recent conversation he had had with his friend, Questlove.
“Questlove said something to me that was really deep and he was a little nervous to say but he said it anyway. For Whitney Houston, would you rather be what she is or Melba Moore? And that’s not to slight Melba in anyway, but Melba Moore was a singer, very popular and successful, and then ended up back in the projects through several mistakes, some no fault of her own. And for an artist who chases success and achieves success, the level of desire is so high that to fall back to that, where you came from, and to be embarrassed by other people taking your spot is massively painful.”
Moore took to Twitter (yup, the 66 year-old soul singer has an account) to let it be known that she didn’t appreciate his words.
Questlove, gentleman that he is, quickly apologized. Moore accepted his apology, but also issued a warning to the beatmaster.
Apparently, the source of Questlove’s reference is an episode of TV One’s Unsung which covered Moore, and reported that the singer ended up in a relatively meager financial situation as a result of ‘poor fiscal management’ as well as a few other problems.
Of course, none of this would have happened if Touré hadn’t spilled the beans on a private conversation which he admits his friend was a bit nervous to talk about.
Nuff said?
Source: EUR ThisNThat
It was very wrong for Questlove to say what he did about Melba Moore. Both Melba Moore and Whitney Houston were equally talented in my opinion. I love both ladies voices and song choices through the years. Some people might not be on the radar or always in the media or public eye, but it does not mean they are not active and working. You really have too be careful what you say about people, especially if its’ not true or from some misinformed source(s). I myself recently said somethings about a particular artist(s) and I was wrong for doing so and am very sorry that I said those things about them. We’ve lost Whitney. Let’s support and enjoy Melba. She has a beautiful new song out called “Love Is”, check it out on youtube. She’s still got it!!!