Robyn received criticism for writing this book after Whitney died and she said her reasoning behind it was to put some of the headlines at rest about Whitney. Instead it was swept under the carpet and was the probable cause of the downward spiral of such a talented performer. After Houston married Bobby Brown, she told him about her past with Crawford and his jealous rage exacerbated the growing rift that resulted in Crawford leaving Nippy Inc. Imagine if Whitney grew up with a mother who who affirmed her both in her relationships and in her talent. But I get a strong sense from Crawford that Whitney Houston was a force of nature, who knew her own mind, and who ultimately did whatever the hell she wanted to do.

I felt compelled to stand up at that point, not only to lift her legacy, but to honour our friendship, because friends aren’t something that you should just toss away. 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 .

Interwoven throughout the book is also Robyn's longing to rescue her friend from her self-destructive habits and her dysfunctional family relationships. She knew Whitney needed help but after her banishment she was not allowed back inside the inner circle. After Jermaine Jackson, Houston was largely single until she married Bobby Brown, although famous men often asked her out.

The tragedy is that Whitney was not only trying to convince others she was into men, she was also try to convince herself. Houston was often publicly gracious toward Crawford, thanking her in liner notes and at award ceremonies, but Crawford was understandably pained by Houston's increasingly vigorous denials under continued questioning about her rumored bisexuality. I am a similar age and many of her songs became part of the soundtrack of my life and to me, she had it all - a staggering beauty, elegance, success, financial security and a peerless voice. The story told by Robyn Crawford in the pages of A Song For You, an account of her decades-long relationship with Whitney Houston is tender, moving and painful to read, the history of a friendship that is also a love story.

Crawford was there for Houston's meeting with Michael Jackson; the two women jumped on the Neverland trampoline and winced at a roomful of dolls that a housekeeper said were prone to walk around at night.

If only her entire family loved and cared for her; if only she hadn’t felt constrained by the music industry to hide her true self; if only she and Robyn could have been free? I remember how excited I was the Christmas I got a pink, dual cassette boombox with a microphone and the Whitney album on cassette tape. Instead of giving interviews, which may have improved her social standing somewhat, Houston made harsh and derogatory statements against homosexuality and defined herself rigidly as a "man's woman". By “something that happened”, Crawford is referring to the years immediately after meeting when the two women were sexually involved. I came in thinking it was a biography of Whitney Houston, but it was actually Robyn Crawford’s biography that included her memories of her time with Whitney.

Houston told Time magazine, wounding her friend with the offensive intimation that homosexuality was akin to bestiality. But more than that, as adults, levelheaded Hillary Whitney (Barbara Hershey) and feisty singer/actress C. What is saddest to me is the way the people around her who seemingly loved her used and took advantage of her fame and wealth.