It may be that her tragic end often overshadows the huge influence Whitney Houston wielded on pop culture, including the soundtracks to The Bodyguard and Waiting to Exhale, but Smith prompts us to remember the latter. Whitney Houston at one point tells a reporter that her mother taught her not only how to sing but how to own it. There is arguably no one else in music journalism-maybe no one else, period-who could both spill the tea on the Vibe Whitney Houston profile that almost wasn’t, and make space in the book for her gospel-singing, genius mother, Cissy Houston-author of the song Gladys Knight and the Pips made famous, “Midnight Train to Georgia.”Īlways Smith aims to underscore the not-so-subtle point that even if we haven't always acknowledged or even been aware of all the ways Black women have been at the center of the sounds, looks and essence of American pop music, there are so many connections, indelible and evident, just waiting to be seen. So we learn not only about Donna Summer, but also about the anti-gay, anti-Black Disco Sucks movement that emerged around her as the music business began to grow more inclusive. Smith gets and loves Black women and can contextualize the contributions of Black women artists within American pop culture. From there and without a college degree she worked her way up the music journalism food chain, helped by the assistance and mentorship of veteran music journalists. She was working retail when she got her first freelance assignment in 1989 to review a Natalie Cole performance in Oakland. In order to know how and why the book is so singular, you need to know Smith. Smith’s encyclopedic knowledge as a self-made pioneer in music journalism combines with extensive interviews, and behind-the-scene stories of some of the biggest cover stories of her era at Vibe to produce an essential and effervescent text for music lovers.

Journalists are trained to leave themselves out of the story-but as the subtitle suggests, Shine Bright is a lovely and refreshing exception to that rule. Smith has said that Shine Bright is the book she was born to write, and her shimmering, witty language is proof that she’s right. Smith reflects on the songs and the women behind them as she reveals how they inspired her to grow from an ashy-kneed, Huffy-riding rebellious girl to become the first Black person and the first woman editor-in-chief of Quincy Jones’s groundbreaking hip-hop culture magazine, Vibe, at the height of the genre's global ascent. It features several mini-biographies of the most influential and underrated Black women in American culture, from the poet Phillis Wheatley to opera star Leontyne Price the Dixie Cups, who gave pop music “Chapel of Love” and “Iko Iko” to disco queen Donna Summer. It is also the overdue singing of a Black girl’s song, with perfect pitch.

Danyel Smith’s Shine Bright: A Very Personal Story of Black Women in Pop is an entertaining blend of memoir, music history and journalism.

Shine bright by danyel smith