Richmonders mourn Whitney Houston - NBC12 - WWBT - Richmond, VA News On Your Side

RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) - Many people here in Richmond are also mourning the loss of Whitney Houston. 

There were many gospel choirs singing with a heavy heart Sunday morning.

Many credit Houston with bringing gospel music to the mainstream.

Gospel music fills the air at St. Paul's Baptist Church in Eastern Henrico every Sunday morning, but this Sunday the buzz was all about the passing of a gospel icon.

Monique Woodard says her heart dropped last night when she heard about Houston's sudden death.

"It sort of made me feel like it was one of my relatives that had passed," said Woodard. 

She says everyone wanted to sing just like her.

"I still recall the time I was in junior high school choir and a group of girls were all singing 'The Greatest Love of All' trying to emulate her," she said.

It's not just women mourning her loss. Even the men at St. Paul's say you can hear Houston's influence every Sunday.

"She integrated that gospel sound into all the other types of music," said Glenn Davis, the men's choir director.  "Even in the contemporary songs, you can always hear it's okay now to have that gospel sound."

"If you talk to people who work on local record stores, they say they've been struggling to keep up with demand as soon as the news broke Sunday night.

There are no Whitney Houston CD's left at Plan 9 Records in Carytown.

Emaleigh Franzak works at the record store. She says as soon as she heard about Houston's death, she knew the store would struggle to keep her albums on the shelves.

"By the time I got here this morning, the CDs were all out of stock," said Franzak.  "All we have are these few pieces of vinyl and they'll probably go really quickly."

Plan 9 Records says it could take a while to catch up with demand for Whitney Houston albums because her death came so suddenly. They say it could the record industry weeks to fill all the new orders for her albums.

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