Whitney Elizabeth Houston (born August 9, 1963) is an American singer, actress, and former fashion model. A relative to several prominent soul singers, including her mother Cissy Houston, cousins Dee Dee and Dionne Warwick, and godmother Aretha Franklin, Houston began singing at her New Jersey church as a member of a junior gospel choir at age eleven. After she began performing alongside her mother at night clubs in the New York City area, she was discovered by Arista Records label head Clive Davis.
Houston released her debut album Whitney Houston in 1985, which became the best-selling debut album by a female artist at the time of release. Her second studio album Whitney (1987) became the first album by a female artist to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Houston's crossover appeal on the popular music charts as well as her prominence on MTV enabled several African-American women to follow in her success.
Following her marriage to fellow singer Bobby Brown, Houston appeared in her first starring role in the feature film The Bodyguard in 1992. The film's original soundtrack won the 1994 Grammy Award for Album of the Year, and became the world's best-selling soundtrack. Its lead single, "I Will Always Love You", became one of the best-selling singles in music history. Houston continued to star in feature films and contributed to soundtracks including Waiting to Exhale (1995) and The Preacher's Wife (1996). After the release of her fourth studio album My Love Is Your Love (1998), she renewed her recording contract with Arista Records in 2001 for a historic $100 million. She subsequently released her fifth studio album, Just Whitney the following year with One Wish: The Holiday Album being released in 2003. Amidst widespread media coverage of personal and professional turmoil, Houston's marriage to Brown ended in 2006.
Houston is one of the world's best-selling music artists, having sold over 170 million records, worldwide. She is ranked as the fourth best-selling female artist in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America, with 54.5 million certified albums. She has been listed by Rolling Stone magazine as one of The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.
Biography
Early life
Whitney Houston was born in a rough neighborhood in the projects of Newark, New Jersey. She is the third and youngest child of John and gospel singer Cissy Houston. Her mother, along with cousins Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick and godmother Aretha Franklin are all notable figures in the gospel, rhythm and blues, pop, and soul genres. Houston was raised a Baptist, but was also exposed to the Pentecostal church. After the 1967 Newark riots, the family moved to a middle class area in West Orange, New Jersey when she was four. At the age of eleven, Houston began to follow in her mother's footsteps and started performing as a soloist in the junior gospel choir at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, where she also learned to play the piano. Her first solo performance in the church was "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah". When Houston was a teenager, her parents divorced and she continued to live with her mother. She attended a Catholic single-sex high school, Mount Saint Dominic Academy, where she met her best friend Robyn Crawford, whom she describes as the "sister she never had." While Houston was still in school, her mother continued to teach her how to sing. In addition to her mother, Franklin, and Warwick, Houston was also exposed to the music of Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, and Roberta Flack, most of whom would have an impact on her as a singer and performer.
1977–1984: Early career
Houston spent some of her teenage years touring nightclubs with her mother while Cissy was performing, and she would occasionally get on stage and perform with her mother. In 1977, at age fourteen, she was the lead vocalist on the Michael Zager Band's single "Life's a Party" (the group is known for their 1978 hit "Let's All Chant"). Zager subsequently offered to help obtain a recording contract for the young singer, but Cissy declined, wanting her young daughter to finish school first. Then in 1978, at age fifteen, Houston sang background vocals on Chaka Khan's hit single "I'm Every Woman", a song she would later turn into a hit for herself on her monstrous-selling soundtrack album The Bodyguard . She also would sing back-up on albums by Lou Rawls and Jermaine Jackson. In the early 1980s, Houston then started working as a fashion model after a photographer saw her at Carnegie Hall singing with her mother. She appeared as a lead vocalist on a Paul Jabara (famous for writing songs for Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand) album, entitled Paul Jabara and Friends: featuring The Weather Girls, Leata Galloway & Whitney Houston (CBS Records, 1983). She appeared in Seventeen Magazine and became one of the first women of color to grace the cover of Seventeen magazine. She also appeared in a Canada Dry soft drink commercial. While modeling, she continued her burgeoning recording career by working with producers Michael Bienhorn, Bill Laswell and Martin Bisi on an album they were spearheading called One Down , which was credited to the group Material. For that project, Houston contributed the ballad "Memories". Robert Christgau of the The Village Voice called her contribution "one of the most gorgeous ballads you've ever heard".
Houston had previously been offered several recording agencies (Michael Zager in 1980 and Elektra Records in 1981). In 1983, Gerry Griffith, an A&R representative from Arista Records, saw her performing with her mother in a New York City nightclub and was impressed. He convinced Clive Davis, Arista's label head, to take time to see Houston perform. Davis too was impressed after the performance and offered her a worldwide recording contract, which Houston signed. Later that year, she made her national televised debut alongside Davis on the The Merv Griffin Show .
Houston signed with Arista in 1983 but did not begin work on her album immediately. Arista put forth the deal to make sure no other label signed the singer from under them. Davis wanted to find the right material and right producers for Houston's debut album. Some producers were not deemed right by the label, others had to pass on the project due to prior commitments. Houston first recorded a duet with Teddy Pendergrass entitled "Hold Me", which appeared on his album, Love Language . The single, released in 1984, gave Houston her first taste of success, becoming a Top 5 R&B hit. It would also appear on her debut album when released in 1985.
1985–1986: Rise to prominence
With production from Michael Masser, Kashif, Jermaine Jackson and Narada Michael Walden, Houston's self-titled debut album was released in February 1985. Rolling Stone Magazine praised the new talent, calling her "one of the most exciting new voices in years" while The New York Times called the album "an impressive, musically conservative showcase for an exceptional vocal talent." After the dance-funk single "Someone For Me" failed to chart in both the US and UK, the album initially sold modestly and failed to make an impact. The release of the next single, the soulful ballad "You Give Good Love", peaked at #3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 while going #1 on the R&B Charts. As a result, the album began to sell strongly before topping the R&B Album chart while Houston continued promoting the album touring night clubs in the US. She also began performing on popular night shows that usually weren't open to many black acts. The jazzy ballad "Saving All My Love for You" was released next and it would become Houston's first #1 hit single in both the US and the UK. She was now an opening act for singer Jeffrey Osborne on his nationwide tour. At the time, MTV had received harsh criticism for not playing enough videos by African American artists while favoring rock acts. The next single, "How Will I Know", peaked at #1 and would introduce Houston to the MTV audience thanks to its video. This would make the singer one of the first African American female artists to receive heavy rotation on the network. By 1986, a year after its initial release, Whitney Houston topped the Billboard 200 album chart and stayed there for 14 consecutive weeks. The final single, "Greatest Love of All," became Houston's biggest hit at the time after peaking #1 and remaining there for three weeks. At the time, Houston had released the best-selling debut album by a female artist, although Britney Spears has since taken that title. Houston then embarked on her world tour, Greatest Love Tour . The album had become an international success, and has been certified 13x Platinum (diamond) in the United States, alone.
At the 1986 Grammy Awards ceremony, Houston was nominated for three awards including Album of the Year . She was ineligible for the Best New Artist category due to her previous duet recording with Teddy Pendergrass in 1984. She won her first Grammy award for 'Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female' for "Saving All My Love for You". At the same award show she also performed that Grammy-winning hit; the performance later won her an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program. Houston won seven American Music Awards in 1986, and an MTV Video Music Award. The album's popularity would
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