Singer and film actress, born in Newark, New Jersey, USA. Daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston (c.1930 ), she began singing in the local gospel choir, and became a backing singer for Chaka Khan, Lou Rawls (19332006), and others. The album Whitney Houston (1985) won a Grammy award and included her first US number 1 hit single Saving All My Love For You. Her second album, Whitney (1987), entered the UK chart and became the first album by a female artist to debut at number 1. Later albums include My Love is Your Love (1999) and One Wish - The Holiday Album (2003). In 1988 she broke a US chart record with seven consecutive number 1 hits, overtaking the previous record of six achieved by The Beatles and The Bee Gees. Her films include The Bodyguard (1992) and The Preacher's Wife (1996).
| Whitney Houston | ||
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| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Whitney Elizabeth Houston | |
| Born | August 09, 1963 (age 43) | |
| Origin | East Orange, New Jersey, United States | |
| Genre(s) | Pop, R&B, gospel | |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, actress, film producer, fashion model | |
| Years active | 1984–present | |
| Label(s) | SonyBMG/Arista | |
| Website | WhitneyHouston.com | |
Whitney Elizabeth Houston (born on August 9, 1963) is an American pop and R&B singer and actress. Houston is generally regarded as having one of the most versatile voices in the music industry, capable of hitting both high and low notes with great dramatic range, and her vocal talent is said to always be imitated by her followers, but never fully duplicated.
Houston continued her success in the 1990s with the release of several films and their corresponding soundtrack albums, the most popular of which was The Bodyguard (1992), which produced the extremely successful single "I Will Always Love You". Houston is one of the highest selling artists in music history, having sold over 132 million albums and 53 million singles with relatively few releases.
Personal and family life
Early years
Houston was born in Newark, New Jersey to John and Cissy Houston.
Houston's mother, first cousin (Dionne Warwick) and godmother (Aretha Franklin) were all notable figures in the music industry for their gospel, rhythm and blues and soul music recordings.
Married life
Houston married R&B singer Bobby Brown in 1992. According to publicist Nancy Seltzer, Houston filed for divorce from Brown on September 8, 2006. On October 16, 2006 Whitney Houston filed for divorce from husband Bobby Brown.
Music career
Early music career
Houston was featured as the lead vocalist on the Michael Zager Band's single "Life's a Party" in 1978, and Zager later offered to obtain her a record deal but she declined. Houston contributed the ballad "Memories", which received favorable reviews from The Village Voice when the album debuted.
Houston had been offered several record deals (from Michael Zager in 1980, and Elektra Records in 1981) and in 1983 an A&R representative from Arista saw Houston performing with her mother in a nightclub in New York City. He convinced the head of the record label, Clive Davis, to take time to see Houston singing at the nightclub. Before the release of her own debut album, she recorded a duet with Teddy Pendergrass entitled "Hold Me" which gave Houston her first taste of commercial success. The song first appeared on his album Love Language and peaked in the top fifty on the US pop chart and the top five on the R&B chart, and the song later appeared on her debut album.
Music career chart success
Houston's self-titled 1985 debut album was initially a slow seller until the success of its single "You Give Good Love", which peaked inside the top five on the US Billboard Hot 100. The album sold over thirteen million copies at its time of release (eight million of those in the US) making it, at the time, the best-selling debut album by a female artist. Houston's first tour, the worldwide The Greatest Love Tour, took place in 1986.
Houston set yet another record with the release of her second album, Whitney (1987), which consisted mainly of pop songs and its success followed in the steps of its predecessor. Houston embarked on another profitable tour, the worldwide "The Moment of Truth Tour".
Houston's third album I'm Your Baby Tonight (1990) featured singing and production collaborations with Babyface, Stevie Wonder, and Luther Vandross and reached number three on the US Billboard 200. It did not sell as highly as her first two albums, but sold well with eight million copies moved worldwide at its time of release (four million of those in the US). Houston embarked on the I'm Your Baby Tonight world tour in 1991 and the tour was voted "Worst Tour of the Year" by Rolling Stone poll voters She performed to sold-out crowds throughout the "Tonight" tour. Later, she and husband Bobby Brown would write the song "Something in Common" (in reference to her becoming pregnant with her only child, daughter Bobbi Kristina Houston Brown) which became a UK hit.
Soundtrack recordings
Houston has several chart successes with soundtracks to films in which she has appeared, that made her the most successful singer/actor of the 1990s. Houston's remake and rearrangement of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" spent a record-breaking fourteen weeks at numbr one on the Billboard Hot 100 and broke numerous sales and chart records in dozens of countries; Other hit singles from the soundtrack included "I'm Every Woman" (her remake of Chaka Khan's 1978 song), "I Have Nothing", "Run to You" and the pop-rock "Queen of the Night (which Houston co-wrote). Houston recorded three songs for the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack, and the first single, "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)", debuted at the number one position on the Hot 100 and became the single with the longest time spent at number two in music history. The soundtrack to The Preacher's Wife saw Houston recording her first gospel album.
Subsequent albums
My Love Is Your Love (1998), Houston's fourth studio album, was originally conceived as a greatest hits album with a handful of new songs, but recording sessions were so fruitful that enough new material was produced for a full-length album, and the greatest hits was postponed. Houston served as one of the album's producers, and the album was more R&B and hip-hop driven than past releases as she collaborated with Wyclef Jean, Missy Elliott, Lauryn Hill, and once again Babyface. Next singles "Heartbreak Hotel" (featuring Faith Evans and Kelly Price), "It's Not Right But It's Okay" (which won Houston her sixth Grammy Award) and "My Love Is Your Love" reached the US top five. All singles except "When You Believe" became number-one dance hits, continuing Houston's presence on the US club scene.
In August 2001, Houston signed the biggest record deal in history with Arista/BMG: She renewed her contract (worth $100 million) to deliver six new albums.
Just Whitney (2002), Houston's fifth studio album, featured collaborations with then-husband Bobby Brown, as well as Missy Elliott, and the ten song collection saw Houston incorporate pop, hip-hop, R&B, rock, and dance. The singles "Whatchulookinat" (co-written by Houston), "One of Those Days" and "Try It on My Own" did not become pop hits, but remixes of "Whatchulookinat", "Try It on My Own" and "Love That Man" became hits on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play Chart, with the latter two hitting number one.
In 2004, Houston embarked on an international tour, the Soul Divas tour with Natalie Cole and cousin Dionne Warwick in Europe, before embarking on solo dates in the Middle East, Russia, and Asia. Houston, escorted by Clive Davis, also attended the 15th annual Society of Singers ELLA Awards in Beverly Hills, California on September 12, 2006 which was honoring Johnny Mathis.
Whitney Houston arrived at the 17th annual Carousel Ball of Hope in October 2006, where American Idol runner-up Katherine McPhee changed the song she had planned to perform, instead opting to sing Houston's "I Have Nothing".
Songs have already been completed for Houston's upcoming album, although she may go back into the studio to record additional material.
Film and television career
During the 1980s, as Houston was working on launching a music career, she auditioned for acting roles, including the part of Sondra Huxtable on The Cosby Show, which was won by Sabrina Le Beauf. Houston acted on episodes of Gimme a Break with Nell Carter and Silver Spoons with Rick Schroeder before her debut album was released.
Houston's first film role was in The Bodyguard released in 1992 and co-starring Kevin Costner. Reviews, however, were mixed, and Houston received three Razzie Award nominations.
The 1996 film The Preacher's Wife had Houston star along Denzel Washington.
Houston undertook other producing assignments starting with the Disney comedy The Princess Diaries, starring Anne Hathaway and Dame Julie Andrews. Houston produced three other successful projects for Disney: the 2003 television film The Cheetah Girls (starring Raven-Symone) and the sequel The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, which grossed over $90 million at the US box office. In May 2006, Houston also was an executive producer for The Cheetah Girls sequel The Cheetah Girls 2: When in Spain.
In 2005, Houston co-starred in her then-husband's reality TV program Being Bobby Brown, which provided a view into the domestic goings-on in the Brown household.
Controversies and personal challenges
Shortly before the release of Whitney: The Greatest Hits in April 2000, airport security discovered marijuana in Houston and husband Bobby Brown's luggage at a Hawaiian airport, but they boarded the plane and departed before police could arrive. Charges were later dropped against her and Brown but other rumors about drug use developed around the couple, and Houston became well known in the industry for canceling appearances.
Tabloid media and traditional news outlets reported in early 2006 that Houston was again fighting drug addiction. Rag magazine, The National Enquirer, published pictures of a bathroom littered with drug paraphernalia, stating it was Houston's, and credited the pictures to Tina Brown (Bobby Brown's sister, a known drug abuser). Interestingly, the tabloid stated the bathroom was Houston's instead of both Houston's and Bobby Brown's, which should have been the case since they were married at the time.
On November 16, 2006, the Associated Press reported that Houston's New Jersey mansion will be sold at a sheriff's sale in January 2007 because of more than $1 million in unpaid mortgage payments and taxes.
Awards
Houston has won twenty-one American Music Awards (a record for a solo artist), six Grammy Awards, and two Emmy Awards among her many accolades. Among the recognition Houston has received:
For Whitney Houston:
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance" Grammy Award for "Saving All My Love for You" Emmy Award for "Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety Program on TV"For Whitney:
Grammy Award, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance " for "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" Several American Music Awards for "Whitney"For I'm Your Baby Tonight:
Four Billboard Music AwardsFor The Bodyguard soundtrack:
Grammy Awards for "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance", "Record of the Year" and "Album of the Year" Eleven Billboard Music Awards Eight American Music AwardsFor the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack:
Three NAACP Image Awards for "Outstanding Female Artist", "Album of the Year" and "Best Soundtrack Album" One American Music Award for "Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist". Soul Train Music Award for "Best Female R&B/Soul Single"For My Love Is Your Love:
MTV Europe Award for "Best R&B Artist" Two NAACP Image Awards Grammy Award for "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance" ("It's Not Right but It's Okay")Other recognition:
Soul Train Music Award for "Artist of the Decade" Lifetime Achievement Award at the BET Awards in 2001; A 2004 Women's World AwardDiscography
Number-one songs
The following songs reached number-one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100
1985: "Saving All My Love for You" 1986: "How Will I Know" 1986: "Greatest Love of All" 1987: "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" 1987: "Didn't We Almost Have It All" 1988: "So Emotional" 1988: "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" 1990: "I'm Your Baby Tonight" 1991: "All the Man That I Need" 1992: "I Will Always Love you" 1995: "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)"
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