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Whitney Elizabeth Houston (born on August 9, 1963) is an American pop and R&B singer and actress. She is also a film producer, songwriter and former fashion model. Houston is generally regarded as having the most versatile voice in the music industry, capable of hitting both high and low notes with great dramatic range. Her debut album was released in 1985 to considerable critical and commercial international success, and she went on to release a still-record seven consecutive number-one hits on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. She was one of a handful of African-American artists who received heavy-rotation on MTV during the network's early years in the 1980s.

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". Her personal life became the subject of controversy because of allegations of drug abuse. 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. She was born and raised Baptist but also exposed to the Pentecostal church. She attended a Roman Catholic high school.

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. At the age of eleven, Houston began to follow in their footsteps and started performing as a soloist in the junior gospel choir at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark.

Married life

Houston married R&B singer Bobby Brown in 1992. Their relationship came as a surprise; at the time, Houston's image was conservative and elegant, and Brown's racy stage persona was a substantial contrast. On March 4 1993 she gave birth to the couple's first child, daughter Bobbi Kristina Houston Brown.

In September 2006, it was reported that the couple are in the process of splitting up. Houston filed legal papers to initiate the process; there are conflicting reports as to what occurred. According to publicist Nancy Seltzer, Houston filed for divorce from Brown on September 8, 2006. However, Brown's lawyer, Phaedra Parks, indicated that the action was a legal separation, and not a petition for divorce. Parks indicated that in the separation papers, Houston requested custody of the couple's 13-year old daughter Bobbi Kristina, and requested that any property litigation be postponed until a later date. The separation will become a divorce in October; Houston has hired attorney Stephen Kolodny, who has represented many celebrities in their divorce trials. 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. In the early-1980s, she started appearing as a fashion model in various magazine advertisements and snagged the cover of Seventeen magazine and a Canada Dry commercial. During these modeling years, she continued to balance her burgeoning singing career. She worked with producers Michael Bienhorn, Bill Laswell and Martin Bisi on an album they were spearheading called One Down, credited to the group Material. It was planned to contain eight songs, each one featuring a different lead vocalist. 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. Davis saw her perform and offered her a worldwide-contract, which Houston signed. Her debut album took over two years to complete, as the team searched for songs to complement her powerful voice. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Follow-up singles "Saving All My Love for You", "How Will I Know" and "Greatest Love of All" all went to number one on the pop charts, and Whitney Houston eventually topped the album charts, giving her hits in the U.S., United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa. The album sold over thirteen million copies at its time of release (eight million of those in the U.S.), 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. Current sales of the album are at twenty-three million.

Houston set yet another record with the release of her second album, Whitney (1987), which consisted mainly of pop songs and followed in the steps of its predecessor. It debuted at number one in various countries around the world, including the U.S. and the UK, and in those two countries she was the first female artist to accomplish that feat. It sold twelve million copies worldwide on release (eight million of those in the U.S.), championed by such singles as "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)", "Didn't We Almost Have It All", "So Emotional" and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go". Those singles brought her total of consecutive Hot 100 number-one hits to seven, breaking the record of six previously shared by The Beatles and The Bee Gees. Another song, "Love Will Save the Day", hit the U.S. top ten, giving her a total of five hit singles from the album. Houston embarked on another profitable tour, the worldwide "The Moment of Truth Tour". She also recorded the theme song to the 1988 Olympics, "One Moment in Time", which peaked at number five in the U.S. and reached number one in the UK. Current sales of the album are at twenty million.

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 U.S. 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 U.S.). The first two singles, "I'm Your Baby Tonight" and "All the Man That I Need" went to number one in the U.S., and "Miracle" went top ten. "My Name Is Not Susan" peaked in the top twenty of the Hot 100, and "I Belong to You" became an R&B hit only, peaking in the top ten on that chart. 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 During this time, she and husband Bobby Brown wrote 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. Current sales of the album are at eleven million.

Her rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Super Bowl XXV in January 1991 was released as a single, reaching the top twenty on the U.S. Hot 100 and making her the only artist to turn the national anthem into a pop hit. Houston donated all proceeds to the American Red Cross. This performance of the national anthem was named number one in the NFL's 2003 list of Top 25 greatest moments in NFL history. Her concert at Norfolk, Virginia, as she welcomed back U.S. troops returning from the Gulf War, received very high ratings on the HBO network.

Soundtrack recordings

Houston has several chart successes with soundtracks to films in which she has appeared.

• The soundtrack to the film The Bodyguard became a bestseller and the best selling female album of all time and the best selling soundtrack according to RIAA. 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; the single alone sold nearly ten million copies, making it still the best-selling single by a female artist ever and one of the most-played songs of all time. 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). "Jesus Loves Me" received heavy radioplay on many gospel and christian stations in the US, and songs from the soundtrack were radio, chart, and club hits internationally. Current sales stand at thirty-six million, with twenty million of those sold in the US.
• 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. "Count on Me" (a duet with CeCe Winans) was another top ten hit. Current sales stand at ten million copies worldwide.
• The soundtrack to The Preacher's Wife saw Houston recording her first gospel album. The album received critical success and had hits in the singles "I Believe in You and Me", and the Annie Lennox-penned "Step by Step". The soundtrack eventually became the biggest selling gospel album of all-time with sales of over six million copies worldwide.

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. Recorded and mixed in only six weeks, My Love Is Your Love received critical acclaim and sold seven million copies worldwide upon release (four million of those in the US). 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. First single, "When You Believe" (duetted with Mariah Carey), also appeared on The Prince of Egypt soundtrack, became a top twenty hit in the US and won an Academy Award. 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. Another single, "I Learned from the Best" peaked in the top forty. All singles except "When You Believe" became number-one dance hits, continuing Houston's presence on the US club scene. After the successful "My Love Is Your Love World Tour", she performed on the VH1 Diva's Live '99 special with artists such as Mary J. Blige, Tina Turner, Cher, and Chaka Khan. Current sales of the album are at eleven million worldwide.

Whitney: The Greatest Hits (2000), album and DVD reached the US top five, and number one on the UK chart. The compilation also includes a previous unreleased duet with Jermaine Jackson, and new duetted songs with Enrique Iglesias ("Could I Have This Kiss Forever"), George Michael ("If I Told You That"), and Deborah Cox ("Same Script Different Cast"). In keeping with her high profile on the international club scene, many of the uptempo songs were remixed to house music and dancefloor-ready songs, but the ballads were left unchanged. The DVD features music videos of the past hits as well as actual live performances, interviews, and special features. The album was an international success, selling nine million copies worldwide.

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. She would also earn royalties on the sale of each individual album as well. Two months later, Houston re-released her version of "The Star Spangled Banner" after the September 11th attacks. It reached the US top ten, achieving platinum status, and its proceeds were donated to a relief fund.

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 album received modest reviews upon release and landed in the US top ten. 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. Current sales are at three million worldwide, with one million of those in the US.

One Wish: The Holiday Album (2003), was her sixth studio album and consisted of covers of classic Christmas songs such as "Noel", "Deck the Halls]]/Silent Night" and "Little Drummer Boy" featuring daughter Bobbi Kristina. The single "One Wish (for Christmas)" (a cover of the Freddie Jackson song) reached the top twenty on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart, and the album achieved gold status in the US. Current sales are at one million.

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. In September 2004 she made a surprise performance at the World Music Awards, in tribute to long time friend Clive Davis.

Current/anticipated career activity

She performed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in February 2006, in Torino, Italy. 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. The album is said to have production/collaborations with DJ Premier, Ne-Yo, Missy Elliott, Lil Jon, and Alicia Keys among others. The album is rumored for a spring/early summer 2007 release date.

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. The film was hugely successful, grossing over $121 million in the U.S. and $410 million worldwide. Reviews, however, were mixed, and Houston received three Razzie Award nominations. Houston also starred alongside Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine, and Lela Rochon in the 1995 film Waiting to Exhale, about four African-American women struggling with relationships. Houston served as executive producer of the film. The motion picture was another success, grossing over $72 million.

The 1996 film The Preacher's Wife had Houston star along Denzel Washington. It grossed nearly $50 million in the U.S. In 1997 she co-produced and starred in (along with Brandy, Jason Alexander, Whoopi Goldberg, and Bernadette Peters) a made-for-television remake of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella. Airing in November 1997 via ABC, the film attracted a record-breaking television audience of over sixty million U.S. viewers, won an Emmy Award, and holds the record of the highest selling video of a made-for-tv film.

Houston undertook other producing assignments starting with the Disney comedy The Princess Diaries, starring Anne Hathaway and Dame Julie Andrews. The film grossed over $100 million at the US box office, and her production company Brownhouse received a percentage of the profits. 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. The show was a ratings success.

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. Shortly before the December 2002 release of Just Whitney, Houston gave an interview with Diane Sawyer (where she discussed drug allegations and marital issues). Houston entered drug rehabilitation facilities in March 2004 and again in March 2005.

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). Associates close to Houston came foward stating the story was a lie. 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. There is speculation that this was stunt by Brown's sister was the final straw that convinced Houston to file for divorce.

Recently

In October 2006, Houston made an unscheduled surprise visit to the Carousel Ball of Hope with Clive Davis. An American Idol perfomer who was scheduled to sing at the event, changed the song she had planned to sing to a Houston song. The celebrities at the ball raised a generous $70 million for Juvenile Diabetes Research.

Houston has finished recording her new album, (due for a early 2007) release but may go back into the studio to record additional material.

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 Awards

For 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 Awards

For 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; this was the first year of the awards. During the dedication segment of the ceremony, singers Christina Aguilera and Luther Vandross paid tribute to Houston.
• A 2004 Women's World Award

Discography

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)"

See also

• Whitney Houston chart records and achievements
• List of Whitney Houston awards
• Grammy nominations for Whitney Houston
• List of artists by total number of USA number one singles
• American Music Award nominations for Whitney Houston
• List of best-selling music artists
• List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart

References

1. Biography at WhitneyHouston.com
2. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,213689,00.html
3. "Whitney's prerogative: Leaving Bobby Brown", CNN, September 14, 2006.
4. http://www.postchronicle.com/news/original/article_21239319.shtml
6. Rolling Stone, December 1991.

External links

• Official website
• Whitney Houston at IMDb
• WH @ Rockonthenet.com
• Whitney-Fan.com - fan site
• WhitneyHouston.tk - fan site
• AlwaysWhitney.com - fan site

• Whitney Houston
• American pop singers
• American rhythm and blues singers
• American female singers
• Grammy Award winners
• Arista Records artists
• Kids' Choice Awards winners
• The Cheetah Girls
• Rhythmic Top 40 acts
• American record producers
• American actor-singers
• American film actors
• Worst Actress Razzie nominees
• American models
• American reality television participants
• Baptists from the United States
• People from Newark, New Jersey
• New Jersey actors
• New Jersey musicians
• African-American actors
• African-American singers
• World record holders
• People treated for drug addiction
• 1963 births
• Living people