Gone too soon...for those who grew with her music, this article is about her life and also I will be posting some of her award winning MTV from youtube. I have many of her original CDs at home since my dear hubby was an ex-DJ when he was very young. Been listening to her songs ever since schooldays and dating era till now. Even my kids are fans of her too.
Her songs have been played everywhere...radio stations, internet, at functions especially wedding functions, movie soundtracks etc. The lists can go on and on. Especially on Valentine's day which is just hours away, many entertainment outlets and restaurants are expected to play much of her songs.
Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was born in what was then a middle-income neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey, the third and youngest child of Army serviceman and entertainment executive John Russell Houston, Jr. (September 13, 1920 - February 2, 2003), and gospel singer Cissy Houston. Her mother, along with cousins Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick and godmother Aretha Franklin were all notable figures in the gospel, rhythm and blues, pop, and soul genres. After the 1967 Newark riots, the family moved to a middle class area in East Orange, New Jersey when she was four.
Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was born in what was then a middle-income neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey, the third and youngest child of Army serviceman and entertainment executive John Russell Houston, Jr. (September 13, 1920 - February 2, 2003), and gospel singer Cissy Houston. Her mother, along with cousins Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick and godmother Aretha Franklin were all notable figures in the gospel, rhythm and blues, pop, and soul genres. After the 1967 Newark riots, the family moved to a middle class area in East Orange, New Jersey when she was four.
At the age of 11, 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. She spent some of her teenage years touring nightclubs where her mother Cissy was performing and she would occasionally get on stage and perform with her. Then in 1978, at age 15, Houston sang background vocals on Chaka Khan's hit single "I'm Every Woman," a song she would later turn into a larger hit for herself on her monster-selling The Bodyguard soundtrack album.
In the early 1980s, Houston started working as a fashion model after a photographer saw her at Carnegie Hall singing with her mother. She appeared in Seventeen and became one of the first women of color to grace the cover of the magazine. She was also featured in layouts in the pages of Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Young Miss, and appeared in a Canada Dry soft drink TV commercial. Her striking looks and girl-next-door charm made her one of the most sought after teen models of that time. She signed with Arista Records (label head Clive Davis) in 1983.
She was an American singer, actress, producer and model. In 2009, Houston was the most-awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records. Her list of awards includes two Emmy Awards, six Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among a total of 415 career awards as of 2010. Houston was also one of the world's best-selling music artists, having sold over 170 million albums, singles and videos worldwide.
Houston released seven studio albums and three movie soundtrack albums, all of which have diamond, multi-platinum, platinum or gold certification. She was the only artist to chart seven consecutive No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hits ("Saving All My Love for You", "How Will I Know", "Greatest Love of All", "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)", "Didn't We Almost Have It All", "So Emotional" and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go").
She was the second artist behind Elton John and the only female artist to have two number-one Top Billboard 200 Album awards (formerly "Top Pop Album") on the Billboard magazine year-end charts. Houston's 1985 debut album Whitney Houston, became the best-selling debut album by a female act at the time of its release. The album was named Rolling Stone's best album of 1986, and was ranked at number 254 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
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, starting with her video for "How Will I Know", influenced several African-American female artists to follow in her footsteps.
Throughout the 1980s, Houston was romantically linked to American football star Randall Cunningham and actor Eddie Murphy, whom she dated. She then met R&B singer Bobby Brown at the 1989 Soul Train Music Awards. After a three year courtship, the two were married on July 18, 1992. Nearly a year later, Houston gave birth to their daughter Bobbi Kristina Houston Brown, her first and only child.
Houston's first acting role was as the star of the feature film The Bodyguard (1992). The film's original soundtrack won the 1994 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Its lead single "I Will Always Love You", became the best-selling single by a female artist in music history. With the album, Houston became the first act (solo or group, male or female) to sell more than a million copies of an album within a single week period. The album makes her the only female act in the top 10 list of the best-selling albums of all time, at number four.
Houston continued to star in movies and contribute to their soundtracks, including the films Waiting to Exhale (1995) and The Preacher's Wife (1996). The Preacher's Wife soundtrack became the best-selling gospel album in history. Three years after the release of her fourth studio album My Love Is Your Love (1998), she renewed her recording contract with Arista Records. She released her fifth studio album Just Whitney in 2002 and the Christmas themed One Wish: The Holiday Album in 2003. In 2009, Houston released her seventh studio album I Look to You.
After years of controversy and turmoil, Houston was separated from Bobby Brown in September 2006, filing for divorce the next month. On February 1, 2007, Houston asked the court to fast track their divorce. The divorce was finalized on April 24, 2007, with Houston granted custody of the couple's daughter.
On February 11, 2012, Houston died of unknown causes at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. Beverly Hills paramedics found the singer unresponsive and performed CPR for about 20 minutes before declaring her dead at 3:55 p.m. PST Local police said there were "no obvious signs of criminal intent".
RIP Whitney Houston...your legacy will live forever!
