Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer, actress, film producer, and philanthropist. Known as "the Voice", she was ranked second on Rolling Stone's list of the greatest singers of all time[1] and is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with over 220 million records sold worldwide.[2] Houston influenced many singers in the recording industry and was known for her powerful, soulful vocals, vocal improvisation skills, as well as popularizing the use of gospel singing techniques in pop music, and live performances.[3][4][5] She had 11 number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and is the only artist to have seven consecutive number-one singles on the chart.[a] Houston also enhanced her popularity by entering the film industry. Her accolades include eight Grammy Awards, 22 American Music Awards, two Emmy Awards, and 30 Guinness World Records. Houston's inductions include the Grammy Hall of Fame (twice), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame, the BET Walk of Fame, the Soul Train Hall of Fame,[6] the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, the New Jersey Hall of Fame, and the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress.
For the album, see Whitney Houston (album).
Whitney Houston
February 11, 2012
- Singer
- actress
- film producer
- record producer
- model
- philanthropist
- songwriter
1977–2012
- Cissy Houston (mother)
- Gary Garland (half-brother)
- Dionne Warwick (cousin)
- Dee Dee Warwick (cousin)
- Leontyne Price (cousin)
Houston began singing at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey, as a child and became a background vocalist while in high school. She was one of the first black women to appear on the cover of Seventeen after becoming a teen model in 1981. With the guidance of Arista Records chairman Clive Davis, Houston signed to the label at age 19. Her first two studio albums, Whitney Houston (1985) and Whitney (1987), both peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 and are among the best-selling albums of all time. Hit singles from the albums, including "How Will I Know", "Greatest Love of All" and "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)", established her as a catalyst in the acceptance of black female artists on MTV. Her third studio album, I'm Your Baby Tonight (1990), yielded two Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles, the title track and "All the Man That I Need". Houston's rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Super Bowl XXV in 1991 received widespread media coverage.
Houston made her acting debut with the romantic thriller film The Bodyguard (1992), which despite its mixed reviews became the tenth highest-grossing film to that date. Its soundtrack won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and remains the bestselling soundtrack album of all time. It generated multiple hit singles, including "I Have Nothing", "I'm Every Woman" and "I Will Always Love You"; the latter won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year, spent a then-record 14 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 and became the best-selling single by a woman in music history. Subsequently, she went on to star in the films Waiting to Exhale (1995) and The Preacher's Wife (1996), and she recorded their respective soundtracks; the former scored her last Billboard Hot 100 number-one single, "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)", while the latter, produced by Houston herself, became the bestselling gospel album of all time. Houston's first studio album in eight years, My Love Is Your Love (1998), spawned multiple hit singles, including the title track, "Heartbreak Hotel", "It's Not Right but It's Okay" and the Academy Award-winning Mariah Carey duet "When You Believe". As a film producer, she produced hit series such as The Princess Diaries, The Cheetah Girls and multicultural movies such as Cinderella (1997) and Sparkle (2012).
Following the music and film success, she renewed her contract with Arista Records for $100 million in 2001, one of the biggest recording deals of all time.[7] However, her personal problems began to overshadow her music career. Her 2002 studio album, Just Whitney, received mixed reviews, while her drug use and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown received widespread media coverage. After divorcing Brown, Houston returned to the top of the Billboard 200 chart with her final studio album, I Look to You (2009). In February 2012, Houston accidentally drowned in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, with heart disease and cocaine use as contributing factors. News of her death coincided with the 2012 Grammy Awards, which took place the day following her death, was covered prominent internationally along with her memorial service and created a spike in sales of her music. Coverage of Houston's death was ranked as the most memorable entertainment event in television history, according to a study by Sony Electronics and the Nielsen Television Research Company.[8] Her assets amounted to $250 million, earned over a 25-year career.[9] Her life and career were dramatized in the 2022 biopic I Wanna Dance with Somebody.
Career
1978–1984: Early career
After placing second place at a statewide talent showcase in 1977, Houston began singing background for her mother's band on the cabaret club circuit in New York City. On February 18, 1978, a fourteen-year-old Houston made her non-church performance debut at Manhattan's Town Hall singing the Broadway standard "Tomorrow" from the musical Annie, receiving her first standing ovation.[30] Later that year, Houston sang background on mother Cissy's solo album, Think It Over, with the title track later reaching the top 5 of the Billboard disco chart. The album's producer Michael Zager recorded her lead vocal on his disco song, "Life's a Party", with the album of the same name released later in 1978.[31] Houston's session vocal career took off when she sang background for Chaka Khan and Lou Rawls on their respective albums, Naughty and Shades of Blue, both released in 1980.[32]
Houston became a fashion model after she was discovered by a photographer who filmed her and her mother during a performance for the United Negro College Fund at Carnegie Hall. She became one of the first black women to appear on the cover of a fashion magazine when she appeared on the cover of Seventeen.[33] She would also appear inside other magazines such as Glamour, Cosmopolitan and Young Miss. Her looks and girl-next-door charm made her one of the most sought-after teen models.[32] In February 1981, Houston recorded three demo recordings of gospel music with producer and music executive Steven Abdul Khan Brown in hopes of Houston getting signed to a recording deal.[34] Khan Brown later would claim the demos helped Houston secure her deal with Arista Records in early 1983.[34] During this period, Houston was sought after for record deals between 1979 and 1981 by the likes of Michael Zager and Luther Vandross.[31][35] The offers, however, were turned down by her mother because she wanted Houston to finish school.[31] Weeks after graduation, Houston signed with Tara Productions, under the advice of her cousin Dionne, and hired Gene Harvey as her manager, with co-managers Daniel Gittelman and Seymour Flics, also working closely with the singer.[36][37][38]
Houston would see her profile raised after being hired to sing on the song "Memories" by the band Material, later released on their 1982 album, One Down. Robert Christgau of The Village Voice called her contribution "one of the most gorgeous ballads you've ever heard".[39] Later in 1982, she recorded the soul ballad, "Eternal Love", by producer and songwriter Paul Jabara, which was later featured on Jabara's 1983 album, Paul Jabara & Friends, with its original title including Houston's name on the cover.[40] The song was later covered by R&B singer Stephanie Mills for her album, Merciless that same year. During this time, she was sought after by Elektra president Bruce Lundvall, who offered her a contract at the end of 1982. In March 1983, Gerry Griffith, an A&R representative for Arista Records, saw Houston performing with her mother at the Seventh Avenue South nightclub in Manhattan. He convinced Arista head Clive Davis to make time to see her perform at another nightclub called Sweetwaters the following week. Davis was impressed and immediately offered a worldwide record deal, which Houston eventually signed on April 10, 1983; since she was only nineteen, her parents also signed for her. Two weeks later, on April 29, Houston performed on The Merv Griffin Show, after an introduction from Davis.[41] Her performance later aired on June 23.[42] She performed "Home", a song from the musical The Wiz.[43]
Houston did not begin work on an album immediately.[44] The label wanted to make sure no other label signed her away and Davis wanted to ensure he had the right material and producers for her debut album. Some producers passed on the project because of prior commitments.[45] Houston first recorded a duet with Teddy Pendergrass, "Hold Me", which appeared on his gold album, Love Language.[46] The single was released in 1984 and gave Houston her first taste of success, becoming a top ten hit on the R&B and adult contemporary charts.[47] It would also appear on her debut album in 1985. She also appeared as a duet vocalist and background singer on Jermaine Jackson's Dynamite and Kashif's Send Me Your Love albums. During this early period, Houston continued to model, appeared in a commercial for the Canada Dry soft drink, and also began singing commercial jingles, including one for the restaurant brand, Steak & Ale.[48]
1985–1986: Whitney Houston and rise to international prominence
After nearly two years of sessions, Whitney Houston was released on Valentine's Day, February 14, 1985.[49] Co-produced by Kashif, Jermaine Jackson, Michael Masser and Narada Michael Walden, the album would spend more than three years on the Billboard 200 and shot up to No. 1 on the chart in March 1986, over a year after its release, where it would stay for fourteen weeks.[50][51] The album would hit number one or hit the top five in more than ten other countries. Certified Diamond in the United States for sales of 14 million copies,[52] the album has reportedly sold 25 million copies worldwide.[53][54][55][b] Rolling Stone magazine praised Houston, 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".[57][58]
The album launched seven singles in various countries, including four alone in the United States. The album spawned four top ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100, including the top five crossover hit, "You Give Good Love",[59] and three consecutive number one singles, "Saving All My Love for You", "How Will I Know" and "Greatest Love of All". This feat made Houston the first solo female recording artist to launch three number one singles off a single album. Outside the US, "Saving All My Love for You" hit number one in the UK and Ireland, "How Will I Know" reached number one in Canada, and "Greatest Love of All" topped the charts in Australia. In addition, the album's international success was further buoyed by the ballad "All at Once", which hit the top five in selected European countries.[60] Another song, "Thinking About You", became a top ten single on the R&B chart.
The album would receive four Grammy Award nominations, including three at the 1986 ceremony, including Album of the Year, winning one in the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance category for "Saving All My Love for You".[61][62] A controversy arose after Houston was deemed ineligible for entry for a nomination for Best New Artist. Despite an angry letter from Clive Davis, the committee defended the decision, noting Houston's previous chart duet with Teddy Pendergrass.[63] Houston received more awards from her work on the album including 14 Billboard Awards, including "Top Pop Artist" and "Top Pop Album", the first album by a female artist to receive that distinction,[50] and an NAACP Image Award. Houston's music video for "How Will I Know" won her an MTV Video Music Award. Houston's performance of "Saving All My Love for You" at the 1986 Grammys later resulted in Houston winning an Emmy Award.[64] Houston would also receive seven American Music Awards, including five alone in 1987.[65][66]
Houston first supported the album by being an opening act for singer Jeffrey Osborne before moving on to open for Luther Vandross.[67] By October 1985, Houston had become a solo headliner, later opening at Carnegie Hall.[68] Houston embarked on her first world tour, The Greatest Love World Tour, in July 1986. Houston toured for 50 dates up until the end of the year. The album's success was attributed to Houston's performances on late night talk shows, something that was usually not accessible to emerging black acts.[50] Though Houston's early music video clips for "You Give Good Love" and "Saving All My Love for You" found heavy airplay on stations such as BET and VH1, the singer and Arista struggled to submit these videos to MTV. At that time, the channel received harsh criticism for not playing enough videos by artists of color while favoring predominantly white acts.[69] In 2001, Houston explained in an interview with the channel how it rejected "You Give Good Love" because it was a "very kind of R&B song".[70] Following the release of "Saving All My Love for You", MTV agreed to play its video clip on light rotation because, Houston said, the song "hit so hard and exploded so heavy" that they "had no choice but to play it."[70]
In December 1985, Arista submitted the video to "How Will I Know", which immediately gained heavy rotation and introduced Houston to the young MTV audience.[71][72] Though other artists such as Donna Summer and Tina Turner had enjoyed heavy rotation on the channel prior to Houston's entrance, black female artists were still "woefully underrepresented on MTV's playlist".[71] According to author Ann Kaplan, in her book, Rocking Around the Clock: Television, Postmodernism and Consumer Culture, "until the recent advent of Whitney Houston, Tina Turner was the only female Black singer featured regularly, and even so, her videos are far and few between."[71] Houston was credited for breaking barriers for black female artists on the channel resulting in videos by Janet Jackson, Jody Watley and Tracy Chapman to be immediately accepted to the channel's playlist.[71] Houston's success also made it possible for other African American female artists to break through on pop radio following the fallout of disco, opening doors for Jackson and Anita Baker among others.[73][74] Houston's debut album is listed as one of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Definitive 200 list.[75][76] Houston's grand entrance into the music industry is considered one of the 25 musical milestones of the last 25 years, according to USA Today.[77]
1987–1989: Whitney and social activism
In June 1987, Houston's second album, Whitney, was released. Produced majorly by Narada Michael Walden, the album also featured productions from past collaborators Michael Masser and Kashif, with the sole new producer, Jellybean Benitez, contributing the hit dance song, "Love Will Save the Day". Critics complained that the material was too similar to her previous album. Rolling Stone said, "the narrow channel through which this talent has been directed is frustrating".[78] The album nonetheless enjoyed commercial success. Houston became the first woman in music history to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 chart and the first artist ever to enter number one in the US and UK, while also hitting number one or top ten in dozens of other countries around the world.[79][80] The album would stay at number one on the Billboard 200 for its first eleven weeks, a record by a female artist that remains so to this day.[81][82]
The album's first single, "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)", released a month earlier in May, was also a massive hit worldwide, peaking at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping the singles chart in 17 countries, including Australia, West Germany and the UK. To date, the single has sold over 14 million copies worldwide.[83] Following that single was three more singles, "Didn't We Almost Have It All", "So Emotional" and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go", all of which peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. With this feat, Houston became the first recording artist in history to earn seven consecutive number one hits, besting the previous record of six, held by the Beatles and the Bee Gees. Houston remains the only artist to ever accomplish this feat as of 2024.[79][80] In addition, Houston also became the first female artist to generate four number one singles off one album. Whitney has been certified Diamond in the US for shipments of over ten million copies[52] and has sold a total of 20 million copies worldwide.[84]
The album was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year at the 1988 ceremony. Houston would eventually win her second Grammy that year in the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance category for "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)".[85][86] In addition, Houston would win four American Music Awards for her work on the album.[87][88] She also won her first Soul Train Music Award when the album won for best R&B album by a female artist.[89] In addition, the album also won Houston six Billboard Awards.
Just a month after the album's release, Houston launched her second world tour, the Moment of Truth World Tour at Tampa Stadium in July 1987. The tour eventually ended its North American leg as one of the ten highest-grossing concert tours of the year and the highest-grossing of the year by a female performer, topping tours by both Madonna and Tina Turner.[90][91] Houston would eventually toured 150 dates throughout the nearly two-year tour, including eight sold out dates at London's Wembley Arena. The singer's unprecedented successes helped her to earn notices on Forbes magazine. In 1987, she was ranked the eighth highest-ranking entertainer of the year on its Forbes 40 list, earning $43 million in that year alone.[92] The highest-earning musician and highest black female entertainer on the list, she was only the third highest after Bill Cosby and Eddie Murphy.[92] In 1988, she ranked 17th.[93][94]
Houston was a supporter of Nelson Mandela and the anti-apartheid movement. During her modeling days, she refused to work with agencies who did business with the then-apartheid South Africa.[95][96] On June 11, 1988, during the European leg of her tour, Houston joined other musicians to perform a set at Wembley Stadium in London to celebrate a then-imprisoned Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday.[95] Over 72,000 people attended Wembley Stadium and over a billion people tuned in worldwide as the rock concert raised over $1 million for charities while bringing awareness to apartheid.[97] Houston then flew back to the US for a concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City in August. The show was a benefit concert that raised a quarter of a million dollars for the United Negro College Fund.[98] In the same year, she recorded a song for NBC's coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics, "One Moment in Time", which became a Top 5 hit in the US, while reaching number one in the UK and Germany.[99][100][101] The song later won Houston and her producer Narada Michael Walden a Sports Emmy Award.[102] In January 1989, Houston formed The Whitney Houston Foundation For Children, a nonprofit organization that has raised funds for the needs of children around the world. The organization cares for homelessness, children with cancer or AIDS and other issues of self-empowerment.[103][104] The organization now functions under the name, the Whitney E. Houston Legacy Foundation.
Personal life
When Houston was 16, she met Robyn Crawford, then a collegiate basketball player for Monmouth University, while both worked as counselors at a youth summer camp in East Orange. The two became fast friends and Houston later described Crawford as the "sister [she] never had".[285][28] After Houston graduated, they became roommates at an apartment complex in Woodbridge, 20 miles from East Orange. Shortly after Houston signed with Arista, Crawford became the singer's executive assistant.[286][28][237] During Houston's early fame, rumors speculated of a romance between Houston and Crawford, which both denied during a Time magazine interview in 1987.[28] In 2019, Crawford admitted in her memoirs, A Song for You: My Life with Whitney Houston, that their early relationship included sexual activity but stopped before Houston signed a recording deal.[287] Crawford remained a close friend and employee of Houston's until 2000.
Throughout the 1980s, Houston was romantically linked to musician Jermaine Jackson,[288] American football star Randall Cunningham, restaurateur Brad Johnson and actor Eddie Murphy.[108] 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.[289] The two singers occasionally collaborated on songs, including the hit record, "Something in Common". Brown would go on to have several run-ins with the law for drunken driving, drug possession and battery, including some jail time.[290][291][256] On March 4, 1993, Houston gave birth to their daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown (March 4, 1993 – July 26, 2015),[292] the couple's only child. Houston revealed in a 1993 interview with Barbara Walters that she had a miscarriage during the filming of The Bodyguard.[293] Throughout their marriage, Houston and Brown tried having another child, with Houston suffering several miscarriages, including one in July 1994[294] and another in December 1996.[295]
In December 2003, Brown was charged with battery following an altercation during which he threatened to beat Houston and then assaulted her. Police reported that Houston had visible injuries to her face.[256] In September 2006, a year after Being Bobby Brown aired, Houston filed for legal separation from Brown, later filing for divorce the following month.[296][297] The divorce was granted on April 24, 2007, with Houston admitting Brown was "unreliable" in supporting their teenage daughter.[298]
Philanthropy
Houston was a long-time supporter of several charities all around the world. In 1989, she established the Whitney Houston Foundation for Children. It offered medical assistance to sick and homeless children, fought to prevent child abuse, taught children to read, created inner-city parks and playgrounds and granted college scholarships, including one to the Juilliard School.[493]
At a 1988 Madison Square Garden concert, Houston earned more over $250,000 for the United Negro College Fund (UNCF).[494]
Houston donated all of the earnings from her 1991 Super Bowl XXV performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" sales to Gulf War servicemen and their families.[495] The record label followed suit and she was voted to the American Red Cross Board of Directors as a result.[496] Following the terrorist attacks in 2001, Houston re-released "The Star-Spangled Banner" to support the New York Firefighters 9/11 Disaster Relief Fund and the New York Fraternal Order of Police. She waived her royalty rights to the song, which reached number one on charts in October 2001 and generated more than $1 million.[497]
Houston declined to perform in apartheid-era South Africa in the 1980s.[498] Her participation at the 1988 Freedomfest performance in London (for a then-imprisoned Nelson Mandela) grabbed the attention of other musicians and the media.[499]
In addition, Houston became an activist for the fight against HIV and AIDS during the first decade of the AIDS epidemic. The Whitney Houston Foundation for Children, in particular, focused on helping children who suffered from HIV/AIDS, among other issues. In 1990, Whitney took part in Arista Records' 15th anniversary gala, which was an AIDS benefit, where she sang "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)", "Greatest Love of All" and, with cousin Dionne Warwick, "That's What Friends Are For". A year later, Whitney participated in the Reach Out & Touch Someone AIDS vigil at London in September 1991 while she was finishing her historic ten-date residency at London's Wembley Arena; there, she stressed the importance of AIDS research and addressing HIV stigma.[500][501]
Noting of her influence as a gay icon, during the middle of her tour to promote the My Love Is Your Love album in June 1999, Whitney gave a surprise performance at the 13th Annual New York City Lesbian & Gay Pride Dance, titled Dance 13: The Last Dance of the Century,[502] at one of the city's West Side piers.[503] According to Instinct magazine, Houston's unannounced performance at the Piers "ushered in a new era that would eventually make high-profile artists performing at LGBTQ events virtually commonplace."[502] Before hitting the stage, Houston was asked by MTV veejay John Norris why she decided to attend the event, Houston replied, "we're all God's children, honey".[502]
Documentaries and portrayals
Documentaries
Since Houston's sudden death in 2012, her life, career and death have been the subject of many documentaries and specials. A television documentary film entitled Whitney: Can I Be Me aired on Showtime on August 25, 2017.[504] The film was directed by Nick Broomfield.[505]
On April 27, 2016, it was announced that Kevin Macdonald would work with the film production team Altitude, producers of the Amy Winehouse documentary film Amy (2015), on a new documentary film based on Houston's life and death. It is the first documentary authorized by Houston's estate.[506] That film, entitled Whitney, premiered at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and was released internationally in theaters on July 6, 2018.[507]
Lifetime released the documentary Whitney Houston & Bobbi Kristina: Didn't We Almost Have It All in 2021, which The Atlanta Journal-Constitution called "...less an exposé and more a loving tribute to these two women".[508] On the tenth anniversary of her death, ESPN ran a thirty-minute documentary of Houston's acclaimed performance of The Star Spangled Banner at Super Bowl XXV in 1991 titled Whitney's Anthem.[509]
Portrayals
In 2015, Lifetime premiered the biographical film Whitney, which mentions that Whitney Houston was named after prominent television actress Whitney Blake, the mother of Meredith Baxter, star of the television series Family Ties. The film was directed by Houston's Waiting to Exhale co-star Angela Bassett, and Houston was portrayed by model Yaya DaCosta.
In April 2020, it was announced that a biopic based on Houston's life, said to be "no holds barred", titled I Wanna Dance with Somebody, would be produced, with Bohemian Rhapsody screenwriter Anthony McCarten writing the script and director Kasi Lemmons at the helm. Clive Davis, the Houston estate and Primary Wave were behind the biopic, with Sony Pictures & TriStar Pictures.[510][511][512] On December 15, 2020, it was announced that actress Naomi Ackie had been picked to portray Houston.[513][514] The film opened on December 23, 2022 and grossed around $60 million, becoming one of the highest grossing biopics based on a historical African American female figure after the Tina Turner biopic, What's Love Got to Do with It.
Each actress listed portrays Houston: