Whitney Houston Biography

Whitney Houston was born in 1963 to John and Cissy Houston. Her formative years were very influenced by the music propagated by her gospel singer mother. Whitney Houston was born in New Jersey and her maternal relatives were all into the gospel, soul and rhythm and blues music. She was raised within a staunch Baptist and Pentacostal environment at home. The family relocated to a middle class area in the East Orange region of New Jersey, when she was four. Her mother Cissy, was a backup singer to Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin! It took the young girl no time to follow in her mother’s foot-steps and at eleven, Houston began performing as a soloist in the choir at the New Hope Baptist Church, Newark. This was the humble beginning of the American pop diva, R and B singer, film producer, actress, song writer, record producer and fashion model!

Houston was one of the the first black artists to make a mark within the white male rock dominated music scene. Her debut album established her as a big time solo artist, while the follow up album was adjudged as the first entry by a female artist to enjoy the Numero Uno position on the Billboard 200! The boxoffice grosser ‘The Bodyguard’ added to the success story and her niche in Hollywood in the 1990s. ‘I Will Always Love You’ became an ode to love and the best selling soundtrack of all time. Whitney Houston is acclaimed as the fourth best-selling female recording artist in the world and winner of 6 Grammy Awards and 2 Emmy Awards.

Her musical and experimental journey since her first solo performance in the church ‘Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah’, to her exposure to the music of artists like Chaka Khan and Elvis Presely and her awards, Houston has been the epitome of talent and the ‘Voice of God’ to millions of fans across the globe. At the tender age of fourteen, Houston was the lead singer in the Michael Zager extravaganza ‘Life’s a Party’. In 1979, Houston was a background singer for Chaka Khan’s single grosser, ‘I’m Every Woman’. In the 1980s, she posed as a fashion model in Vogue and Seventeen. She worked on the ballad ‘Memories’ for the group Material. It received acclaim as ‘one of the most gorgeous ballads ever’.

Houston impressed Gerry Griffith, the A&R representative of Arista Records and the result was her national televised debut with Davis on the popular Merv Griffin Show. Houston signed on the dotted line with Arista within a deal that ensured that no other label signed the singer. It was around this time that ‘Hold Me’ from the album ‘Love Language’ became a Top 5 R&B hit single. Houston all time favorites include ‘Someone For Me’, ‘You Give Good Love’, ‘Saving All My Love For You’, ‘How Will I Know’, ‘Greatest Love of All’ and ‘Where Do Broken Hearts Go’. She has experimented with dance-funk music, classical music, soulful ballads, R&B, romantic odes and the controversial crossover base music genre.

The decline of this multi faceted and talented artist came with her marriage to R&B singer Bobby Brown. Houston and Brown got married when her career was at its zenith. The subsequent drug and spousal abuse tooks its toll on her, personally and careerwise. The result was a decline in her public image and album sales. The press and other forms of media played truant and highlighted her erratic behavior beyond repair. Whitney Houston reconciled to drug rehab programs in 2005 and 2006 and divorced Bobby Brown, gaining complete custody of their only child, a daughter.

Her duet ‘Hold Me’ in 1984, nearly bagged Houston the 'Best New Artist' Grammy, but luck favored this beautiful singer with the first Grammy coming in for ‘Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female’ for the classic ‘Saving All My Love for You’. The performance at the Grammy also won Houston her first Emmy Award in the category ‘Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program’. Houston’s grand entry and acceptance within the music industry has been acknowledged as ‘one of the 25 musical milestones in the last 25 years’! And the magic of Whitney Houston continues.