Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston (born on August 9, 1963) is an American R&B/pop singer, pianist, actress, former fashion model, record and movie producer. She is known for her soulful coloratura soprano voice, vocal power, range and melismatic skill. Her debut album was released in 1985 to critical and commercial international success, and she went on to release a 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 into 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 worldwide number-one hit single "I Will Always Love You". Houston's two albums since 2002 ("Just Whitney" and "One Wish: The Christmas Album") have been less successful.

Her personal life became the subject of controversy because of allegations of drug abuse, especially after repeated cancellations of public appearances and erratic behaviour. Houston has since undergone an intense rehabilitation process and is currently recording an album that will be released early this year.

Houston is one of pop music's highest selling artists, having sold over 120 million albums and 50 million singles, as of 2007.

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 single-sex high school Mount Saint Dominic Academy.

Houston's mother (Cissy Houston), first cousin (Dionne Warwick) and godmother (Aretha Franklin) are all notable figures in gospel music, 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, New Jersey.

Personal

Houston married R&B singer Bobby Brown in 1992. 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 were in the process of splitting up. Houston filed legal papers to initiate the process, but 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 daughter, and requested that any property litigation be postponed until a later date. The separation progressed to divorce, however, which was filed October 16, 2006. Houston hired attorney Stephen Kolodny, who has represented many celebrities in their divorce trials.

Music career

Early music career

In 1977, Houston was featured as the lead vocalist on the Michael Zager Band's single "Life's a Party" 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 by working with producers Michael Bienhorn, Bill Laswell and Martin Bisi on an album they were spearheading called One Down, which was 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.

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Whitney Houston (1985)

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 felt her voice was powerful, rich and emotional and searched for songs to complement it. Before the release of her own debut album, Houston recorded a duet with Teddy Pendergrass entitled "Hold Me", which first appeared on his album Love Language. The single peaked in the top fifty on the U.S. pop chart and the top five on the R&B chart, and it later appeared on her debut album.

Music career

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" 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, holding that title for thirteen years. To date, Houston's debut has sold over thirteen million copies in the U.S. alone, and twenty-four million copies worldwide. 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 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". These 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. Houston embarked on 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" was a top twenty hit and "I Belong to You" became an R&B hit only, peaking in the top ten on that chart. In 1991 Houston embarked I'm Your Baby Tonight Tour, which Rolling Stone poll voters voted "Worst Tour of the Year". 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.

Houston's lip synched 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.

Soundtrack recordings

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

The soundtrack to the film The Bodyguard has become the best-selling soundtrack album by a female artist: it sold thirty million copies worldwide on release. The album is also 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 number 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 one of the best-selling and most-played songs of all time. Other radio, chart, and club hit singles from the soundtrack included "I'm Every Woman" (her remake of Chaka Khan's 1978 song), "I Have Nothing", "Run to You", the pop-rock "Queen of the Night (which Houston co-wrote) and "Jesus Loves Me", which received heavy radioplay on many gospel and christian stations in the U.S.. Current sales stand at thirty-five million, with seventeen million of those sold in the U.S.

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 5.1 million copies in the U.S.[1]

The soundtrack to The Preacher's Wife included Houston's first gospel recordings. 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 became the biggest selling gospel album of all-time with sales of 2.5 million in the U.S.,[2] and 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 produced enough new material for a full-length album. Recorded and mixed in only six weeks, My Love Is Your Love received critical acclaim and sold seven million copies worldwide on release (four million of those in the U.S.). 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", was a duet with Mariah Carey recorded for the soundtrack to The Prince of Egypt; it reached the U.S. top twenty 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 U.S. top five. Another single, "I Learned from the Best" peaking inside the top forty. All singles except "When You Believe" became number-one dance hits, continuing Houston's presence on the U.S. club scene. Before 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 in the U.S. are at 2.7 million.[3]

The album and DVD Whitney: The Greatest Hits (2000) reached the U.S. top five, with two weeks spent at number one on the UK chart. Many of the past uptempo songs were remixed to house music and dancefloor-ready songs, while the ballads were left unchanged. The DVD features music videos of past hits as well as actual live performances, interviews, and special features. The compilation also includes a previous unreleased duet with Jermaine Jackson, and new duets with Enrique Iglesias ("Could I Have This Kiss Forever"), George Michael ("If I Told You That") and Deborah Cox ("Same Script, Different Cast"). The album was a success, selling 1.5 million copies in the U.S.[4]

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 on which she would also earn royalties. Two months later, Houston re-released her version of "The Star Spangled Banner" after the September 11th attacks. It reached the U.S. 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 mixed reviews on release and landed in the U.S. top ten, but it failed to reach the top seventy-five in the UK. The singles "Whatchulookinat" (co-written by Houston), "One of Those Days" and "Try It on My Own" were not top forty hits on the U.S. Hot 100, but remixes of "Whatchulookinat", "Try It on My Own" and "Love That Man" became hits on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play Chart. Current sales of the album are at 731,000 in the U.S.[5]

One Wish: The Holiday Album (2003) was a specialty album and her sixth studio album, and it consisted of covers of 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, but the album itself failed to achieve gold status in the U.S., Houston's first studio album not to do so, and it sold just 348,000 copies.[6]

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

Houston performed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in February 2006, in Torino, Italy.

On October 28 2006, Whitney Houston attending the 17th Annual Carousel of Hope Ball with her mentor Clive Davis, who said in his award acceptance speech that Houston and he "are getting our things together, and we're going to make a killer, killer album".

Most of the songs have already been completed for Houston's upcoming album. Houston is returning to the studio in early January to record the rest of the songs chosen for the album. The album is rumored to include collaborations with Jermaine Dupri, Timbaland, Swizz Beatz, Missy Elliott, Akon, Ne-Yo, and Lil Jon; however, executive producer Clive Davis has made it clear that this will be a Whitney Houston album, focusing on her, and less on "flavor of the moment" sounds.

It appears the first new music from Houston to be released will be a song called "Family First" featuring her, her mother Cissy, her cousin Dionne Warwick, Whitney's daughter Bobbi Kristina and the majority of Whitney's other family. The song will be on the soundtrack of the movie Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls, released February 14 2007. The official website of the movie Daddy's Little Girls has a sneek preview of all the soundtracks. Daddy's Little Girls official website

Film and television career

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The Bodyguard Soundtrack (1992)

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 Schroder 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 successful at the box office, grossing more than $121 million in the U.S. and $410 million worldwide. Reviews, however, were mixed, and Houston received two Razzie Award nominations.

In 1995, Houston starred alongside Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine, and Lela Rochon in the film Waiting to Exhale, about four African-American women struggling with relationships. The film grossed $67 million in the U.S. and $82 million worldwide. In the 1996 film The Preacher's Wife, Houston starred with Denzel Washington. It grossed nearly $50 million in the U.S. and $70 million worldwide. Whitney Houston was paid $10 million for The Preacher's Wife, the same as her co-star, which made her, at the time, the second-highest-paid actress in history, after Demi Moore.

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 more than 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 has served as a producer or executive producer on other films, including the Disney comedy The Princess Diaries, starring Anne Hathaway and Dame Julie Andrews. The film grossed more than $100 million at the U.S. box office, and her production company Brownhouse received a percentage of the profits. Houston served as one of the producers on three other projects for Disney: the 2003 television film The Cheetah Girls (starring Raven-Symone) and the sequel The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, which grossed more than $90 million at the U.S. 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 several grams of 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.

John Houston dispute

Houston became involved in a dispute with her father, John Houston. In 2002, John Houston's company sued his daughter for $100 million, stating that they were owed the money for helping to guide her career, as well as helping Houston manage the controversies surrounding her career. Both of them appeared on television and disputed the other's claims. John Houston died in February 2003.

Health concerns

In addition to the allegations about drug abuse, Houston's appearance has led to speculation that she was anorexic, had an eating disorder, or experienced weight loss in conjunction with the drug usage. In particular, Houston's appearance at the 30th anniversary concert for singer Michael Jackson elicited a strong response.

Financial problems

Houston lost her Atlanta estate in a foreclosure sale in November 2006 because mortgage payments were in arrears. On November 16, 2006, the Associated Press reported that Houston's mansion in Mendham, New Jersey, currently assessed at $5.6 million, was due to be sold at a sheriff's sale in January 2007 because of more than $1 million in unpaid mortgage payments and taxes.

On January 3, 2006, the New York Post reported that "[i]n an embarrassing financial scare last year, Houston. . .nearly lost her spectacular $6 million, 10-acre estate in Morris County because she owed tens of thousands of dollars in back taxes." The article then went on to detail how Houston was selling hundreds of her famous stage outfits and accessories at auction, including intimate undergarments, in "an event that could earn her hundreds of thousands of dollars in welcome cash." The Toronto Star newspaper reported on January 4, 2007, that the items were being sold "in an effort to cover unpaid storage fees." Reuters reported on that same date that Houston was "being forced to sell off clothes, instruments and sound equipment to pay a debt to a warehouse storing the items" and that the sale "has been ordered by the New Jersey Superior Court."

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: Lifetime Achievement Award (for Outstanding contributions/success in Music and Film)

Discography

Further information: [[:Whitney Houston 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

17. Rolling Stone Magazine, December 1991 Year End Issue

External links

• Official website
• Inside Of Whitney
• Whitney-Fan.com
• Russian website
• Whitney Houston at IMDb
• WH @ Rockonthenet.com