Whitney Elizabeth Houston (born August 9, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, film producer, arranger and former fashion model.
Whitney Houston was born in a rough neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey.
She has two older brothers and is the third and youngest child of John and gospel singer Cissy Houston. Her mother, along with cousin Dionne Warwick and godmother Aretha Franklin are all notable figures in the gospel, rhythm and blues, and soul genres. Houston was raised a Baptist, but was also exposed to the Pentecostal church.
After the 1967 Newark riots, the family moved to a middle class area in East Orange, New Jersey when she was four. When her mother was away touring with Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin as a backup singer, her father would spend most of the time with the children. At the age of eleven, Houston began to follow in her mothers 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.
Her first solo performance in the church was "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah". When Houston was a teenager, her parents divorced and she continued to live with her mother. She attended a Roman Catholic single-sex high school, Mount Saint Dominic Academy, where she met her best friend Robin Crawford, whom she describes as the "sister she never had." Crawford would later become Houston's personal assistant for several years. While Houston was still in school, she would continue to be surrounded by music from her mother, cousin Dionne Warwick, and close family friend Aretha Franklin, all of which would have an impact on her as a musician and performer.
Houston spent some of her teenage years occasionally touring night clubs with her mother when Cissy was performing. In 1977, at fourteen years of age, Whitney Houston was featured as the lead singer on the Michael Zager Band's single "Life's a Party". Zager subsequently offered to help obtain a recording contract for the young singer, but Cissy declined, wanting her daughter to finish school first. Then in 1979, at age sixteen, Houston sang background vocals on Chaka Khan's hit single "I'm Every Woman", a song she would later turn into a bigger hit in 1992. In the early 1980s, Houston worked as a fashion model after a photographer saw her at Carnegie Hall singing with her mother. She appeared in Vogue Magazine and became one of the first women of color to grace the cover of Seventeen magazine.
With production from Michael Masser, Kashif, Jermaine Jackson and Narada Michael Walden, Houston's self-titled 1985 debut album was released in February 1985. Rolling Stone Magazine praised the new talent, 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." After the dance-funk single "Someone For Me" failed to chart in both the US and UK, the album initially sold modestly. However, the next single, the R&B ballad "You Give Good Love", gave her a major hit, peaking at # 3 on the US Billboard Hot 100 while going #1 on the R&B Charts. At the 1986 Grammy Awards ceremony, Houston was nominated for three awards including Album of the Year. She was ineligible for the Best New Artist category due to her previous duet recording with Teddy Pendergrass in 1984. She won her first Grammy award for 'Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female' for "Saving All My Love for You". At the same award show she also performed the song; that performance in turn won her an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program. Houston also won seven American Music Awards in 1986, and an MTV Video Music Award.
At the Grammy Awards in 1988, Houston was nominated for three awards including Album of the Year, winning her second Grammy for 'Best Female Pop Vocal Performance' for "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)". Following the release of the album, Houston embarked on the Moment of Truth World Tour which was one of the ten highest grossing concert tours of 1987. The success of the tour and Houston's albums helped make her one of the top 10 highest earning entertainers according to Forbes Magazine. She was the highest earning African-American woman and the second highest earning woman behind Madonna. The list included her concert grosses during 1986 and 1987.
In November 1992, Whitney Houston made her big screen debut opposite Kevin Costner in The Bodyguard, which became a major box office success, as did the accompanying soundtrack album. Houston recorded six songs for the motion picture's adjoining soundtrack album, featured production from David Foster. The soundtrack's lead single was "I Will Always Love You", written by Dolly Parton and originally recorded in 1974. After spending much of the early and mid 1990s working on films, with their adjacent soundtrack albums as an outlet for new music, Houston's first studio album in eight years, the critically acclaimed My Love Is Your Love, was released in November 1998.
Houston has served as a successful producer of Hollywood films including the Disney films The Princess Diaries, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, and as executive producer of the Disney made-for-television films The Cheetah Girls and The Cheetah Girls 2, several of which have grossed more than $100 million at the box office.
Throughout the '80s, Houston was romantically linked to American football star Randall Cunningham and actor Eddie Murphy, whom she dated.
Houston 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. Many were surprised at the pairing and felt that the New Edition singer would be a bad influence on Houston. Brown had numerous run-ins with the law and already had three children with different women while Houston was considered a conservative girl. Houston gave birth to their child, daughter Bobbi Kristina Houston Brown on March 4, 1993 after a miscarriage the year before. Throughout the 90s, Brown continued to get in trouble with the law including sexual harassment, drunk driving, assault charges and even jail time while Houston suffered another miscarriage in 1996. In the 2000s, Brown continued to find trouble while the drug rumors began for Houston. In December 2003, Brown was arrested and charged with battery after an altercation with Houston after it was reported that he hit her. With a history of infidelity, scandals, drug and alcohol arrests, and marital problems, Houston finally filed for separation from Brown in September 2006 following trips to rehab. The following month, on October 16, 2006, Houston filed for divorce from Brown. On February 1, 2007, Houston asked the court to fast track their divorce. The divorce became finalized on April 24, 2007, with Houston granted custody of the couple's daughter. In May 2007, Brown sued Houston in Orange County, California court in an attempt to change the terms of their custody agreement. Brown also sought child and spousal support from Houston. In the lawsuit, Brown claimed that financial and emotional problems prevented him from properly responding Houston's divorce petition. Brown also claimed that Houston kept him from seeing their daughter. At the court hearing on January 4, 2008, Brown failed to show up at the scheduled court date. As a result of this, the judge dismissed his appeal to overrule Houston's custody terms, leaving Houston with full custody and Brown with no custody or spousal support.
Though Houston was seen as a good girl with a perfect image in the '80s and early '90s, during the late '90s many noted a change in her behavior. She was often hours late for interviews, photo shoots, rehearsals, while cancelling concerts and talk-show appearances. With the missed performances and weight loss people began to wonder if something was wrong while rumors began that there was drug use with her husband. On January 11, 2000, airport security discovered marijuana in both Houston's and husband Bobby Brown's luggage at a Hawaiian airport, but the two boarded the plane and departed before authorities could arrive. Charges were later dropped against her and Brown as she later pleaded no contest to a possession charge and was ordered to pay £2,100 (US$4,200) to a youth-orientated anti-drug program in place of community service, but rumors of drug usage among the couple would continue to surface.
Two months later, Clive Davis was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Houston was scheduled to perform and honor the man that helped launch her career, but she canceled ten minutes before the show. Shortly after, Houston was scheduled to perform at the Academy Awards but was fired from the event by musical director and long time friend Burt Bacharach. Though her publicist cited throat problems as the reason for the cancellation, many speculated it was drugs. Later that year, Houston's long time executive assistant and best friend Robyn Crawford resigned from Houston's management company.
The next year, Houston made an appearance at Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special. Her shockingly thin frame further spurred rumors of drug use, anorexia, and bulimia. Her publicist said "Whitney has been under stress due to family matters, and when she is under stress she doesn't eat." The singer was scheduled for a second performance the following night but canceled without explanation. Shortly after, rumors began that the troubled singer had died of a drug overdose. The rumor was quickly denied by Houston's camp.
Houston entered and drug rehabilitation facilities in 2004 and 2005, and has successfully completed the program. Though odd reports surface that the singer is still using drugs,these reports are false. Her record label insists that Houston is off drugs.