Whitney Houston

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18 Jan 2024

Whitney Houston

Whitney Elizabeth Houston was born on August 9, 1963, at Newark Beth Israel Hospital (now Newark Beth Israel Medical Center) in Newark, New Jersey, the daughter of Emily "Cissy" (née Drinkard) and John Russell Houston Jr. (1920–2003). Houston's mother Cissy was a Grammy-winning gospel and soul singer, who was a member of The Drinkard Singers and the founder of The Sweet Inspirations, a popular session vocal group that recorded background vocals for the likes of Aretha Franklin, Jimi Hendrix and Elvis Presley. The group later earned a Grammy nomination for their hit, "Sweet Inspiration". Cissy later left the Sweet Inspirations starting a solo career that later resulted in two Grammy Award wins for gospel work. Her father John was a former Army serviceman who later became an administrator who worked for Newark mayor Kenneth A. Gibson.

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. As a film producer, she produced multicultural movies and series such as Cinderella (1997) and The Princess Diaries and The Cheetah Girls.

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. 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. 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.

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. 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. 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. Khan Brown later would claim the demos helped Houston secure her deal with Arista Records in early 1983. During this period, Houston was sought after for record deals between 1979 and 1981 by the likes of Michael Zager and Luther Vandross. The offers, however, were turned down by her mother because she wanted Houston to finish school. 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.

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". 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. 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. Her performance later aired on June 23. She performed "Home", a song from the musical The Wiz.

Houston did not begin work on an album immediately. 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. Houston first recorded a duet with Teddy Pendergrass, "Hold Me", which appeared on his gold album, Love Language. 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. 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.

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. Co-produced by Kashif, Jermaine Jackson, Michael Masser and Narada Michael Walden, the album will 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. 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, the album has reportedly sold 25 million copies worldwide. 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".

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", 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. 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". 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. 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, and a 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. Houston would also receive seven American Music Awards, including five alone in 1987.

Houston first supported the album by being an opening act for singer Jeffrey Osborne before moving on to open for Luther Vandross. By October 1985, Houston had become a solo headliner, later opening at Carnegie Hall. 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. 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. 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". 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."

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". 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. 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.

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. 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 2023. 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 and has sold a total of 20 million copies worldwide.

1990–1991: I'm Your Baby Tonight and "The Star-Spangled Banner"

With the success of her first two albums, Houston became an international crossover superstar, appealing to all demographics. However, some black critics believed she was "selling out". They felt her singing on record lacked the soul that was present during her live concerts. At the 1989 Soul Train Music Awards, when Houston's name was called out for a nomination, a few in the audience jeered. Houston defended herself against the criticism, stating, "If you're gonna have a long career, there's a certain way to do it and I did it that way. I'm not ashamed of it."

Reaching number three on the Billboard 200, the album stayed inside the top ten for 22 weeks, becoming the tenth best-selling album of 1991. The album also became Houston's second number one album on the Top R&B Albums chart, staying there for eight consecutive weeks. The album launched six singles, three of which - "I'm Your Baby Tonight", "All the Man That I Need" and "Miracle", made the top ten, with the former two topping the Billboard Hot 100. That feat helped Houston become the first female solo artist to have multiple number one singles off three or more albums. The fourth single, "My Name Is Not Susan", peaked inside the top 20, while the latter two - "I Belong to You" and "We Didn't Know", a duet with Wonder, was only issued to R&B stations. It became Houston's third album to yield five or more top ten singles on the R&B chart. The album would be certified four times platinum in the US for sales of four million copies, while shipping 10 million copies worldwide. The album would eventually win Houston eight Billboard awards, including four trophies at the actual Billboard Music Awards in December 1991, including Top R&B Artist. Three of the songs, including "I'm Your Baby Tonight" and "All the Man That I Need", received Grammy nominations. The remix to "My Name Is Not Susan", with British rapper Monie Love, marked one of the first instances of a remix of a pop song to feature a rapper. A bonus track from the album's Japanese edition, "Higher Love", was remixed by Norwegian DJ and record producer Kygo and released posthumously in 2019 to commercial success. It topped the US Dance Club Songs chart and peaked at number two in the UK, becoming Houston's highest-charting single in the country since 1999.

During the Persian Gulf War, on January 27, 1991, Houston performed "The Star-Spangled Banner", the US national anthem, at Super Bowl XXV at Tampa Stadium. Houston's vocals were pre-recorded, prompting criticism. Dan Klores, a spokesman for Houston, said: "This is not a Milli Vanilli thing. She sang live, but the microphone was turned off. It was a technical decision, partially based on the noise factor. This is standard procedure at these events." Nevertheless, a commercial single and video of the performance reached the Top 20 on the US Hot 100, giving Houston the biggest chart hit for a performance of the national anthem.

Houston donated her share of the proceeds to the American Red Cross Gulf Crisis Fund and was named to the Red Cross Board of Governors. Her rendition was critically acclaimed and is considered the benchmark for singers; VH1 listed the performance as one of the greatest moments that rocked TV. Following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the single was rereleased, with all profits going towards the firefighters and victims of the attacks. It peaked at No. 6 in the Hot 100 and was certified platinum.

Later in 1991, Houston put together her Welcome Home Heroes concert with HBO for the soldiers fighting in the Persian Gulf War and their families. The free concert took place at Naval Station Norfolk in Norfolk, Virginia in front of 3,500 servicemen and women. HBO descrambled the concert so that it was free for everyone to watch. The show gave HBO its highest ratings ever. Houston then embarked on her third world tour, the I'm Your Baby Tonight World Tour, which Houston would give 96 shows, including a historic ten date sold-out residency at Wembley Arena in London. The concert tour produced mixed to positive reviews. While The Sun Sentinel argued that Houston should've opted for smaller venues and theaters that were "far more suitable to her sophistication and talent", USA Today praised Houston for "shak[ing] the confinements of her recordings' calculated productions and gets downright gutsy and soulful"

Death and funeral

Houston reportedly appeared "disheveled" and "erratic" in the days before her death. On February 9, 2012, Houston visited singers Brandy and Monica, together with Clive Davis, at their rehearsals for Davis's pre-Grammy Awards party at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills. That same day, she made her last public performance when she joined Kelly Price on stage in Hollywood, California, and sang "Jesus Loves Me."

Two days later, on February 11, Houston was found unconscious in Suite 434 at the Beverly Hilton, submerged in the bathtub. Beverly Hills paramedics arrived about 3:30 pm, found Houston unresponsive, and performed CPR. Houston was pronounced dead at 3:55 pm PST. The cause of death was not immediately known; local police said there were "no obvious signs of criminal intent".

An invitation-only memorial service was held for Houston on February 18, 2012, at her home church, the New Hope Baptist Church, in Newark, New Jersey. The service was scheduled for two hours, but lasted four. Among those who performed at the funeral were Stevie Wonder (rewritten version of "Ribbon in the Sky" and "Love's in Need of Love Today"), CeCe Winans ("Don't Cry" and "Jesus Loves Me"), Alicia Keys ("Send Me an Angel"), Kim Burrell (rewritten version of "A Change Is Gonna Come") and R. Kelly ("I Look to You").

The performances were interspersed with hymns by the church choir and remarks by Clive Davis, Houston's record producer; Kevin Costner; Rickey Minor, her music director; Dionne Warwick, her cousin; and Ray Watson, her security guard for the last 11 years. Aretha Franklin was listed on the program, and was expected to sing, but was unable to attend the service. Bobby Brown departed shortly after the service began. Houston was buried on February 19, 2012, in Fairview Cemetery, in Westfield, New Jersey, next to her father, John Russell Houston, who had died in 2003.

On March 22, 2012, the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office reported that Houston's death was caused by drowning and the "effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use". The office said the amount of cocaine found in Houston's body indicated that she used the substance shortly before her death. Toxicology results revealed additional drugs in her system: diphenhydramine (Benadryl), alprazolam (Xanax; a potent tranquilizer of moderate duration within the triazolobenzodiazepine group of chemicals called benzodiazepines), cannabis, and cyclobenzaprine (Flexeril). The manner of death was listed as an "accident".