Editor’s note: As we celebrate Black History Month, we’re taking some time to spotlight some of the most influential African American men and women who have forever altered the music and entertainment industry.
THAT VOICE. (Just hit play and then continue reading. You’ll thank us.)
Born in Newark, New Jersey in 1963, and with a musical pedigree that included her mother Cissy, cousin Dionne Warwick, and honorary Auntie Aretha Franklin, Whitney Elizabeth Houston had a voice bound for greatness.
Growing up in New Jersey, Houston was exposed to music at a young age by virtue of her mother’s career and made her solo debut singing in the junior gospel choir at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark. As a teenager, she sometimes traveled with her mother to nightclubs where Cissy was performing and would occasionally join her mother on stage. At age 15, she was providing background vocals for the likes of Chaka Khan and Lou Rawls.
A modeling career rounded out her teen years in the early 80s and her burgeoning recording career was just getting ready to take off. After performing with her mother at a nightclub in New York in 1983, she came to the attention of Artista Records head Clive Davis. Davis offered her a worldwide recording contract starting a partnership that would cast Whitney Houston into the recording stratosphere over the next three decades.
Davis played the long game with Whitney and took nearly two years before dropping her first album, Whitney Houston in February 1985. That album produced hit singles including “Saving All My Love for You,” “How Will I Know,” “You Give Good Love,” and “The Greatest Love of All.” Two years later, Whitney dropped and the first single, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)” rose the charts, peaking at #1. Three other singles also topped out at #1 making her the first woman to generate four number-one singles from one album.
The success of Whitney’s first two albums, including awards across the spectrum, were repeated with five more albums over the course of the next 20 years. In the years intervening, Whitney branched out appearing in benefit concerts for organizations fighting apartheid in South Africa and raising money for the United Negro College Fund. In 1989, she formed the Whitney Houston Foundation for Children to help children around the world battling homelessness, cancer, and AIDS.
In 1988 she recorded “One Moment in Time” for NBC’s coverage of the Summer Olympics; and in 1991, she set the standard for the national anthem with her rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” at Super Bowl XXV in Tampa.
Then came the big screen and the accompanying soundtracks. The Bodyguard and Whitney’s rendition of Dolly Parton’s hit, “I Will Always Love You” (which became the best-selling single of all time.) Waiting to Exhale and an album that Whitney wanted “to be an album of women with vocal distinction.” It featured Mary J. Blige, Tony Braxton, Brandy, Aretha, and Patti LaBelle. It also featured Whitney’s duet with the incomparable CeCe Winans, “Count on Me.” The Preacher’s Wife, which made her the highest-paid African-American actress in Hollywood at the time. And another sound track, this time featuring the Georgia Mass Choir.
The 90s also brought her sometimes tumultuous marriage to Bobby Brown (which ended in divorce in 2007), and the birth of their daughter, Bobbi Kristina. It also worsened her addiction issues, which she constantly battled. In a 2009 interview with Oprah, she admitted to having used drugs throughout her marriage to Brown and discussed her struggles with rehab and relapse.
It were those struggles that ultimately killed her. On February 11, 2012, just one day before the Grammys, she was found unconscious in her suite at the Beverly Hilton and was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. The autoposy revealed a number of drugs in her system at the time of her death.
Throughout her life, Whitney Houston broke through barriers and inspired an entire generation of performers. Just as Michael Jackson busted through the barriers for African American male artists, Whitney lead the way for the women. Dozens of artists, among them Mariah Carey, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Hudson, Ariana Grande, and even Celine Dion, cite her as an inspiration and influence.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Whitney Houston was the most awarded female artist of all time: two Emmys, six Grammys, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards — all part of a total of 415 career awards. She is also near the top of any top artist list — no matter what the category.
Though she left us nine years ago, Whitney Houston left behind an enduring legacy that has reshaped the musical landscape, especially for some of the tremendous African-American women who have followed in her footsteps.
And now our favorite part of our spotlight series: sharing some of our all-time favorite hits.
And her could forget her homage and cover of this Chaka Khan hit:
