American pop diva with a three octave range, a spectacular video and film actress. A precocious beauty with virtuosity and lyrical authority, she began a carefully planned career in 1981 with TV commercials and guest spots. She also modeled in Glamour and Vogue and sang club dates with her mother, Cissy. With her debut album, Houston sold over 18 million copies world wide. She has surpassed the Beatles in consecutive No.1 hits and been the recipient of Grammy’s, American Music Awards, People’s Choice Awards, Emmys and Entertainer of the Year given by NAACP. Described as an extraordinary talent, ethereal yet warm, she is considered a gifted singer.
Born into a musical family, Houston began singing in public at 12 in the New Hope Baptist Church in East Orange, NJ and attended church every day but Wednesday as that was the adult choir rehearsal day. Her mother, Cissy Houston, a successful backup singer, was an important influence in her life, musically and morally, stressing her religious training and Bible study. Cissy corrected Whitney and encouraged her, telling her youngest child and only daughter when she did well. She stressed her little girl’s femininity, dressing Whitney in pinafores and bows. Whitney’s dad, John, was the executive secretary of the Newark Central Planning Board and moved the family out of the city after the riots in 1967. Whitney was daddy’s girl, and having experience as Cissy’s manager, he did the same for Whitney when she became professional.
Whitney was at odds with her classmates and because she was picked on in school, she was sent to a private Catholic school. Her two brothers cautioned her about boys when she became a teen. Cousin Dionne Warwick and close family friend Aretha Franklin were two of her role models. Houston was 15 when her parents separated and her dad moved out.
She began modeling at 17 with shots in “Glamour” and “Vogue,” and doing TV commercials. Singing “The Greatest Love of All” in her mom’s club show began her career in earnest.
She signed a contract with Arista Records in 1985 and “Whitney Houston” became the best selling debut album in history, earning her a Grammy as well as seven American Music Awards. In 1988 she made $45 million. Videos prepared her for films, but being reluctant she had to be assured by Kevin Costner, her costar in 1992’s “The Bodyguard,” that he would always be there, she would look good and be protected. The soundtrack album sold more than ten million in the states, staying on top of the charts for 20 weeks. The single “I Will Always Love You” sold more than a million copies in the first week. Prior to this she had turned down the part of Josephine Baker and the lead in the movie “Dream Girls.” Since then she has developed an impressive resume of movies including “Waiting to Exhale” in 1995 directed by Forest Whitacker and “The Preacher’s Wife” in 1996. Houston refuses to do nude scenes. On 27 January 1991, during Operation Desert Storm, Houston sang “The Star Spangled Banner” during opening ceremonies for Super Bowl XXV which was prerecorded in Los Angeles and the recording sold more than a half million copies by word of mouth, with profits donated to the Red Cross. In the early 1990s she was stalked by several men, getting restraining orders against some. She fights to retain her privacy with photographers.
Although she didn’t think she would marry, Houston met future husband, R&B singer Bobby Brown, in 1989. She has a squeaky clean image where he is from the streets. He proposed in September 1991 and they were married in July 1992. At the wedding both wore white and 800 guests looked on as Houston walked down the aisle in a dress of French lace costing $40,000. She cried through the whole ceremony. Brown, six years her junior, had three children with two different women before they were married and a well-established reputation as a bad boy. Bobbi Kristina, their first child, was born in 1993. She miscarried on 8 July 1994 and again on 19 December 1996. Houston was reportedly hospitalized after overdosing on diet pills after the birth of her daughter. Limiting herself to six to eight hours in the studio at her home on an 11 ½ acre estate in New Jersey she enjoys spending time with her daughter and swimming. She has a lifelong love of animals, keeping two Akita dogs in their own replica of her mansion.
She still attends New Hope Baptist Church and has started the Whitney Houston Foundation for Children.
While vacationing with her husband on 21 July 1997 in Capri, Italy, Whitney received a two inch cut on her cheek requiring two stitches. She claims to have gotten the cut while swimming but police investigated report as a crew member said she received it while on board. The couple has been combating rumors for years, spread by the scandal sheets and tabloids, that the marriage is a sham, that she is gay and Bobby is doing drugs. Reports of a stormy marriage continue, but one in which there was obviously strong dynamics of attraction.
In early 2000, the storm of rumors around Houston became more tangible, and more serious, when she began canceling engagements at the last minute, or not showing up for hours. Speculation ran to whether she was doing drugs or playing diva but either way, she was reaping bad press and a reluctance from promoters to book her. When she did show up, she was as spectacular as always, bringing home a Grammy on 23 February 2000 for her hit single, “It’s Not Right, but It’s OK.”
Her father, with whom she had a lawsuit going for a million dollars, died of heart failure after a long illness on 2 February 2003. Later the same year, on 7 December, she called the Houston Texas emergency line for help with a domestic violence incident. Police said she had a bruise on her cheek and a cut lip; her husband was charged with battery three days later.
On 16 March 2004, the singer’s publicist announced that Houston had entered a drug rehab program. Houston admitted in a December 2002 television program that she had abused drugs.
In mid-September 2006, she announced that she and Bobby Brown had separated. The singer finally and officially filed for divorce from Bobby Brown on October 16, 2006 in Orange County, California.
She died on 11 February 2012 around 3.55 pm in the Beverly Hills Hilton hotel, California, at the age of 48. She was due to perform at a pre-Grammy award party in Los Angeles that evening. Police said her entourage had taken up a large part of the hotel’s fourth floor. The autopsy report issued some weeks later stated that she drowned accidentally in the bathtub. The report revealed heart disease and her recent and chronic cocaine use were contributing factors.
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