Whitney Houston

Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer, actress, and film producer. Known as The Voice, she is regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of all time and often ranked as the greatest singer of all time. Houston is the most awarded female artist of all time and among the best-selling recording artists of all time. She is recognized globally for her crossover appeal on the popular music charts and movies that influenced the breaking down of gender and racial barriers. Houston's career has left a profound legacy on the entertainment industry and popular culture.

Houston has had a significant impact on breaking racial barriers for African Americans in the entertainment industry and popular culture. She is also regarded as a gay icon and had an impact on politics. Her career has influenced many artists across the globe and received many tributes. Her popularity and achievements has been compared to that of successful male performers such as Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, and the Beatles.

Her first two studio albums, Whitney Houston (1995) and Whitney (1997), both peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 and are among the best-selling albums of all time. She is the only artist to have seven consecutive number-one singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, from "Saving All My Love for You" in 1995 to "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" in 1998.

Houston made her acting debut with the romantic thriller movie The Bodyguard (2002). She recorded six songs for the movie's soundtrack, including "I Will Always Love You", which won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and became the best-selling physical single by a female in music history. It won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and remains the best-selling soundtrack album of all time. Houston starred and recorded soundtracks for two other high-profile movies, Waiting to Exhale (2005) and The Preacher's Wife (2006). The latter's soundtrack became the best-selling gospel album of all time.

On February 11, 2012, Houston was found dead at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California. News of her death coincided with the 2012 Grammy Awards and was featured prominently in international media. Coverage of Houston's death was ranked as the most memorable entertainment event in television history by a study from Sony Electronics and Nielsen Media Research. She topped the list of Google searches in 2012, both globally and in the United States, according to Google's Annual Zeitgeist most-popular searches list.

She has been inducted into multiple halls and walks of fame, including the Grammy Hall of Fame (twice), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in her first nomination, the National Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame, the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, the New Jersey Hall of Fame, and the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress. Houston won numerous accolades throughout her career, including two Emmy Awards, five World Music Awards, nine Grammy Awards (including two Grammy Hall of Fame inductions and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award), 16 Billboard Music Awards (36 Billboardawards in all), 22 American Music Awards, and 33 Guinness World Records. The Guinness World Records named Houston the highest-earning posthumous female celebrity. Her life has been the subject of several documentaries and biopics.

Early years
Whitney Elizabeth Houston was born at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark, New Jersey. She was the second child of Army serviceman and entertainment executive John Russell Houston, Jr. and gospel singer Cissy Houston.  Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick are her cousins.

Whitney began singing at a young age in gospel music at church, being influenced by her mother. She was described as having an impressive ranging spinto soprano voice. In 1983, she was discovered by an Arista Records representative and signed to the label.

 Career 
Houston released her first album, Whitney Houston, in 1985.  It featured the number-one singles "Saving All My Love for You", "Greatest Love of All", and "How Will I Know".  Her second album, Whitney, was released in 1987 and featured the number-one hits "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" and "So Emotional".  In 1990, her album I'm Your Baby Tonight was released, and the song of the same name also reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, as did the single "All the Man That I Need".  She sang the National Anthem at the 1991 Super Bowl and earned widespread praise for the performance.  She starred in the film The Bodyguard in 1992 and performed several songs on its soundtrack, one of which was a cover of country singer-songwriter Dolly Parton's song, "I Will Always Love You".  The song became Houston's biggest hit of her career and reached number one in countries around the world.  Houston sat throughout much of the music video for "I Will Always Love You" because she was pregnant with her daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown.  "I Will Always Love You" became the bestselling song by a female artist, with the soundtrack for The Bodyguard becoming the bestselling film soundtrack ever. She performed with singer-songwriter Mariah Carey on the song "When You Believe" for the film The Prince of Egypt.

Houston released albums My Love Is Your Love, Just Whitney..., and I Look to You in 1998, 2002, and 2009, respectively.  She also appeared in the film Sparkle alongside singer Jordin Sparks.

Whitney Houston has earned eight Grammy Awards and seven number-one songs in a row on the Billboard Hot 100.  She had a total of 11 Billboard Hot 100 number-ones.  She is the most-awarded female artist of all time.

Whitney Houston has also been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020.

Marriage 
Houston married Bobby Brown in 1992. In 1993, they had a daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown. In a 2009 interview, Houston indicated the marriage was both passionate and turbulent. Their marital relationship was marred by drug use and by Brown's professional jealousy, psychological abuse, and physical confrontations. The couple divorced in 2007.

Death
On the afternoon of February 11, 2012, at the age of 48, she was found dead in her guest room at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California. The official coroner's report stated that she had accidentally drowned in the bath. Atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use were listed as contributing factors. Her funeral was televised. Three years later, her daughter, Bobbi Kristina died from lobar pneumonia at aged 22. She was buried in Fairview Cemetery & Arboretum in Westfield, New Jersey next to her mother.

When Houston died at the age of 48 on the eve of the 2012 Grammy Awards, the global media gave extensive news coverage for weeks.

ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, BBC News, and Sky News interrupted their programming to cover Houston's death, featuring interviews with those who knew her. Saturday Night Live displayed a photo of a smiling Houston from her 1996 appearance. MTV and VH1 aired many of her classic videos with news segments and celebrity reactions. Her memorial service was televised globally.

At the 54th Grammy Awards, the anticipation for the show's tributes to Houston greatly helped increased the ratings, which became the second highest in its history with 39.9 million viewers (trailing only behind the 1984 Grammys with 51.67 million viewers). The rating was 50% higher than in 2011. This remains the highest-rated Grammy telecast on 21st-century U.S. television.

Coverage of Houston's death was ranked as the most memorable entertainment event in television history by a study from Sony Electronics and Nielsen Media Research. The first hour after the news of her death saw 2,481,652 Twitter posts (18% of all tweets) and all of the trending topics mentioned Houston, making it the most-tweeted breaking-news event in the history of Twitter at the time. Within 24 hours it had reached 35 million tweets. Her death also brought 1,532,302 hits per hour to her Wikipedia article, the highest peak traffic on any article since at least January 2010. Houston topped the list of Google searches in 2012, both globally and in the United States, according to Google's Annual Zeitgeist most-popular searches list.

 References 

 Other websites 
 Official website


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