Whitney+Houston

Whitney Elizabeth Houston was born in Newark, New Jersey on August 9, 1963. Whitney was the youngest child out of 3 kids and was raised in the projects of Newark by her parents John and Cissy Houston. Whitney's mother was a gospel singer. Whitney has some famous cousins like Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick. Whitney's God-Mother is [|Aretha Franklin]. Whitney was raised Baptist but she also was aware of the Pentecostal Church. At the age of 4 Whitney and her family moved to East Orange, New Jersey, a middle class area because of the 1967 Newark riots. As a teenager, Whiteny's parents divorced and she continued living with her mother. Whitney went to an all girl Catholic High School called Mount Saint Dominic Academy.

Whitney was influenced by the music of Chaka Khan([|www.chakakhan.com]), Gladys Night, and Roberta Flack. As a young teen Whitney used to tour night clubs with her mother as her mom performed sometimes Whitney would also get on stage with her and perform. Whitney sang background vocals on Chaka Khan's I'm Every Woman and Michael Zager's Band Life's A Party. Whitney was offered a record deal but her mother did not accept it because she wanted Whitney to finish high school. Whitney also sang background for Jermaine Jackson and Lou Rawls.

As the years went on Whtney became a Singer, Actress, and Fashion model. Whitney Houston appeared in Seventeen Magazine and became one of the first black women to be on the cover. In 1983 Whitney signed with Arista records ([|www.jrecords.com]) Whitney's first big success was when she did a duet with Teddy Pendergrass on his album called Love Language and the song was called Hold Me which was released in 1984. Whitney's first album was self titled and it came out in early 1985, her song "Saving all my love for you" became the #1 single in the US and UK. One of her albums topped the Billboard 200 and stayed there for 14 weeks straight. Whitney's album went 13X Platinum in the US. In 1986 and 1987 Whitney won 7 American Music Awards. The first Grammy Award she won was for Best Pop Vocal Performance for "Saving all my love for you". Whitney broke the record held by The Beatles and The Bee Gees by having four #1 singles on the US Hot 100, those songs were "I wanna dance with someody (who loves me), "Didn't we almost have it all", "So emotional", and "Where do broken hearts go". Whitney's concerts, movies, and albums made Whitney the 3rd highest earining women in 1993-1994 according to Forbes Magazine. Whitney has sold over 170 million albums and singles worldwide . The Recording Industry Association of America named Whitney the 4th best selling woman in the US. In August 2001, Whitney signed the biggest record deal in music history by signing a $100 million six album deal with Arista/BMG.

Whitney Houston was a huge supporter of Nelson Mandela ([]) and the anti-apartheid movment. Even when she was a model she did not work with agencies that did business with apartheid South Africa. Whitney even helped raise $1 million for charities and brang awareness to apartheid. Whitney performed three concerts in honor of President Mendella in South Africa, that made her the first major musician to perform to the newly unified and apartheid free nation. In 1988 Whitney had a benefit concert at the Madison Square Garden in New York City that raised $250 thousand for the United Negro College Fund ([]). In 1989 Whitney formed the Whitney Houston Foundation for Children, it is a non profit organization that helps children around the world, cares for the homeless, cares for issues of self empowerment, and cares for childrean with cancer and AIDS. In 1996 VH1 Honor gave her the Children's Charity Organization for all her charitable work.

As time went by Whitney got into acting. Her first movie was The BodyGuard co starring Kevin Costner. Whitney executive produced and contributed six songs for the movie's soundtrack. That movie did very well at the box office earning millions of dollars worldwide but critics said that Houston should stick to acting. Whitney's second movie was called Waiting To Exhale with Loretta Devine, Angela Bassett and Lela Rochon, the movie was about four black women that have problems with their relationships. Whitney got nominated for a NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture but she did not win and the award went to her co star Angela Bassett. Whitney Houston even got to star in a movie with Denzel Wanshington called The Preacher's Wife.

After dating Actor Eddie Murphy and Football player Randall Cunningham, she met singer Bobby Brown at the 1989 Soul Train Music Awards and they got married after 3 years on July 18, 1992. They had their first child together, a baby girl named Bobbi Kristina Houston Brown. It seemed that her marriage to Bobby became a bad influence for her career and personal life. In the late 1990's Houston began to be late to most of her photo shoots, interviews, and cancelled many appearences and shows. In 2000 airport security found marijuana in her and her husbands suitcase, the charges were later dropped. There was a lot of speculation going around that her voice was becoming bad because of all the drugs she was taking, Houston denied all rumors that she was doing any drugs. In 2002 Whitney did an interview with Diane Sawyer where she gave one of the most popular quotes " First of all, let's get one thing straight. Crack is cheap. I make too much money to ever smoke crack. Let's get that straight. Okay we don't do crack, crack is whack. In 2006, Whitney filed for divorce from Bobby and their divorce was finalized in April of 2007, she got full custody of their daughter, but Bobby sued for custody, child and spousal support from Whitney but lost. In 2009 Whitney appeard on The Oprah Winfrey Show and admitted to doing drugs with then husband Bobby Brown, she also said there was a lot of violence in their household and her mother finally stepped in and got her some help. In 2009 Whitney made her come back with her album "I look to You".

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Whitney Houston has gave thid world a lot of joy by her music and her beautiful voice. She has shown many people that even though in life there are obstacles and people that will stand in your way, there always comes a moment where you can let it all go and become the person that you want to be. Whitney has broken so many records, won many awards, and shown people that one person can do anything if they work for it and i think that people will never forget her and her music. Her music is here to stay.

Work Cited: Whitney Houston Biography" . whitneyhouston.com . [] . Retrieved 2010-01-12 . []