Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 2 Emmy Awards, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among a total of 415 career awards as of 2010. Houston is also one of the world’s best-selling music artists, having sold over 170 million albums and singles worldwide

Inspired by several prominent soul singers in her family, including mother Cissy Houston and cousins Dionne Warwick and the late Dee Dee Warwick, as well as her godmother, Aretha Franklin, Houston began singing with New Jersey church’s junior gospel choir at age 11.^[6] After she began performing alongside her mother in night clubs in the New York City area, she was discovered by Arista Records label head Clive Davis. As of 2011, Houston has released seven studio albums and three movie soundtrack albums, all of which have diamond, multi-platinum, platinum, or gold certification.

Houston is the only artist to chart seven consecutive No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hits (“Saving All My Love for You”, “How Will I Know”, “Greatest Love of All”, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)”, “Didn’t We Almost Have It All”, “So Emotional”, and “Where Do Broken Hearts Go”). Houston is the second artist behind Elton John and the only female artist to have two number-one Top Billboard 200 Album awards (formerly “Top Pop Album”) on the Billboard magazine year-end charts. Houston’s 1985 debut album, Whitney Houston, became the best-selling debut album by a female act at the time of its release. The album was also named Rolling Stone‘s best album of 1986, and was ranked at number 254 on Rolling Stone‘s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.Her second studio album, Whitney (1987), became the first album by a female artist to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart Houston’s crossover appeal on the popular music charts as well as her prominence on MTV, starting with her video for “How Will I Know”influenced several African-American female artists to follow in her footsteps.

Houston’s first acting role was as the star of the feature film The Bodyguard (1992). The movie’s original soundtrack won the 1994 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Its lead single, “I Will Always Love You”, became the best-selling single by a female artist in music history. With this album, Houston became the first act (solo or group, male or female) to sell more than a million copies of an album within a single week period.The album also makes her the only female act in the top 10 list of the best-selling albums of all time, at number four. Houston continued to star in movies and contribute to their adjoining soundtracks, including the films Waiting to Exhale (1995) and The Preacher’s Wife (1996). The Preacher’s Wife soundtrack would go on to become the best-selling gospel album in history.^[11] Three years after the release of her fourth studio album, My Love Is Your Love (1998), she renewed her recording contract with Arista Records.^[11] She released her fifth studio album, Just Whitney, in 2002, and the Christmas-themed One Wish: The Holiday Album in 2003. Amid widespread media coverage of personal and professional turmoil, Houston ended her 14-year marriage to singer Bobby Brown in 2006. In 2009, Houston released her seventh studio album, I Look to You.

Influence

A Barbie doll inspired by Houston’s appearance in the music video for “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)” (1987). Houston’s music videos became one of the few to receive heavy rotation on MTV and other music video channels.

During the 1980s, MTV was coming into its own and received harsh criticism for not playing enough videos by black artists. With Michael Jackson breaking down the color barrier for black male artists, Houston did the same for black female artists. She became one of the few black female artists to receive heavy rotation on the network following the success of the “How Will I Know” video. Following Houston’s breakthrough, other African-American female artists, such as Janet Jackson and Anita Baker, were successful in popular music. Baker commented that “Because of what Whitney and Sade did, there was an opening for me… For radio stations, black women singers aren’t taboo anymore.”^[222] Allmusic also noted her contribution to success of black artists on the pop scene, commenting “Houston was able to handle big adult contemporary ballads, effervescent, stylish dance-pop, and slick urban contemporary soul with equal dexterity; the result was an across-the-board appeal that was matched by scant few artists of her era, and helped her become one of the first black artists to find success on MTV in Michael Jackson’s wake.”^[223] The New York Times stated that “Houston was a major catalyst for a movement within black music that recognized the continuity of soul, pop, jazz and gospel vocal traditions”.Richard Corliss of TIME magazine commented about her first success breaking various barriers as follows; “Of her first album’s ten cuts, six were ballads. This chanteuse [Houston] had to fight for air play with hard rockers. The young lady had to stand uncowed in the locker room of macho rock. The soul strutter had to seduce a music audience that anointed few black artists with superstardom. [...] She was a phenomenon waiting to happen, a canny tapping of the listener’s yen for a return to the musical middle. And because every new star creates her own genre, her success has helped other blacks, other women, other smooth singers find an avid reception in the pop marketplace.”^[225] Mary J. Blige said that Houston’s inviting her onstage during VH1′s Divas Live show in 1999 “opened doors for [her] all over the world.”^[226]

According to The New York Times, Houston has “revitalized the tradition of strong gospel-oriented pop-soul singing” Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times referred to the singer as a “national treasure”. She is what many consider to be a “singer’s singer” who has influenced countless other vocalists, both female and male. Similarly, Steve Huey from Allmusic wrote that the shadow of Houston’s prodigious technique still looms large over nearly every pop diva and smooth urban soul singer – male or female – in her wake, and spawned a legion of imitators.Rolling Stone, on her biography, stated that Houston “redefined the image of a female soul icon and inspired singers ranging from Mariah Carey to Beyoncé.”^[229] Essence ranked Houston the fifth on their list of 50 Most Influential R&B Stars of all time, calling her “the diva to end all divas.”^[230]

A number of artists have acknowledged Houston as an influence, including Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Toni Braxton, Christina Aguilera,, Jessica Simpson, Nelly Furtado,Kelly Clarkson, Britney Spears,Ciara, P!nk, Robin Thicke, Jennifer Hudson, Stacie Orrico, Amerie, Destiny’s Child Regine Velasquez, Lady Gaga, and Charice. Mariah Carey, who was often compared to Houston, said, “Houston has been a big influence on me.”^[ She later told USA Today that "none of us would sound the same if Aretha Franklin hadn't ever put out a record, or Whitney Houston hadn't."^[ Brandy stated "The first Whitney Houston CD was genius. That CD introduced the world to her angelic yet powerful voice. Without Whitney half of this generation of singers wouldn't be singing," picking Houston's first album as a work of inspired.^[245] Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson cites Houston as her biggest musical influence. She told Newsday that she learned from Houston the “difference between being able to sing and knowing how to sing Leona Lewis, who has been called the New Whitney Houston, also cites her as an influence. Lewis stated that she idolized her as a little girl Kelly Rowland, in an Ebony’s feature articles for celebrating black music in June 2006, recalled that “[I] wanted to be a singer after I saw Whitney Houston on TV singing ‘Greatest Love of All’. I wanted to sing like Whitney Houston in that red dress.” She added that “And I have never, ever forgotten that song [Greatest Love of All]. I learned it backward, forward, sideways. The video still brings chills to me. When you wish and pray for something as a kid, you never know what blessings God will give you.”^[249] Beyoncé Knowles told the Globe and Mail that Houston “inspired [her] to get up there and do what [she] did.” Alicia Keys, in an interview about her album The Element of Freedom with Billboard magazine, also said “Whitney is an artist who inspired me from [the time I was] a little girl.”^[251] American recording artist Lady Gaga said that Houston has been one of her “vocal idols” for years. In an interview with IBN Live Gaga revealed that she used to listen Houston’s version of The Star Spangled Banner over and over again. At the 2011 Grammys, Gaga gave a shout-out to Houston, and said that she wrote the song “Born This Way” thinking about Houston’s vocals.

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