Whitney Houston

As the daughter of renowned gospel and soul singer Cissy Houston, and the cousin of Dionne Warwick, Whitney Houston was better connected than most young vocalists when she embarked on a recording career in the mid-1980s. But neither genes nor industry contacts can account for the level of superstardom to which Houston quickly ascended. Blessed with a sublimely creamy, agile voice and picture-perfect looks, she delivered the sort of buoyant dance tunes and smooth, hummable ballads that are equally at home on the pop, R&B;, and Adult Contemporary charts. For years critics carped that her supple singing would be better served by more soulful, less commercially ingratiating material; when she finally did emerge with a more urban sound, the media homed in on her increasingly irresponsible personal behavior. But where America's record-buying public was concerned, Houston became a star of the highest order, one whose appeal crossed races, cultures, and generations.

As a child, Houston sang in her family's church choir. At 15 she began performing in her mother's nightclub act. While attending a Catholic high school, the lithe beauty signed with a modeling agency and posed for magazines including Glamour and Vogue. After graduating, she continued to model and sing, backing up Lou Rawls and Chaka Khan, then at 19 was spotted by Arista president Clive Davis &Number; 8212; who had previously steered the careers of Warwick and Houston family friend Aretha Franklin &Number; 8212; while giving a showcase in Manhattan. Davis signed Houston, and started choosing songs for her debut album, which featured duets with established stars Teddy Pendergrass (her first hit, "Hold Me") and Jermaine Jackson, and cost Arista an extraordinarily hefty sum of $250,000.

Released in 1985, Whitney Houston proved a worthwhile investment, shooting to Number One and generating the smash singles "You Give Good Love" (Number Three pop, Number One R&B;, 1985), "Saving All My Love for You" (Number One pop, Number One R&B;, 1985), "How Will I Know" (Number One pop, Number One R&B;, 1985), and "Greatest Love of All" (Number One pop, Number Three R&B;, 1986). Whitney solidified Houston's success, reaching Number One and spawning "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" (Number One pop, Number Two R&B;, 1987), "Didn't We Almost Have It All" (Number One pop, Number Two R&B;, 1987), "So Emotional" (Number One pop, Number Five R&B;, 1987), "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" (Number One pop, Number Two R&B;, 1988), and "Love Will Save the Day" (Number Nine pop, Number Five R&B;, 1988). Also in 1988, Houston recorded "One Moment in Time," NBC-TV's theme song for the Summer Olympics (Number Five pop). In 1989 she teamed up with Aretha Franklin on the Number Five R&B; hit "It Isn't, It Wasn't, It Ain't Never Gonna Be."

In 1990 I'm Your Baby Tonight's title track topped the pop and R&B; charts, as did "All the Man That I Need." There were more hits in 1991 — "Miracle" (Number Nine pop, Number Two R&B;), "My Name Is Not Susan" (Number 20 pop, Number Eight R&B;), and "I Belong to You" (Number 10 R&B;) — but, peaking at Number Three, Baby proved disappointing after its predecessors. Houston bounced back in a big way, though, with the 1992 film The Bodyguard, in which she made her acting debut (as a singing star, opposite Kevin Costner), to mixed reviews and huge box office success. The movie's soundtrack — with six tracks sung by Houston — proved even more successful, hitting Number One and producing a monster single, Houston's cover of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" (1992), which remained at the top of the chart for an unprecedented 14 weeks, as well as a cover of Chaka Khan's 1978 hit "I'm Every Woman" (Number Four pop, Number Five R&B;, 1993) and "I Have Nothing" (Number Four pop, Number Four R&B;, 1993). In 1992 Houston married singer Bobby Brown; their first child, Bobbi Kristina, was born the next year.

Houston's next career move was to attempt to duplicate the success of the movie/soundtrack combination of The Bodyguard with 1995's black-female friendship film Waiting to Exhale, in which the singer costarred alongside Angela Bassett. The movie was popular with audiences, and resulted in a few more hit singles for Houston, most notably "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)" (Number One pop and R&B;) and a duet with CeCe Winans, "Count on Me" (Number Eight pop, Number Seven R&B;, 1996). In 1996 Houston starred with Denzel Washington and Courtney B. Vance in The Preacher's Wife, a box-office disappointment whose soundtrack nevertheless gave her another charting ballad, "I Believe in You and Me" (Number Four pop, Number Four R&B;).

She tried the small screen in 1997, producing and playing the Fairy Godmother to Brandy's Cinderella in a Wonderful World of Disney remake of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. In 1998 Houston released her first studio album since 1990, the uncharacteristic My Love Is Your Love (Number 13 pop, Number Seven R&B;). Aside from a handful of ballads, including her Oscar-winning duet with fellow diva Mariah Carey, "When You Believe" (Number 15 pop, Number 33 R&B;, 1998–99), from The Prince of Egypt, and the Diane Warren–penned torch song "I Learned From the Best" (Number 13 R&B;, 1999), the album showcased a new, savvy street credibility that had previously come through only in Houston's later interviews and her private life with Brown. Hip-hop personalities and producers such as Wyclef Jean, Lauryn Hill, Rodney Jerkins, Missy Elliott, and Faith Evans collaborated with the vocalist on various tracks. The public still loved the new Whitney, giving her hits with the sultry "Heartbreak Hotel" (Number Two pop, Number One R&B;), the kick-him-out anthem "It's Not Right But It's Okay" (Number Four pop, Number Seven R&B;, 1999), and the reggae-inflected title track (Number Four pop, Number Two R&B;, 1999).

While Houston was back in the spotlight, reports of her already notorious prima donna behavior became more prevalent in 1999 and 2000: She was often hours late for interviews, photo shoots, and rehearsals; canceled concerts and talk-show appearances; and in what would be the start of a string of tabloid stories questioning her state of mind, dodged arrest for marijuana possession at a Hawaii airport in January 2000 (charges were later dismissed). In the months that followed that incident, Houston was a surprising no-show at her mentor Clive Davis' induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and was allegedly booted out of Academy Awards rehearsals for an all-star tribute to Burt Bacharach. Rumors about her tumultuous marriage to Brown resurfaced, particularly when he was briefly imprisoned in mid-2000 for a parole violation. Yet Houston attempted to have the last laugh with a powerful performance at an Arista Records anniversary party that also served as a tribute to Davis, plus the release of a two-disc greatest-hits collection that equally highlighted her ballads and dance-club remixes and featured four new songs, three of which were duets with Deborah Cox, Enrique Iglesias, and George Michael

It turned out Houston had been struggling with a drug problem. After renewing her Arista contract with the biggest record deal in history ($100 million for a promise of six new albums), she performed on Michael Jackson's Thirtieth Anniversary television special looking thin and frail. The following year, Houston spoke frankly about her drug problems in a special edition of ABC's Primetime with Diane Sawyer that coincided with the release of her comeback album, Just Whitney (Number Three R&B;/Hip-Hop, Number Nine pop, 2002). The album — which included production work by her husband, Missy Elliott and Babyface — was Houston's first work without the involvement of Davis. Just Whitney was not well received: critics bashed it, the singles failed to reach the Top Forty and sales of the album were lower than any of her previous works. She followed up with a holiday disc, One Wish: The Holiday Album (Number 14 R&B;/Hip-Hop, Number 49 pop, 2002), which sold even fewer copies. In spring of 2004 Houston entered rehab for the first time; later that year, she toured as part of the Soul Divas along with her cousin Dionne Warwick and Natalie Cole. That September, Houston received a standing ovation when she sang a tribute to Davis at the World Music Awards. She and Davis subsequently announced they would be working together on a new album, although as of 2008 their plans had not yet materialized. Houston returned to rehab in 2005 and the following year filed for divorce from Brown (after some of the couple's trails and travails were aired on the MTV reality show "Being Bobby Brown" in 2005). In 2007 Davis reiterated that the two were working on a new album and had lined up a string of hip producers including John Legend and will.i.am. That April Houston's divorce from Brown was finalized with her winning sole custody of the couple's daughter. In December 2007 an apparently sober Houston performed an entire show before a crowd of 10,000 at the Live and Loud Festival in Malaysia.