Whitney Houston

Black History Month

 Whitney Houston

I wanted to look at a range of artists during Black History Month including composers (both from previous eras and from today), singers who were influential in their day and those still successful and working today. I've already posted three blog posts on Black Composers and so today's post is going to focus on a more recent singer who rose to fame in her late teens and continues to be one of the most successful and well known singers in our society today..... Whitney Houston!


Quick Fact File:

Born: August 9th, 1963

Died: February 11th, 2012

Years Active: 1977 - 2012

Occupation: Singer, Actress, Film producer, Model

Genres: R&B, Pop, Soul, Gospel, Dance

Range: Mezzo-Soprano

Website: whitneyhouston.com



Childhood:


Whitney Houston seemed to be a singer from birth - her mother and cousin were legendary figures in American gospel, soul and pop music showing skill through her family. Her mother was the choir minister at New Hope Baptist Church and this was where Whitney’s talent began. The response she received from the congregation inspired her, making her believe that her singing ability was a “thing that God had given” to her. 


At age 15, Houston was already performing with her mother frequently and was trying to get a record deal of her own. At this time, a photographer discovered her and was in awe of her natural beauty. This led her to becoming a teen model and one of the first African American women to appear on the cover of Seventeen magazine. Yet she continued to work on her music.


At age 19, Houston was discovered in a nightclub by Arista Records’ Clive Davis. She was signed immediately and moved her career from gospel to pop stardom. In 1983, Houston made her national television debut on The Merv Griffin Show to sing the song “Home” from The Wiz. She then spent the next two years working on her debut album.




Albums and Songs:



  1. WHITNEY HOUSTON


1985 → Whitney released her debut album (named after herself) and immediately became a smash pop sensation. Her hit singles “Saving All My Love for You” and “How Will I Know” helped her to reach the charts where it remained here for 14 non-consecutive weeks.


She won a Grammy in 1986 for “Saving All My Love for You” and her cousin presented this to her.


  1. WHITNEY


Her second album, Whitney, was released in 1987 following the success of her first. She won a Grammy for her single “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)” and followed it with a successful world tour. She appeared at a concert for Nelson’s Mandela’s birthday and founded the Whitney Houston Foundation for Children - a nonprofit organisation funding projects to help needy children all over the world.


1992 → Houston was highly successful but her life was about to get very complicated. She married the R&B singer, Bobby Brown, in the same year after a three year engagement. Both Houston and Brown battled substance abuse and increasingly erratic behaviour with Houston later hinting at emotional abuse and domestic abuse from Brown.


  1. THE BODYGUARD



Houston continued to move forward with her career despite her personal troubles. She began acting in 1992 by starring in The Bodyguard with Kevin Costner. With this film, she set a new trend for each of her following films - any time she starred in a movie, she would also release hit singles, creating sensational record sales for the soundtracks.


The Bodyguard saw her cover Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” which soon proved to be Houston’s biggest hit ever with a record breaking 14 weeks on the U.S. charts. The soundtrack album allowed Whitney to win three Grammys including Album of the Year and Record of the Year. 



  1. My Love is Your Love


1998 → Houston released her first non-soundtrack studio album in many years, earning her another Grammy for the single “It’s not Right but it’s Okay”. It was not as successful as her previous releases though her collaboration with Mariah Carey in the animated film The Prince of Egypt produced the hit single “When You Believe” which won an Academy Award.


Houston’s increasingly rocky marriage, struggles with drugs and health problems threatened to derail her career. It resulted in several concert cancellations and a notorious TV interview with Sawyer in 2002. 


  1. JUST WHITNEY


2004 → Production began on the TV reality series Being Bobby Brown in which Houston received substantial airtime. The show aired the couple’s worst years of their marriage including the drug use, lifestyle excess and bad behaviour. This led to Houston’s reputation sinking. Although she tried to ignore the controversy and ploughed ahead with her music, it did not match the success of her earlier works. Despite this, she was named the most-awarded female artists of all time by Guinness World Records in 2006.


Houston then attempted to repair her marriage and drug habit but after several relapses, she had to seek help from her mum. Houston took a break from her career, divorced Brown in 2007 and won sole custody of their child.


  1. I LOOK TO YOU


After a decade of struggling with her personal troubles, Houston returned to her career as she seemed to be pulling herself together. She released her final album in 2009 saying “the songs themselves will speak to you and you’ll understand where I am and some of the changes I’ve gone through for the better”. 


The recording received a warm response from music fans and made it to the top of album charts. However, her live shows did receive some mixed reviews with many complaining about the actual quality of her voice.


Whitney’s Death


In 2012, it was rumoured that Whitney was experiencing financial trouble. She was working on the musical film Sparkle (a remake of the 1976 movie) and had been approached to join The X Factor as a judge. Unfortunately, Houston did not live long enough for this.


Whitney died at the age of 48 with the official cause being an accidental drowning. The effects of heart disease and cocaine were also found in her system and were reported as contributing factors also. 


Her songs have continued to be used in shows and sung by millions of people each year, including a whole episode of Glee dedicated to the songs of Whitney Houston.


With her death, the world saw the loss of one of their most legendary stars.



YOUTUBE LINK: https://www.youtube.com/user/whitneyhoustonmusic/featured

(I couldn't just choose one or two of her songs from the album to attach here so go take a look at her Youtube page)


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