Actors - Whitney Houston

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	Actors - Whitney Houston

Whitney Elizabeth Houston (born August 9 1963) is an American pop singer, dramatic-soprano, songwriter, actress, and film producer. She is one of the most successful and popular singers of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Her style of singing has influenced artists such as Kelly Price, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, and Deborah Cox among others.

Houston has sold over 100 million albums, which is notable in that she achieved that milestone on relatively few releases. She is also one of a handful of Black artists to receive heavy rotation on early MTV in the 1980s and her success, along with that of other '80s artists such as Michael Jackson, Prince, and Janet Jackson, undoubtly opened the door for the network to air more videos by Black artists starting in the 1990s. Houston has won twenty-one American Music Awards, a record for a solo artist, and six Grammys. Her material is frequently covered by many would-be stars on the hit Fox-TV program American Idol.

Biography

Early years

Houston was born in East Orange, New Jersey. Houston's mother (Cissy Houston), first cousin (Dionne Warwick) and godmother (Aretha Franklin) were all established Gospel/R&B/Soul singers, which resulted in the young Houston always being in the presence of music while she was growing up. At the age of 11, she started performing as a soloist in the junior gospel choir at the New Hope Baptist church in Newark, New Jersey, and would later go on to accompanying her mother in concert. Although a Baptist, she attended a Catholic high school. After singing background on her mother's 1978 album Think It Over, she started as a back up singer for many other established acts, such as Chaka Khan, Jermaine Jackson, and Lou Rawls. In 1980 at the age of 17, she was featured as the lead vocalist on the Michael Zager Band's single "Life's A Party", who previously scored a hit with the single "Let's All Chant". Zager was so impressed that he offered to obtain her a record deal but she declined. In the early-1980s, she started appearing as a model in various magazines and appeared on the cover of Seventeen magazine. She also worked with producers Michael Bienhorn, Bill Lasswell and Martin Bisi on an album they were spearheading called "One Down". It was projected to contain eight songs, each one featuring a different lead vocalist. Houston contributed the ballad "Memories" and she received favorable reviews from the Village Voice after the album debuted.

1983–1991: Early music career

Houston had been offered record deals previously (Michael Zager 1980, and Elektra Records in 1981) and in 1983 an A&R representative from Arista saw Houston performing with her mother in a nightclub; (Sweet Waters) in New York City and convinced the head of the label, Clive Davis, to take time to see her. Once Davis saw her, he too was convinced of her talents and offered her a worldwide-contract with Arista.

A record deal ensued and this time Houston signed. It took over two years to finish the debut album, partly due to marketing problems, finding the right songs to showcase her powerful voice, and getting the appropriate producers to work on the album.

In 1984, the tall and statuesque singer had her first taste of commercial success with "Hold Me", a duet with Teddy Pendergrass (which appeared on his album, Love Language, and later on her debut album.) The single peaked into the top fifty on the U.S. pop chart and the top five of the R&B chart. It was during this time that Houston auditioned for acting roles, including the part of Sondra Huxtable on The Cosby Show (which was won by Sabrina Le Beauf), however she did earn roles on episodes of Gimme a Break, Silver Spoons, and landed a Canada Dry soft drink commercial. She also appeared on the daytime drama As The World Turns as herself to promote her album.

On Valentine's Day, February 14 1985, her self-titled debut album was released. It initally had a slow rise up the album chart but that was turned around by the success of its single "You Give Good Love", peaking at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and giving Houston her first major hit. Following singles, "Saving All My Love For You", "How Will I Know" and "Greatest Love Of All" all went to number one on the pop charts. In March of 1986, Whitney Houston
hit number one on the album charts. The album went on to sell a staggering 24 million copies worldwide (with over 13 million copies being sold in the U.S alone), making it the best-selling debut ever by a female artist. Another song, "All At Once", received significant radio airplay but Arista chose not to release it as a fifth single. With this success came a series of prestigious awards, notably a 'Best Female Pop Vocal Performance' Grammy for "Saving All My Love for You" and an Emmy for 'Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety Program on TV'. For the remainder of 1986, she undertook her first tour, "The Greatest Love Tour".

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Actors - Whitney Houston

Biography

Early years

1983–1991: Early music career

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