Whitney Houston

Whitney Elizabeth Houston born August 9, 1963 was one of the most gifted singing stars of this generation. Her family was highly musical, a cousin is Dionne Warwick. Her godmother is Aretha Franklin.
Whitney started singing at The New Hope Baptist Church in New Jersey at a very young age. She was singing background vocals with her mother on Chaka Khan's "I'm Every Women" at the age of 15. She sang backup for Lou Rawls, Jermaine Jackson and worked as a model for Seventeen Magazine in 1981.
Her vocals with New York based Material brought her to the attention of Arista (record label) whom she worked with until her death. In1985 her album Whitney Houston was released and became the bestselling album ever by a debut artist. Her Saving all my Love for You, How Will I Know, You give Good Love and the Greatest Love of All were released from this album as singles and gave her seven consecutive U.S. number ones. This album won her the first of six Grammies.
Her film The Bodyguard (1992) with Kevin Costner sealed her place as one of the most loved artists of all time. Her song I Will Always Love You topped the singles charts and sold 44 million copies. In 1992 she also married Bobby Brown and they had Bobbi Kristina Brown in 1993. About this time her drug use began and by 1996 she was addicted.
Her drug abuse affected her reputation and she became difficult to work with. She was dropped from the 27nd Academy Awards due to her inability to perform. She entered rehab in 2010 and again in 2011. Her voice began to fade during her drug years and her final acting performance was Sparkle (2012). It was released after her death form a drug overdose on February 11, 2012.