Whitney Houston - the first artist in history to score seven
consecutive number-one hits
From the moment Whitney Houston first opened her mouth to sing, it was obvious
that she was bound for greatness. As the daughter of Cissy Houston, a successful
rhythm-and-blues backup singer, and a cousin of the even more renowned singer Dionne
Warwick, young Whitney grew up steeped in music. She dutifully sang in the New Hope
Baptist Junior Choir, aspiring to nothing higher than being a backup performer like her
mother. But by the time she was eleven, it was readily apparent that hanging in the
background wasn't in the cards for her. When Whitney took center stage one evening to sing
a solo, the power of her performance moved many in the congregation to tears. Despite her
shrinking-violet tendencies, Houston's combination of exceptional beauty and her stunning,
church-inflected soprano propelled her into the spotlight.
Houston first put her talent to use professionally as a teenager by singing
backup for Chaka Khan and Lou Rawls. A sleek and exotic-looking young woman, Houston
dabbled successfully in teen modeling, gracing the covers of such magazines as Seventeen
and Glamour. At the same time, she studied acting and dancing, appeared in television
commercials and sitcoms, and made occasional singing dates. But these diversions were mere
warm-up exercises for the singing career she was destined for. Adequate preparation for
her inevitable rise to global pop superstardom was the ultimate concern of Houston and her
family, and several weeks after her eighteenth birthday she signed a management contract
with Gene Harvey. Under his guidance, Houston continued her modeling career, took more
acting and dancing classes, and worked on her voice.
After a couple of years spent developing her vocal
virtuosity and making industry contacts, Houston was ready for the big time. In 1985, she
signed with Arista Records, because its president, Clive Davis, had a proven track record
of picking hits for his singers, not to mention a reputation for letting artists take
their time to mature. A period of two years passed before her debut LP was released, and
in that interim, Houston increased her profile by performing for industry bigwigs,
appearing on television shows, and helping her advisers choose songs for her album.
Applying a fluid, soaring technique to R&B, soul, and disco arrangements, Houston's
eponymous debut spun off three No. 1 singles--"Saving All My Love for You,"
"How Will I Know," and "The Greatest Love of All"--and sold over
thirteen million copies to become the best-selling debut of all time by a female solo
artist. (Houston's multi-platinum title-holder was toppled by Alanis Morissette's Jagged
Little Pill in 1996.) "Saving All My Love for You" earned Houston her first
Grammy award (she has won a total of five thus far), and she spent the next two years
touring in support of the album.
More record-setting success was to come with Houston's
1987 follow-up effort, Whitney. Not only was it the first album by a female to enter the
charts at No. 1, but she became the first artist in history to score seven
consecutive number-one hits, surpassing milestones set by the Beatles and the Bee
Gees. Houston's acting and dancing lessons paid off in her dynamic MTV videos, and her
galvanizing rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner" at the 1990 Super Bowl.
Houston promoted Whitney by heading back out on tour, and in 1990, she released I'm Your
Baby Tonight, a more danceable, technically impressive effort.
Five years of constant touring had begun to take their
toll, however, and Houston decided to take some time off to acquaint herself with the
palatial, $11-million Mendham, New Jersey, mansion she had purchased. Houston's down time
allowed her a chance to get her personal life in order. After being romantically linked
with Jermaine Jackson, Eddie Murphy, and quarterback Randall Cunningham, Houston took up
with bad-boy rhythm-and-blues artist Bobby Brown. In 1992, the Prom Queen of Soul and the
bad-ass captain of the glee club were married before eight hundred well-wishers. Many in
the crowd couldn't help but be skeptical. Brown brought a certain amount of baggage into
the marriage--like three out-of-wedlock children by two women, for starters--but despite
all the couple's highly publicized contretemps since the wedding day, Houston continues to
profess her love for Brown. She recently offered this vehement assessment of her husband:
"I've got a good man. He takes care of me. I don't have to be scared of anything
because I know he will kick every ass . . . disrespect him and you've got a problem."
Since 1990, Houston has managed to maintain her easily
won eminence, despite the fact that she has greatly curtailed her output. Not that she
hasn't been busy: navigating through some perilous straits in her personal life, the pop
diva managed to bear a daughter, Bobbi Kristina, and conquer the world of film. Her first
feature, The Bodyguard, banked over $400 million worldwide, and boasted the most
successful soundtrack ever released, with sales in excess of thirty-three million units,
due largely to Houston's soaring interpretation of the Dolly Parton classic "I Will
Always Love You." In 1995, Houston rounded out the cast of Waiting To Exhale, a film
about successful black women looking for good men. Exhale became something of a
phenomenon, as did its Whitney-heavy soundtrack. Her third and most recent film, The
Preacher's Wife, didn't fare quite as spectacularly at the box office, but the soundtrack
for the film presented her with an opportunity to get back in touch with her gospel roots.
Houston has made significant contributions to the United
Negro College Fund, the Children's Diabetes Fund, St. Jude's Children's Hospital, and
several AIDS-related organizations, and she established the Whitney Houston Foundation for
Children, Inc., a non-profit organization whose work assists homeless children and
children with cancer and AIDS.
From the moment Whitney Houston first opened her mouth to sing, it was obvious
that she was bound for greatness. As the daughter of Cissy Houston, a successful
rhythm-and-blues backup singer, and a cousin of the even more renowned singer Dionne
Warwick, young Whitney grew up steeped in music. She dutifully sang in the New Hope
Baptist Junior Choir, aspiring to nothing higher than being a backup performer like her
mother. But by the time she was eleven, it was readily apparent that hanging in the
background wasn't in the cards for her. When Whitney took center stage one evening to sing
a solo, the power of her performance moved many in the congregation to tears. Despite her
shrinking-violet tendencies, Houston's combination of exceptional beauty and her stunning,
church-inflected soprano propelled her into the spotlight. 
