Whitney Houston: the life of a diva
Born to perform
In 1983,music producer Clive Davis was at a New York City nightclub when 19-year-old Whitney Houston took the stage. Immediately, he knew she was something special. 'To hear this young girl breathe such fire into this song. I mean, it really sent the proverbial tingles up my spine,' Davis told Good Morning America.
Born into a musical family – gospel singer Cissy Houston is her mother, Aretha Franklin her godmother and Dionne Warwick her cousin - the Newark, N.J., native (pictured in July 1984 in New York City) had been performing in church since she was a child. By the time she was in high school, Houston was singing back-up for acts like Chaka Khan. (A striking beauty, she was also a successful teen model.) After seeing her perform, Davis signed Houston to Arista Records on the spot.
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Warming up
Two years in the making, Houston's 1985 debut album Whitney Houston was heralded by critics and audiences alike as the arrival of a new superstar. 'It was time for singing to come back again, to listen to words, to feel what somebody was saying instead of what the beat was,' said 21-year-old Houston (pictured at the Grammy Awards on Feb. 25, 1986), attempting to explain her overnight success to Rolling Stone.
Though the album had a slow climb to No. 1, it spawned three chart-topping singles (Saving All My Love for You, You Give Good Love and Greatest Love of All), and went on to set the record for the biggest-selling debut by a solo artist. And just as the reviews predicted, this was only the beginning.
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On top
With her second album, Whitney, Houston secured her place in music history - not to mention the Guinness Book of World Records. When the album debuted in 1987, Houston became the first female artist to enter the US Billboard charts at No. 1. Then Whitney's first four singles - I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me), Didn't We Almost Have It All, So Emotional and Where Do Broken Hearts Go, all soared to No. 1 - smashing a record for consecutive No. 1 hits previously set by The Beatles and the Bee Gees.
'I just don't think about it in terms of… trying to outdo what I did before' Houston (pictured in 1987) told JET magazine in July 1987. 'It's a matter of just being the best you can be.'
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Facing critics
Like most artists who rise quickly to the top, Whitney Houston (pictured in Nov. 15, 1989) soon found herself facing a backlash. Critics accused her of abandoning her black soul roots to appeal to the pop sensibilities of a white audience. Houston was booed at the 1989 Soul Train Music Awards, and was even parodied on In Living Color in a sketch called 'Rhythmless Nation'.
Needless to say, it wasn't funny to Whitney. 'They might have said, 'Whitney's Danceless Nation',' Houston told Ebony in May 1991. 'But rhythmless? No! Not in a million years. How could I come from where I've come (from) and be rhythmless?' But the critics didn't slow her down: Whitney's 1990 album I'm Your Baby Tonight went quadruple-platinum.
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American woman
Many singers have performed The Star-Spangled Banner at sporting events - but no one had ever sung it like Whitney Houston did at the 1991 Super Bowl - the biggest event in the US sporting calendar. Houston's breathtaking rendition of her National Anthem struck a chord in the early months of the Gulf War; the song was so popular that it was released as a single, selling 1.2 million copies. Both Beyonce and Lady Gaga have cited Houston's performance (pictured) as a defining moment in their lives. 'Whitney was my major vocal inspiration when I was young. We used to listen to her rendition of 'The Star-Spangled Banner over and over again,' Gaga told CNN in 2011.
Houston continued to honor American troops overseas with her 1991 HBO concert special, Welcome Home Heroes.
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Crazy in love
Eyebrows were raised when Whitney fell for one of music's biggest bad boys, Bobby Brown, after meeting him at the 1989 Soul Train Music Awards. 'When you love, you love,' Houston told Rolling Stone in 1993. 'I mean, do you stop loving somebody because you have different images?... I am not always in a sequined gown. I am nobody's angel. I can get down and dirty.'
Shortly before her 29th birthday in 1992, Whitney married Bobby in a lavish ceremony, attended by everyone from Patti LaBelle to Donald Trump. Whitney's daughter Bobbi Kristina, her 'greatest inspiration', was born in 1993. Here, the family is pictured at Bobby Brown's 25th birthday party in N.Y.C. on Feb. 4, 1994.
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Silver screen success
After years of fielding offers from Hollywood heavyweights like Spike Lee and Robert De Niro, Houston made her film acting debut opposite Kevin Costner in 1992's The Bodyguard. 'Kevin said to me, I know you can do it; I know you can act. I want you,'' Houston told Ebony of Costner, who put off filming for a year until the pop star was available.
The movie was a hit, but the real hit was her rendition of the Dolly Parton-penned song I Will Always Love You, which became the biggest single of Houston's career. The song topped the Billboard charts for a record-setting 14 weeks, won two Grammys and went platinum four times over. To this day, the Bodyguard soundtrack remains the best-selling soundtrack album ever, surpassing Saturday Night Fever and Purple Rain.
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Air time
A movie star after just one film, Whitney continued her acting career with Waiting to Exhale (pictured) in 1995, and The Preacher's Wife the following year. Neither duplicated the success of The Bodyguard, though - like that film - they resulted in chart-topping soundtrack albums and hit singles for Houston.
But the hard-working new mum was starting to get burnt out. 'You know, I was a movie star. I really didn't want to be one,' she told Vibe in September 2005. Houston would later admit to Oprah Winfrey that she started using drugs daily around this time. After one more starring role - in the 1997 TV movie Cinderella, which she also produced - Houston stepped away from acting for over a decade.
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The greatest diva
Whitney Houston didn't mind being identified as a diva. 'I'll take diva, but I want to reflect something positive, meaning: 'Do it, but do it with humility,'' Houston said in Redbook. 'I don't have to be competitive to be a diva, I'll see the young ladies out there and say, 'Hey, I love you, I'm proud of you. Go for it.''
Houston proved she could share the spotlight in 1998, when she cut the single When You Believe with long-rumored rival Mariah Carey (pictured together at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards). In April 1999, Houston headlined alongside Tina Turner, Chaka Khan (pictured), Cher and Brandy at the VH1 charity concert Divas Live '99. At the time, it was VH1's highest-rated telecast ever.
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Alarm bells
In 2000, Houston celebrated her debut album's fifteenth anniversary with a Greatest Hits album, a Soul Train Music Award for Female Artist of the Decade, and her sixth career Grammy. In June 2001, she added the BET Lifetime Achievement Award (pictured) to her collection. But when the applause died down, there were signs that all was not well. The singer had begun skipping concerts and appearances with little or no explanation. Her behavior was erratic; she was fired from an Oscars telecast. She and Bobby Brown were detained for marijuana possession at a Hawaii airport in 2000, and Brown was briefly imprisoned for a parole violation.
In 2001, Houston appeared at a Michael Jackson tribute concert (pictured on right) looking so gaunt that rumors of her death began to circulate.
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'Crack is wack'
In an attempt to clear up unflattering rumors of drug use, eating disorders and domestic abuse, Whitney Houston sat down for a disturbingly frank interview with US journalist Diane Sawyer in 2002. The singer admitted to abusing alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and pills in the past, but sniffed at reports that she had used crack, saying 'Crack is cheap. I make too much money to ever smoke crack' and adding, 'Crack is wack'.
Houston defended Bobby Brown, saying he had never abused her, though 'I've hit him, in anger.' (At this point, they had been married ten years and separated twice.) Still, Houston admitted that fame had taken a heavy toll on her. 'I've been through a world, a lifetime of stuff,' she sighed. 'I love to sing, but it's just not fun anymore.'
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Cleaning up her act
Even though Whitney had attempted to diffuse negative press with her Diane Sawyer interview, it became obvious that things were going downhill for her in the early 2000s. Her 2002 comeback album Just Whitney failed to take off, and her 2003 Christmas album fared even worse. In 2003, police answering a domestic-violence 911 call found Whitney with a bruised cheek and cut lip. Bobby was charged with battery, but Houston stood by him during the court hearing.
Brown was sentenced to jail in 2004, and Whitney (pictured at the World Music Awards in Las Vegas on Sept. 15, 2004) entered rehab for the first time. 'I went to one where I could take my child with me,' Houston later told Oprah. 'I wanted her to understand. I didn't lie to her. I couldn't.' She returned for a longer stint in 2005.
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Reality hits
When Bobby Brown signed on to do a reality series in his home, Whitney Houston admittedly didn't know what she was getting into. Being Bobby Brown, which aired on Bravo in 2005, was a pop culture sensation... but not in a good way. The couple (pictured with their daughter Bobbi Kristina at the Being Bobby Brown premiere on June 27, 2005) came off as a bickering, potty-mouthed mess, and Whitney - who spent most of the show shouting 'Hell to the no!' and 'Kiss my ass!' - was unrecognisable as her once-glamorous self.
Horrified by the footage, as well as their increasingly violent fights and Bobby's cheating, Whitney left her marriage in 2006. 'I remember saying to God one day, I said, 'Give me one day of strength,'' Houston said of her decision to leave. 'Because I was weak. I was so weak to (Bobby). I was so weak to the love.'
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Back on track?
After the overexposure of Being Bobby Brown, Whitney Houston stepped out of the spotlight entirely for three years. In 2009, she returned to music with the album I Look to You, produced by her mentor Clive Davis.
During an explosive interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Houston (pictured at the American Music Awards on Nov. 22, 2009) opened up about her dysfunctional marriage ('He was my drug') and addictions, making it clear that she had moved on. 'Oprah, I can only take today. One day at a time,' she told the talk-show host. Two months later, Houston performed 'I Didn't Know My Own Strength' at the AMAs and received an enthusiastic standing ovation. Still, she seemed to be struggling, singing off-key on Good Morning America and missing concert dates.
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Poised for a comeback
Over the past two years, Houston continued to have her ups and downs. Yet things were looking decidedly 'up' going into 2012. After a visit to rehab in May (part of Houston's 'long-standing recovery process', according to her rep), the pop icon shot her first film in fifteen years, the musical drama Sparkle with Jordin Sparks (pictured). Sparks, who plays Houston's daughter, described the experience as 'a dream come true'.
In anticipation of her comeback, Houston was reportedly considering an offer to be a judge on The X-Factor. Some erratic behavior aside (like her random aeroplane meltdown), the singer seemed to be on the right track. 'I think over the years, being a mother, I've matured in so many ways,' Houston told Extra in November 2011. 'I'm good where I am at this moment.'
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A legacy
With her sudden death at the age of 48 on the eve of the 2012 Grammy Awards, Whitney Houston (pictured on Feb. 9, at the Kelly Price & Friends Unplugged: For the Love of R&B Grammy Party at Tru Hollywood) left millions of fans stunned and heartbroken. But her legacy will go on, through the countless artists she inspired.
Houston paved the way for today's powerful women in music, and her emotional fusion of soul and pop echoes in the songs of Celine Dion, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Mary J. Blige and Mariah Carey, to name just a few. The singer holds the world record for Most Awarded Female Artist of All Time.
Whitney Houston will be remembered for her incomparable voice and dynamic, ground-breaking career.
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