Whitney Elizabeth Houston was born on August 9, 1963 in Newark, New Jersey. She began singing at a very young age, performing for the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, where she also played the piano. As a teenager, she attended Mount Saint Dominic Academy, a Catholic girls’ school in Caldwell.
Her mother, Emily “Cissy” Houston of the Drinkard Singers, was a constant source of musical education, exposing Whitney to artists like Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, and Roberta Flack. Houston spent years touring small venues with her mother, occasionally joining the group on stage. By the late 1970s, Houston provided background vocals for a number of musicians, including the Michael Zager Band, Chaka Khan, and Jermaine Jackson.
Early Career
In the early 1980s, Houston began working as a fashion model. She appeared in Seventeen, and beyond that was the first black woman to appear on the magazine’s cover. She was also featured in a number of other magazines, including Glamour, Cosmopolitan, and Young Miss, and appeared in a Canada Dry soft drink television commercial.
Though Houston received several offers from record companies in the early 1980s, her mother declined all of them, stating that she must first graduate from high school before pursuing a career; it wasn’t until 1983 when Houston signed with Artista Records and even appeared on The Merv Griffin Show.
Houston’s self-titled debut album was released in February of 1985, receiving positive reviews and spring-boarding Houston into a booming career. Throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, Houston recorded successful album after successful album and toured the world, growing her stardom.
By the early 2000s, Houston began to publicly face some personal struggles. She would miss shows, and even vaguely admitted to substance abuse rumors. Yet through it all she did not lose her music; Houston continued to release hit albums, appear in films, and was adored by her fans.
Whitney Houston was active until the day she died in February of 2012. Though she is no longer with us, her beautiful and emotional songs still resonate with fans today. In fact, the New Jersey-native’s enormous career will live on forever.
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