best Whitney Houston songs (A-Z) ↓↓↓

Whitney Houston info & bio

Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer, actress, film producer, and philanthropist. Commonly referred to as "the Voice", she is one of the most awarded performers of all time. Her crossover appeal and achievements on the popular music charts influenced the breaking down of gender and racial barriers in popular culture. Known for her vocal delivery and live performances, Houston was ranked second on Rolling Stone's list of the greatest singers of all time in 2023.

Houston signed to Arista Records at the age of 19. Her first two studio albums, Whitney Houston (1985) and Whitney (1987), both reached number one on the Billboard 200. She took a more urban turn with her third studio album, I'm Your Baby Tonight (1990), and performed an acclaimed rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Super Bowl XXV in 1991. The soundtrack from her film debut The Bodyguard (1992) won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and remains the best-selling soundtrack album of all time. Its lead single, "I Will Always Love You", won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and became the best-selling female single in history. Houston continued her work in the film industry, starring in Waiting to Exhale (1995) and The Preacher's Wife (1996), and co-producing Cinderella (1997), The Princess Diaries (2001), The Cheetah Girls (2003), and Sparkle (2012). The Preacher's Wife's soundtrack became the best-selling gospel album of all time.

Houston's first studio album in eight years, My Love Is Your Love (1998), found critical and commercial success, and she renewed her contract with Arista Records for $100 million in 2001, one of the largest recording deals of all time. However, her next album, Just Whitney (2002), received mixed reviews, while her drug use and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown began to overshadow her music career. After divorcing Brown, Houston returned to the top of the Billboard 200 with her final album, I Look to You (2009). On February 11, 2012, Houston accidentally drowned in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California, with heart disease and cocaine use as contributing factors. News of her death coincided with the 2012 Grammy Awards and was covered internationally along with her memorial service.

Houston is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with sales of more than 220 million records worldwide. Her first two albums, along with The Bodyguard soundtrack, rank among the best-selling albums of all time and made her the only black artist to score three RIAA diamond-certified albums. "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" and "I Will Always Love You" are among the best-selling singles ever, with the latter being certified diamond by RIAA. Houston scored 11 Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles and remains the only artist to have seven consecutive singles top the chart. Guinness World Records named her the highest-earning posthumous female celebrity. Her assets amounted to $250 million, earned over a 25-year career.