Whitney Houston | Biography, Songs, Albums, Death, & Facts

Guinness World Records named Whitney the most awarded female singing act in 2009. She was born on August 9, 1963, in Newark, New Jersey.
Whitney Houston was a famous singer, actress and model. Raised in a musical environment, her mom was a renowned gospel singer. Whitney had an early introduction to her musical career and the opportunity to be seen by recording executives.
Her mother and cousin were both legendary figures in the musical sector. As a child, Whitney Houston was able to wow audiences; she later told Diane Sawyer that every time she had a rapturous response from the congregation at New Hope, it had a powerful effect on her: “I think I knew then that [my singing ability] was an infectious thing that God had given me.”
Around 15, she frequently performed with her mother and tried to get a record deal of her own. A photographer who was awed by her natural beauty started taking her pictures. She became a highly sought-after teen model. She was one of the first African American women to appear on the cover of Seventeen magazine.
Whitney Houston was discovered in a nightclub by Arista Records’ Clive Davis at 19. She made her debut on national television, appearing on The Merv Griffin Show to sing “Home” from the musical The Wiz.
Her first shot at acting was in the blockbuster movie “The Bodyguard” in 1992. Her full name is Whitney Elizabeth Houston. Her middle name was also the name of her grandmother. Her awards include two Emmy Awards, six Grammy Awards, thirty Billboard Music Awards, and twenty-two American Music Awards, among a total of 415 career awards as of 2010.
Her older brother Michael is also a songwriter, and her older half-brother is the former basketball player and singer Gary Garland. She was also a cousin of the singers Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick. Her godmother was singer Darlene Love, and her honorary aunt was Aretha Franklin.
Her daughter, Bobby Kristina Brown, was born on March 4, 1993. In 2003, at the tender age of 10, Bobbi Kristina made her singing debut on the “Little Drummer Boy” from Whitney’s Christmas album, One Wish.