#257 - Whitney Houston - Whitney Houston (1985)
MUSIC HISTORY COMPILED BY ADAM BERNARD:
BACKGROUND – WHITNEY HOUSTON
Whitney Elizabeth Houston was born on August 9, 1963 in Newark, New Jersey. Houston's mother Cissy was a Grammy-winning gospel and soul singer, who was a member of The Drinkard Singers and the founder of The Sweet Inspirations, a popular session vocal group that recorded background vocals for the likes of Aretha Franklin, Jimi Hendrix and Elvis Presley. The group later earned a Grammy nomination for their hit, "Sweet Inspiration". Cissy later left the Sweet Inspirations starting a solo career that later resulted in two Grammy Award wins for gospel work. Her father John was a former Army serviceman who later became an administrator who worked for Newark mayor Kenneth A. Gibson. The family later relocated to a suburban area of East Orange three years following the Newark race riots of 1967. Houston was raised in the Baptist faith by her parents and joined the church choir of the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark at age five where she also learned to play piano. Houston later recalled being exposed to the Pentecostal church nearby as well. Houston made her solo performance debut at New Hope singing the hymn, "Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah", at age 12. When Houston became a teenager, she told her mother that she wanted to pursue a career in music. Throughout her teenage years, Houston would be taught how to sing by her mom, and was influenced by her mother, cousins Dionne and Dee Dee and singers such as Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight and Roberta Flack. After placing second place at a statewide talent showcase in 1977, Houston began singing background for her mother's band on the cabaret club circuit in New York City. In 1978, a 14 year-old Houston made her non-church performance debut at Manhattan's Town Hall singing the Broadway standard, "Tomorrow" from the musical, Annie, receiving her first standing ovation. Later that year, Houston sang background on mother Cissy's solo album, Think It Over, with the title track later reaching the top 5 of the Billboard disco chart. Houston's session vocal career took off when she sang background for Chaka Khan and Lou Rawls on their respective albums, Naughty and Shades of Blue, both released in 1980.
Houston became a fashion model after she was discovered by a photographer who filmed her and her mother during a performance at Carnegie Hall. She became one of the first black women to appear on the cover of a fashion magazine when she appeared on the cover of Seventeen in 1981. She would also appear inside other magazines such as Glamour, Cosmopolitan and Young Miss. Her looks and girl-next-door charm made her one of the most sought-after teen models. During this period, Houston was sought after for record deals between 1979-81 by the likes of Michael Zager, Luther Vandross, and Bruce Lundvall, then president of Elektra Records. They were all turned down by her mother because she wanted Houston to finish school. Weeks after graduation, Houston signed with Tara Productions, under the advice of her cousin Dionne. Houston would see her profile raised after being hired to sing on the song "Memories" by the band Material, later released on their 1982 album, One Down. Robert Christgau (Christ-gow) of The Village Voice called her contribution "one of the most gorgeous ballads you've ever heard". Later in 1982, she recorded the soul ballad, "Eternal Love", by producer and songwriter Paul Jabara, which was later featured on Jabara's 1983 album, Paul Jabara & Friends, with its original title including Houston's name on the cover. In February 1983, Gerry Griffith, an A&R representative from Arista Records, discovered Whitney performing with her mother, Cissy Houston, in a New York nightclub. He convinced Arista's head, Clive Davis, to see her sing. Impressed by her talent, Davis offered her a worldwide record deal, which she signed on April 10, 1983.
Her 2nd album, 1987’s Whitney only furthered her initial success. The album produced four more consecutive #1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 including “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me), giving her a record seven consecutive #1 pop singles. She won another Grammy Award in the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance category for “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me),” which was an international hit, topping the pop charts in several countries as the album sold over 20 million copies worldwide. While gaining the status as a “pop princess,” Whitney faced some criticism from the Black community, so she decided to work with producers L.A. Reid and Babyface on her third album, I’m Your Baby Tonight, which yielded two more #1 pop hits: “I’m Your Baby Tonight” and “All the Man That I Need.” In 1991, at Super Bowl XXV, Houston delivered arguably the greatest performance of the Star-Spangled Banner. The performance was sentimental as it occurred in the midst of the Persian Gulf War and a commercial single of the performance was produced, which reached the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 as the single’s proceeds were donated to the American Red Cross Gulf Crisis Fund. In 1992, Houston married R&B singer Bobby Brown and gave birth to their daughter Bobbi Kristina the following year. Whitney also pushed into the film industry in 1992 with her film The Bodyguard, which co-starred Kevin Costner. The film was a resounding success at the box office and its soundtrack–which featured Whitney’s signature song “I Will Always Love You”–sold 44 million units worldwide and brought Houston three Grammy awards, including Album of the Year. Houston’s fourth album, My Love Is Your Love, was released in 1998 after an eight-year break from her previous studio album. In 1999, Whitney won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for her duet with Mariah Carey on the song “When You Believe”. Whitney would go on to release three more albums: Just Whitney (2002), One Wish: The Holiday Album (2003), and I Look to You (2009).
Though Houston was seen as a "good girl" with a perfect image in the 1980s and early 1990s, her behavior had changed by 1999 and 2000. She was often hours late for interviews, photo shoots and rehearsals, she canceled concerts and talk-show appearances and there were reports of erratic behavior. Missed performances and weight loss led to rumors about Houston using drugs with her husband. On January 11, 2000, while traveling with Brown, airport security guards discovered half an ounce of marijuana in Houston's handbag in a Hawaiian airport, but she departed before authorities could arrive. Charges against her were later dropped, but rumors of drug usage by Houston and Brown would continue to surface. Two months later, Clive Davis was inducted into the RnR HOF and Houston had been scheduled to perform at the event, but was a no-show. Shortly thereafter, Houston was scheduled to perform at the Academy Awards, but was fired from the event by musical director and longtime friend Burt Bacharach. Her publicist cited throat problems as the reason for the cancellation. She was supposed to sing "Over The Rainbow" but would sing another song during rehearsals. Houston later admitted she had been fired. In May 2000, Houston's longtime executive assistant and friend, Robyn Crawford, resigned from Houston's management company after Houston declined to seek help for her drug dependency. The following month, Rolling Stone published a story stating that Cissy Houston and others had held a July 1999 intervention in which they unsuccessfully attempted to persuade Whitney to obtain drug treatment. She later made an appearance on Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special, where her extremely thin frame further spurred rumors of drug use. In a 2009 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Houston acknowledged that drug use had been the reason for her weight loss. She canceled a second performance scheduled for the following night. In 2002, Houston gave an interview with Diane Sawyer. Addressing the ongoing drug rumors, she said, "First of all, let's get one thing straight. Crack is cheap. I make too much money to ever smoke crack. Let's get that straight. Okay? We don't do crack. We don't do that. Crack is wack." Houston did, however, admit to using alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and pills; and also acknowledged that her mother had urged her to seek help regarding her drug use. She also denied having an eating disorder and that her very thin appearance was connected to drug use. She further stated that Bobby Brown had never hit her, but acknowledged that she had hit him. Back In December 2003, Brown was charged with battery following an altercation during which he threatened to beat Houston and then assaulted her. Police reported that Houston had visible injuries to her face.
On February 11, 2012, Houston tragically drowned in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, with heart disease and cocaine use as contributing factors. This happened days before the Grammy Awards ceremony, sending shockwaves through the general public and music community. She is one of the most celebrated artists in music history and one of the most awarded female entertainer of all time, winning over 400 awards.
Besides the iconic film The Bodyguard, in 1995, Houston starred in the film Waiting to Exhale with three other prominent black women, opening doors in the film industry for women of color. The Babyface-produced soundtrack was highly successful, giving her another #1 pop hit with the single “Exhale (Shoop Shoop)”. She also appeared in the movies The Preacher’s Wife and a revised version of Cinderella with singer Brandy.
She had 11 number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and is the only artist to have seven consecutive number-one singles on the chart. Her accolades include eight Grammy Awards, 16 Billboard Music Awards, two Emmy Awards, and 28 Guinness World Records. Houston's inductions include the Grammy Hall of Fame (twice), the RnR HOF, the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame, the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, the New Jersey Hall of Fame, and the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress. In 2001, Houston was the first artist to be given a BET Lifetime Achievement Award. Since she received the honor at just the age of 37 at the time, and remains the youngest artist to receive the honor. Five years earlier, in 1996, Houston became the second recipient of the BET Walk of Fame. In 2010, BET honored her once more with an award from BET Honors. Houston was only one of two artists (the other being Patti LaBelle) to receive all three honors from the BET network. She is the first and only black artist to have three Diamond-certified albums. Houston's first two albums, as well as her 1992 release The Bodyguard's soundtrack, are among the best-selling albums of all time. The Bodyguard remains the bestselling soundtrack album of all time, as well as the bestselling album of all time by a female recording artist, with global sales of over 45 million copies. Houston's "I Will Always Love You" became the best-selling physical single by a female in music history, with sales of over 20 million copies worldwide. Her 1996 soundtrack for The Preacher's Wife is the bestselling gospel album of all time.
Houston has been regarded as one of the greatest vocalists of all time and a cultural icon. She is also recognized as one of the most influential R&B artists in history. Black female artists, such as Janet Jackson and Anita Baker, were successful in popular music partly because Houston paved the way. Baker commented that "Because of what Whitney and Sade did, there was an opening for me .. For radio stations, black women singers aren't taboo anymore. She was, alongside Michael Jacksonand Madonna, one of the crucial figures to hybridize pop in the 1980s," A number of other artists have acknowledged Whitney as an influence and inspiration including Rihanna, Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, Adele, Demi Lovato, Kelly Clarkson, Kelly Rowland, LeAnn Rimes, Jennifer Hudson, Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, Mariah Carey and Jennifer Lopez.
ALBUM BACKGROUND – WHITNEY HOUSTON
The legend of Whitney Houston began with the release of her self-titled debut album on Valentines Day1985 through Arista Records. Arista label head Clive Davis believed he could turn her into a pop superstar. The album consisted of dance pop songs and ballads highlighting her distinctive voice. Whitney said regarding the direction of the album: I did not go in to the studio wanting to make a pop album; I went into the studio to make good music.
Known across the pop culture spectrum as the “Queen of Pop” and “The Voice” for her mezzo-soprano octave, Whitney Elizabeth Houston left an indelible impression upon pop culture. Whitney Houston is the foundation of diva-pop, straddling clean, cheery R&B and big ballads designed with the adult contemporary audience in mind. She is one of the most successful artists of all time, with more than 200 million albums sold worldwide.
Singer Faith Evans stated: "Whitney wasn't just a singer with a beautiful voice. She was a true musician. Her voice was an instrument and she knew how to use it. With the same complexity as someone who has mastered the violin or the piano, Whitney mastered the use of her voice. From every run to every crescendo—she was in tune with what she could do with her voice and it's not something simple for a singer—even a very talented one—to achieve. Whitney is 'the Voice' because she worked for it. This is someone who was singing backup for her mom when she was 14 years old at nightclubs across the country. This is someone who sang backup for Chaka Khan when she was only 17. She had years and years of honing her craft on stage and in the studio before she ever got signed to a record label. Coming from a family of singers and surrounded by music; she pretty much had a formal education in music, just like someone who might attend a performing arts high school or major in voice in college."