Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston (born August 9, 1963 in Newark , New Jersey , † February 11, 2012 in Beverly Hills , California ) was an American R&B , soul and pop singer , actress and film producer .
With more than 170 million records sold and over 200 gold, platinum, silver and diamond records as well as six Grammys , she is one of the most successful singers of all time. In 1992 she reached the height of her popularity through her acting debut in the lead role of the film Bodyguard and through the soundtrack The Bodyguard, largely sung by her . I Will Always Love You became their most successful song .
Private life
Whitney Houston was the second child of Cissy Houston and John Russell Houston Jr. (1920-2003). Her mother was engaged as a singer in 1969 with the Sweet Inspirations , the accompanying group of Elvis Presley , and among others with Jimi Hendrix . Houston has four siblings: Half-brother Gary Garland is from her mother's first marriage to Freddie Garland; her brother Michael is their parents' first child together. Houston's younger half-siblings Alana and John Russell are from their father's later marriages. The singers Dee Dee Warwick and Dionne Warwick are her cousins, the singer Darlene Love her godmother.
From 1980 to 1992 she was in a relationship with Robyn Crawford . In 1992 Houston married R&B singer Bobby Brown . Their daughter Bobbi Kristina (1993-2015) comes from this marriage . In September 2006, Houston's attorney filed for divorce. On April 24, 2007, the divorce became final. Houston had sole custody of their daughter.
Houston has suffered from various forms of drug addiction since the late 1990s , which is why she did several rehab programs in the 2000s . In May 2011 she went to rehab again. Nine months later, on February 11, 2012, Whitney Houston died at the age of 48 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills . She was found face down in the bathtub, lifeless. Drowning was found to be the cause of death ; the chronic abuse of cocaine and heart disease are said to have contributed to the death of the singer. Her death overshadowed the 2012 Grammy Awards ceremony, also held in Beverly Hills the following evening .
The memorial service was held on February 18, 2012 at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey , where Houston had been a gospel choir member as a young girl . The almost four-hour ceremony was attended by Stevie Wonder , Alicia Keys and Kevin Costner , among others . She was buried the next day in Fairview Cemetery in Westfield, next to her father's grave.
Life's work
Houston's albums and singles sold more than 170 million copies. The American was one of the few musicians who was able to place a number one album in the international charts for three consecutive decades - including in the USA, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Canada. In the early 1990s, Houston was also very successful as an actress, her three movies together grossed several hundred million US dollars . With 411 awards for her musical and cinematic work, Whitney Houston is the most awarded female artist of all time according to the Guinness Book of Records . As prizes for her life's work, she received the BET Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001 and the Women's World Award in 2004 .
The cornerstone of her career was her distinctive voice. Their vocal volume spanned three octaves. The singer was considered the most important contemporary interpreter of modern pop-soul music: In 1998 the New York Times wrote that Houston was the "definitive pop-soul singer of her generation" and a few years later the American music magazine Rolling Stone took her as "the best female voice of her Zeit ”in their list of the 100 best singers . In the media it was also referred to by the nickname "The Voice" (German: "The Voice"). Her singing - a mixture of pop and soul influenced by traditional gospel - was considered to be a style-defining feature for the generation of subsequent singers, and especially female singers. Artists like Mariah Carey , Christina Aguilera , Jennifer Hudson and Mary J. Blige claim to have been significantly influenced by her.
Houston has been committed to charity since the beginning of her career. In 1989 she founded The Whitney Houston Foundation for Children , for which the American television channel VH1 presented her with its Honors Award in 1995 . In 1988 the singer performed in honor of Nelson Mandela, who was still imprisoned at the time, at the Freedom Fest in London. Part of the proceeds from various concert specials, such as Welcome Home Heroes or Classic Whitney , went to charity.
Career
Beginnings and modeling career
Whitney Houston made her first recordings at the age of 14 when she sang the solo voice for the song Life's a Party by the Michael Zager Band in 1977 . In 1979 she was in the background of Chaka Khan's song I'm Every Woman , a song that she made another hit in 1992. In 1982 Houston worked with Bill Laswell on his Material project . Her ballad Memories , with Archie Shepp on saxophone, was a highlight of the album One Down that same year .
Whitney Houston gained her first experience as a live entertainer as a teenager during a number of nightclub appearances with her mother. She herself cited two key moments for the beginning of her career: a solo appearance in her home church in Newark and an appearance in New York's Town Hall Theater during a concert by her mother.
In parallel to her activities as a singer, Whitney Houston initially pursued a successful modeling career : She was featured in magazines such as Vogue and as one of the first black models on the cover of teenage magazine Seventeen . Even after starting her singing career, she worked continuously with the most important photographers in the industry, including Patrick Demarchelier , Sante D'Orazio and David LaChapelle . She was soon to be seen on the covers of the world's leading fashion and music magazines, including Rolling Stone , Vibe and Harper's Bazaar .
1980s
In 1983 Whitney Houston signed her first recording deal with the company of her discoverer Clive Davis , Arista Records . In 1984 the single Hold me , a duet with Teddy Pendergrass, was released . After almost three years of production, the debut album Whitney Houston was released in 1985 . With 13 million copies sold in the US alone, it was one of the most successful debuts ever made by an artist. Three of the released singles reached the top of the US charts. Houston also received her first Grammy for best pop singer for the song Saving All My Love for You . Houston's album also achieved top positions internationally and has been awarded platinum and multiple platinum in Germany, Austria and the United Kingdom. The CD contains several cover versions, the originals of which had previously had limited success: Greatest Love Of All ( George Benson ), Saving All My Love For You ( Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis, Jr. ), Nobody Loves Me Like You Do ( Anne Murray & Dave Loggins ) and Take Good Care of My Heart (Anne Murray). The album was followed by the Greatest Love Tour in 1986 . Whitney Houston is listed by Rolling Stone as one of the 500 best albums of all time .
With her second album, Whitney , she established herself as one of the outstanding new artists of the 1980s. With the work in 1987 she became the first female singer to enter the US Billboard charts at number one . Four singles from the album climbed to the top of the US charts, including the Grammy-winning I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me) . The song Where Do Broken Hearts Go , released in 1987, was also very successful . These seven consecutive number one single hits gave Whitney Houston an entry in the Guinness Book of Records and the attribute of the "most successful singer of all time" to date. The Whitney album repeated the success of the previous album in almost every country in which it was released. It reached the top position in various European countries and has been awarded platinum several times.
In 1988 Houston sang the theme song of NBC's broadcasts of the Seoul Olympics , One Moment in Time , which took her to the top of the German and British singles charts.
1990s
In November 1990 the album I'm Your Baby Tonight, clearly influenced by contemporary R&B , followed . The title song of the same name and the release All The Man That I Need reached the top of the American singles charts, while the album came third on the album charts and was awarded four times platinum. After the 1980s had been a constant hit series for Whitney Houston, the comparatively moderate success of their third album was interpreted by some observers as a career kink.
While the United States was in the Second Gulf War , the American sang the national anthem during Super Bowl XXV in January 1991 . The performance was later considered a key moment in the US singer's career. Zeit Online wrote in 2009: “Your vote became the national shrine of the Reagan / Bush era. The high point of the appropriation was her appearance at the Superbowl in 1991, when she sang the national anthem in a sports suit. "
Whitney Houston made her screen debut in the fall of 1992, starring Kevin Costner in the film Bodyguard . She contributed six songs to the accompanying soundtrack ; the single I Will Always Love You - a cover version of the song by Dolly Parton from 1974 - stayed at the top of the US charts for 14 weeks and was Christmas number one hit in Great Britain. With over 17 million units sold, the album The Bodyguard is by far the most successful soundtrack in the US and also one of the most successful albums by a singer. In the film, she plays a pop star who is threatened by a crazy fan. Another film followed in 1995, Waiting to Exhale , for which she recorded the soundtrack with Mary J. Blige and Toni Braxton, among others . The single Exhale (Shoop, Shoop) brought Houston another number one hit on the Billboard charts, which was her eleventh and last.
In late 1996, Houston's third film Rendezvous with an Angel came to the cinema, to which she contributed the complete soundtrack The Preacher's Wife . The first single Step By Step made it into the top ten of the charts worldwide. The record is now considered the most successful gospel album of all time.
In November 1998, Houston's fourth studio album, My Love Is Your Love, was released . It includes the hit singles My Love Is Your Love and It's Not Right But It's Okay, as well as the duet When You Believe with Mariah Carey . After years in the film business, Houston focused on her singing career again with this album. After the album initially got off to a moderate commercial start, it developed into one of the singer's greatest successes with the release of the title song as a single in the early summer of 1999. It was awarded four platinum records in Europe and the USA.
2000-2012
At the 2000 Grammy Awards , Whitney Houston received her sixth Grammy for the song It's Not Right, But It's Okay , this time for best female R&B vocal performance . In May of the same year, the first best-of project of their 15-year career followed: Whitney: The Greatest Hits . On two CDs the album brings together Houston's greatest successes, some rarities - u. a. If You Say My Eyes Are Beautiful - as well as the four new songs Fine , Same Script, Different Cast , If I Told You That and the worldwide success Could I Have This Kiss Forever . The album reached the top five on the charts worldwide and was a number one hit in the UK . In the following year the singer received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the broadcaster BET for her life's work. In awarding the prize sang Luther Vandross and Christina Aguilera , the eulogy held Babyface and Mary J. Blige .
In November 2002, Just Whitney… Houston's fifth studio album was released. The first single Whatchulookinat , of which Houston is also a co-author, attracted attention mainly because of its media-critical content. But the following releases were no longer any particular commercial successes. Although the album went platinum in the US, it is still considered the artist's least successful album to this day.
Houston released their first Christmas album in late 2003: One Wish - The Holiday Album . It contains well-known Christmas classics as well as two songs from the soundtrack The Preacher's Wife . Houston sang the song Little Drummer Boy with her daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown .
After the releases of the albums Just Whitney… and One Wish , it became increasingly quiet about the career of Whitney Houston. Her other music releases in the period from 2001 to 2007 are limited to the two other best-of albums Love Whitney and The Ultimate Collection . In 2006, Houston recorded the song Family Comes First with her mother Cissy, her cousin Dionne Warwick and their daughter , which is part of the soundtrack of the film Daddy's Little Girls .
In 2004 Whitney Houston performed at the World Music Awards . She then gave an interview to the American TV magazine Entertainment Tonight , in which she and her discoverer Clive Davis announced their plans for a new album. The work on it then dragged on for years and was overshadowed by recurring rumors about Houston's health.
In July 2008, the song Like I Never Left , a duet from Houston with singer Akon , appeared on the Internet . A year later, the album I Look to You was presented to the global trade press at listening parties in London, New York and Los Angeles. The theme song as well as the Million Dollar Bill written by Alicia Keys were released in a double pack as the first singles.
In September 2009, Whitney Houston gave US talk show host Oprah Winfrey an hour-long interview in which she spoke in detail about her drug addiction and her divorced marriage. In the same month, the album I Look To You rose to number one on the charts in the US and Canada. Further number one positions in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Poland and the Netherlands also made it number one in Europe. The album sold more than 300,000 times in the USA in its first week, making the US singer the most successful opening week of her career.
The album then sold more than two million times worldwide. It is behind Houston's other albums - especially those of the 1990s - but has received platinum and gold awards in the USA, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Poland, among others. In November 2009, Whitney Houston was honored with the special International Artist Award at the American Music Awards .
Ten years after Houston's last world tour, their new world tour began in December 2009 at the Olimpijski Stadium in Moscow. The reviews of this tour prelude were marked by disappointment with her fragile voice, which barely reached the level of previous years. When their voice failed several times at a concert at O 2 World in Berlin, some spectators left the event prematurely. At her concert in Hamburg, she showed once again the enormous potential her voice once had. The highlight of the evening was the return of Houston to her roots, the gospels . The majority of the audience gave benevolent applause. This world tour grossed about $ 32 million but had little success with music critics. For the most part, the German-language press judged them negatively. On May 5, 2011, Houston performed live as a musical guest at a concert by Prince at The Forum in Inglewood, Los Angeles.
After Houston's death in February 2012, some of her songs made it into the top 100 of the German single charts: I Will Always Love You at number 19, One Moment in Time at number 40, My Love Is Your Love at number 64, and the title I published in 2009 Look to You at number 84 and Run to You at number 98. Three of their albums also made it into the Top 100 again, but only greatest hits albums: The Ultimate Collection at number 3 (previously number 11), The Essential Whitney Houston at number 20 and All Time Best - Reclam Musik Edition at number 76. The last two albums mentioned were released in 2011, but only entered the charts after Houston's death.
Discography
Studio albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks / months, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks / months, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
 US
|
R&B
|
|||
| 1985 | Whitney Houston |
DE2  (67 weeks)DE |
AT9 (7½ months)AT |
CH2 (33 weeks) CH |
UK2 × 4
(119 weeks)UK |
US1  × 3
(176 weeks)US |
R&B1 (116 weeks) R&B |
First published: February 14, 1985
Sales: 32,000,000 |
| 1987 | Whitney |
DE1 (33 weeks)DE |
AT1 × 2
(12 months)AT |
CH1 × 2
(20 weeks)CH |
UK1 × 7
(102 weeks)UK |
US1 × 9
(88 weeks)US |
R&B2 (75 weeks) R&B |
First published: June 1, 1987
Sales: 28,000,000 |
| 1990 | I'm your baby tonight |
DE3 (26 weeks)DE |
AT2 (20 weeks)AT |
CH2 × 2
(22 weeks)CH |
UK4th (29 weeks)UK |
US3 × 4
(57 weeks)US |
R&B1 (53 weeks) R&B |
First published: November 6, 1990
Sales: + 12,000,000 |
| 1998 | My love is your love |
DE2 (69 weeks) DE |
AT1 (48 weeks)AT |
CH1 × 3
(67 weeks)CH |
UK4th × 3
(70 weeks)UK |
US13 × 4
(87 weeks)US |
R&B7 (79 weeks) R&B |
First published: November 17, 1998
Sales: + 13,000,000 |
| 2002 | Just Whitney ... |
DE16 (8 weeks) DE |
AT33 (7 weeks) AT |
CH10 (12 weeks)CH |
UK76 (5 weeks) UK |
US9 (30 weeks)US |
R&B3 (31 weeks) R&B |
First published: November 25, 2002
Sales: + 4,500,000 |
| 2009 | I look to you |
DE1  (17 weeks)DE |
AT3 (13 weeks)AT |
CH1 (14 weeks)CH |
UK3 (14 weeks)UK |
US1 (39 weeks)US |
R&B1 (43 weeks) R&B |
First published: August 28, 2009
Sales: + 5,000,000 |
Filmography
- 1992: Bodyguard (The Bodyguard)
- 1995: Waiting to Exhale (Waiting To Exhale)
- 1996: Rendezvous with an Angel (The Preacher's Wife)
- 1997: Cinderella (Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella)
- 2012: Sparkle
Awards
- 1986: Grammy Award Best Female Pop Performance for "Saving All My Love For You"
- 1988: Grammy Award Best Female Pop Performance for "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)"
- 1988: BRAVO OTTO in silver for "Best Singer"
- 1993: 2 BRAVO OTTOs in silver for "Best Singer" & "Best Actress"
- 1994: Grammy Award Song of the Year for "I Will Always Love You"
- 1994: Grammy Award Best Female Pop Performance for "I Will Always Love You"
- 1994: Grammy Award Album of the Year for "The Bodyguard"
- 1999: Bambi in the category "Pop International"
- 1999: MTV Europe Music Award in the Best R&B category
- 2000: Grammy Award in the R'n'b Song of the Year category for "It's Not Right But It's Okay"
- 2001: BET Lifetime Achievement Award
- 2004: Women's World Award - World Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement
- 2009: International Artist Award (AMA's)
- 2012: Global Icon (EMA's)
- 2012: Echo Hall of Fame
literature
- Mark Bego: Whitney Houston - The Biography (Updated and Expanded New Edition) . Hannibal Verlag, Höfen 2012, ISBN 978-3-85445-389-5 (Original edition: Whitney Houston: The Biography )
documentary
- Whitney - "Can I Be Me" . Director: Nick Broomfield , Rudi Dolezal , Great Britain 2017 (105 minutes, official trailer )
Web links
Wikinews: Whitney Houston - on the news- Whitney Houston at the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Literature by and about Whitney Houston in the catalog of the German National Library
- Whitney Houston in the nndb (English)
- Official website Sony BMG (English)
- Artist portrait Sony BMG Germany
- Whitney Houston at laut.de
- Arne Willander: Whitney Houston: The Prodigal. An obituary . In: Rolling Stone , February 15, 2012
- Complete discography (including cover and all collaborations)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Official Whitney Houston biography ( memento from January 19, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) or gold and platinum statistics ( memento from February 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Whitney's godmother: 'She was a light' . In: Nancy Grace spoke with Whitney Houston's godmother and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer Darlene Love. , February 13, 2012. Archived from the original on October 1, 2013. Retrieved on February 20, 2012.
- ^ Robyn Crawford, A Song for You, My Life With Whitney Houston , Dulton 2019, ISBN 978-1-52474-284-3
- ↑ Quick Takes: Whitney Houston returns to rehab . In: Los Angeles Times .
- ↑ Official death certificate
- ↑ bild.de accessed on February 18, 2013
- ↑ Details on Whitney Houston's death published on welt.de.
- ^ Whitney Houston to be buried in Westfield: A Jersey girl comes home . nj.com
- ^ Whitney Houston in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved November 4, 2016.
- ↑ Music: Whitney Houston comes to Germany . In: Focus . October 13, 2009
- ↑ Deutschlandradio Kultur, Kulturnachrichten from February 12, 2012.
- ↑ Whatever Love May Be, At Heart It's Ever Powerful . New York Times, November 17, 1998
- ↑ 100 Greatest Singers of All Time . The Rolling Stone
- ^ The Observer - July 19, 2009
- ↑ a b Gold & Platinum. RIAA - Recording Industry Association of America
- ↑ The Rolling Stone Top 500 Albums ( Memento from January 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ October 15, 1988 - Whitney Houston's One Moment In Time . ( Memento from October 15, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) SWR 3 Daily Pop
- ↑ Put on your feet by the drip . Time online; Retrieved September 20, 2009
- ^ Whitney Houston and Clive Davis ( Memento March 5, 2016 on the Internet Archive ) ET Interview Transcript - 2004.
- ^ Whitney Houston: Sad concert comeback in Berlin . Bild.de
- ↑ concert at the 0 2 World Hamburg - Whitney Houston - strong moments despite a weak voice . Abendblatt.de
- ↑ pollstarpro.com (PDF; 75 kB)
- ↑ Whitney Houston back on the charts .
- ↑ Dominic Patten: Is It Too Late for Whitney's Comeback? In: The Wrap. August 31, 2009, accessed October 22, 2014 .
- ^ Alison Boshoff: Doomed to self-destruct: No one could save Whitney Houston as she blew £ 100m and sought oblivion in crack cocaine. In: Daily Mail . February 13, 2012, accessed October 22, 2014 .
- ↑ Honors and Prizes ( Memento from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Houston, Whitney |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Houston, Whitney Elizabeth (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American R&B, soul, and pop music singer, actress, and film producer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 9, 1963 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Newark , New Jersey |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 11, 2012 |
| Place of death | Beverly Hills , California |