1. Whitney Elizabeth Houston was an American singer, actress, film producer, and philanthropist.
138 Facts About Whitney Houston
1. 2.
Whitney Houston took a more urban turn with her third album, I'm Your Baby Tonight, and performed an acclaimed rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Super Bowl XXV in 1991.
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Whitney Houston continued her work in the film industry, including starring roles in Waiting to Exhale, The Preacher's Wife and Cinderella.
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On February 11,2012, Whitney Houston accidentally drowned in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California, with heart disease and cocaine use as contributing factors.
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Whitney Houston is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with sales of more than 220 million records worldwide.
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Whitney Houston scored 11 Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles and remains the only artist to have seven consecutive singles top the chart.
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Whitney Houston has been inducted into multiple halls and walks of fame.
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Whitney Elizabeth Houston was born on August 9,1963, at Presbyterian Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, to Emily "Cissy" and John Russell Houston Jr.
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Cissy Whitney Houston stated that she has partial Dutch and Native American ancestry.
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Whitney Houston was a cousin of singers Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick as well as a distant cousin of opera singer Leontyne Price.
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Whitney Houston's paternal great-great-grandfather Jeremiah Burke Sanderson was an American abolitionist and advocate for the civil and educational rights of black Americans during the mid-19th century.
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Whitney Houston had three older brothers: paternal half-brother John III; maternal half-brother Gary, a basketball player and singer; and full brother Michael.
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At three, Whitney Houston witnessed the Newark race riots of 1967.
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Three years later, in 1970, the Whitney Houston family relocated to a suburban area of East Orange, New Jersey.
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Whitney Houston's parents married in the spring of 1964, just months before Whitney Houston's first birthday.
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Whitney Houston joined the church choir at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark at the age of five, and she learned to play piano at New Hope.
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Whitney Houston later recalled being exposed to the Pentecostal church nearby as well.
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Whitney Houston made her solo performance debut at New Hope singing the hymn "Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah" at the age of 12.
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When Whitney Houston became a teenager, she told her mother that she wanted to pursue a career in music.
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Whitney Houston gave her first solo during Cissy's performance at Manhattan's Town Hall in February 1978, performing "Tomorrow" from the Broadway musical, Annie, where she received her first standing ovation.
21.
Whitney Houston began a career as a session vocalist backing up artists like her mother, Michael Zager, Chaka Khan and Lou Rawls.
22.
Whitney Houston was the featured vocalist in Zager's disco song "Life's a Party".
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Whitney Houston became a fashion model in 1980 after being spotted at Carnegie Hall and signed first with Click Models before moving onto the Wilhelmina Models agency, where she landed the cover of Seventeen.
24.
Whitney Houston continued her music career during this period, recording demos of gospel recordings.
25.
Whitney Houston was introduced to a national audience in June 1983, performing the song "Home" from the Broadway musical The Wiz on The Merv Griffin Show.
26.
Whitney Houston received notice in 1984 after being paired up with Jermaine Jackson, with whom the duet, "Take Good Care of My Heart", was featured on Jackson's Dynamite album, while appearing with Jackson performing the song and another duet, "Nobody Loves Me Like You Do", on an episode of As the World Turns.
27.
Whitney Houston was released on Valentine's Day, February 14,1985.
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The song attracted some notoriety after advice columnist Ann Landers included it in her list of rock songs deemed "trashy music" on her Ask Ann Landers column, to which Whitney Houston quickly addressed in an interview with The Chicago Tribune.
29.
In July 1986, her first major world tour, The Greatest Love World Tour, was launched and Whitney Houston performed at four continents for 53 shows until that December.
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Whitney Houston was ranked the top new pop artist of 1985 by Billboard; the following year, her debut became the first by a woman to have the best-selling album of the year.
31.
Whitney Houston was denied a nomination for the Best New Artist Grammy due to her recordings in the previous year, prompting an angry letter from Clive Davis.
32.
Whitney Houston won her first Grammy for "Saving All My Love for You" in the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
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Whitney Houston won her first seven American Music Awards from the album, out of 13 nominations.
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Whitney Houston was the first artist ever to enter number one in the US and UK simultaneously, while reaching number one in every country it charted.
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Whitney Houston remains the only artist to ever accomplish this feat as of 2025.
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Whitney Houston broke an all-time record for most number ones recorded by a solo female artist at the time and broke her own record by producing four number one singles off the same album.
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Whitney Houston has sold more than 23 million copies worldwide, with ten million sold in the United States alone, where it has been certified Diamond.
38.
Whitney Houston went on to win four American Music Awards, six Billboard awards and her first Soul Train Music Award.
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Whitney Houston launched her second world tour, the Moment of Truth World Tour, in July 1987.
40.
Also in that era, Whitney Houston participated in the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute at London's Wembley Stadium in support of the then-imprisoned civil rights activist and the anti-apartheid movement.
41.
Whitney Houston had refused work in South Africa due to the country's then strict apartheid laws.
42.
At the 1989 Soul Train Music Awards, when Whitney Houston's name was called out for a nomination, a few in the audience jeered.
43.
Whitney Houston returned to the top of the Hot 100 with the title track and "All the Man That I Need", helping Whitney Houston to set another chart record by being the first female soloist to have multiple number one pop songs on three albums at least.
44.
Whitney Houston sang live, but the microphone was turned off.
45.
Whitney Houston donated her share of the proceeds to the American Red Cross Gulf Crisis Fund and was named to the Red Cross Board of Governors.
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Whitney Houston's rendition was critically acclaimed and is considered the benchmark for singers; VH1 listed the performance as one of the greatest moments that rocked TV.
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Later in 1991, Whitney Houston put together her Welcome Home Heroes concert with HBO for the soldiers fighting in the Persian Gulf War and their families.
48.
Whitney Houston then embarked on her third world tour, the I'm Your Baby Tonight World Tour, in which Whitney Houston performed 96 shows, including a ten-date sold-out residency at Wembley Arena in London.
49.
Whitney Houston played a star who is being stalked by a crazed fan and hires a bodyguard to protect her.
50.
However, controversy arose as some felt Whitney Houston's face had been intentionally left out of the advertising to hide the film's interracial relationship.
51.
Janet Maslin of The New York Times felt that Whitney Houston lacked chemistry with Costner.
52.
Whitney Houston was nominated for a Razzie Award but received favorable acting nods, including a nomination for Outstanding Actress at the NAACP Image Awards, four acting nods at the 1993 MTV Movie Awards and a People's Choice Award nod for Favorite Actress in a Dramatic Motion Picture.
53.
At the 1994 Grammy Awards, Whitney Houston won the Grammy for Album of the Year for the soundtrack and was the first black woman to win as producer as well as artist.
54.
Whitney Houston earned international honors for the soundtrack, including a Juno Award, five World Music Awards, six Japan Gold Disc Awards and a Brit Award.
55.
Whitney Houston's version was highly acclaimed by critics, regarding it as her "signature song" or "iconic performance".
56.
Whitney Houston earned the Grammys for Record of the Year and Best Pop Female Vocal Performance.
57.
Whitney Houston set a new Billboard Hot 100 chart record for the week of March 13,1993 when the two singles joined "I Will Always Love You" in simultaneously charting inside the top 20 in the same week, the first for an artist in the Nielsen SoundScan era and first for a female artist in general.
58.
The success of The Bodyguard led to Whitney Houston becoming a cover story for Rolling Stone in its June 10,1993 issue.
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Whitney Houston then embarked on what was her most expansive global tour to date with The Bodyguard World Tour, where she toured for nearly two years to mostly sold-out audiences across five continents.
60.
In October 1994, Whitney Houston attended and performed at a state dinner in the White House honoring newly elected South African president Nelson Mandela.
61.
In May 1995, Whitney Houston hosted the 8th Annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards.
62.
In 1995, Whitney Houston starred in Waiting to Exhale as Savannah Jackson, a TV producer.
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Whitney Houston called the film "a breakthrough for the image of black women because it presents them both as professionals and as caring mothers".
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Whitney Houston has shed the defensive hauteur that made her portrayal of a pop star in 'The Bodyguard' seem so distant.
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Whitney Houston contributed three songs to the soundtrack and advised producer Babyface to make it an "album of women with vocal distinction".
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Whitney Houston earned $10 million for the role, making her the highest-earning African-American actress in Hollywood at the time.
67.
The San Francisco Chronicle said Whitney Houston "is rather angelic herself, displaying a divine talent for being virtuous and flirtatious at the same time" and she "exudes gentle yet spirited warmth, especially when praising the Lord in her gorgeous singing voice".
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Whitney Houston won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture for the film.
69.
Whitney Houston's work was acknowledged by the Dove Awards and the NAACP Image Awards, where Whitney Houston received the award for Outstanding Gospel Artist.
70.
In 1996, Whitney Houston formed her film production company, BrownHouse Productions, in which Debra Martin Chase became her partner.
71.
Whitney Houston was initially offered the role of Cinderella in 1993, but other projects intervened.
72.
In early 1998, Whitney Houston received the Quincy Jones Award for outstanding career achievements at the 12th Soul Train Music Awards.
73.
In 1998, Whitney Houston released My Love Is Your Love, her first studio album in eight years.
74.
The album featured production from Rodney Jerkins, Wyclef Jean and Missy Elliott and resulted in Houston receiving some of her strongest reviews ever, with Rolling Stone writing that Houston was singing "with a bite in her voice" while The Village Voice called it "Whitney's sharpest and most satisfying so far".
75.
In March 2000, Whitney Houston earned a special honor at the 14th Soul Train Music Awards as the female artist of the decade for her extraordinary artistic contributions during the 1990s.
76.
Whitney Houston failed to show up to induct Clive Davis into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2000.
77.
Weeks later, Whitney Houston was scheduled to perform at the Academy Awards but was fired from the event by musical director and longtime friend Burt Bacharach.
78.
Whitney Houston did show up for a scheduled performance to celebrate Arista's 25th anniversary with Clive Davis, her performance received good reviews.
79.
Whitney Houston produced the film The Princess Diaries alongside fellow BrownHouse partner Debra Martin Chase.
80.
Whitney Houston renewed her contract for $100 million to release six new albums, for which she would earn royalties.
81.
Whitney Houston canceled a second performance scheduled for the following night.
82.
In January 2010, Whitney Houston was nominated for two NAACP Image Awards and won Best Music Video for "I Look to You".
83.
Later in 2010, Whitney Houston was cast in the remake of the 1976 film Sparkle, where she served as both a star and executive producer.
84.
Whitney Houston was a Christian, and she made it a point to sing gospel songs when on tour.
85.
Whitney Houston was influenced by Pentecostalism after she began attending a Pentecostal church not too far from New Hope.
86.
Whitney Houston's recording of "Do You Hear What I Hear", from the Christmas compilation album, A Very Special Christmas, has constantly appeared on the Billboard gospel charts since 2011.
87.
In 1997, Whitney Houston was given a special honor from the Dove Awards for helping to bring gospel music to the attention of the mainstream.
88.
Whitney Houston's last public performance prior to her death was an impromptu duet of "Jesus Loves Me" with friend and former collaborator Kelly Price at the Tru nightclub in Hollywood.
89.
Whitney Houston first met Robyn Crawford when Crawford was 19 and Whitney Houston was 16; the two were summer camp counselors.
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Crawford and Whitney Houston continued their professional relationship and platonic friendship until Crawford left Whitney Houston's employ in 2000.
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Police reported that Whitney Houston had visible injuries to her face.
92.
However, the show was not renewed for a second season after Whitney Houston declined further participation.
93.
In September 2006, a year after Being Bobby Brown aired, Whitney Houston filed for legal separation from Brown, later filing for divorce the following month, citing irreconcilable differences.
94.
Whitney Houston was charged with fourth degree assault for attacking Brotherton and "threatening to kill him", while her brother was charged with assaulting another man involved in the melee, Kevin Owens.
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On January 11,2000, while Whitney Houston was traveling with her husband Bobby Brown, airport security guards discovered half an ounce of marijuana in her handbag at Keahole-Kona International Airport in Hawaii.
96.
In 2002, Whitney Houston became embroiled in a legal dispute with John Whitney Houston Enterprise, a company started by her father.
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Whitney Houston's father died in February 2003, and the lawsuit was dismissed in April 2004, with no compensation awarded.
98.
In 2002, Whitney Houston gave an interview with Diane Sawyer to promote her upcoming album.
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Whitney Houston admitted to using various substances but denied having an eating disorder.
100.
Whitney Houston acknowledged to Oprah that her drug use had continued after rehabilitation, and that at one point, her mother obtained a court order and the assistance of law enforcement to press her into receiving further drug treatment.
101.
In May 2011, Whitney Houston enrolled in rehabilitation again due to drug and alcohol problems, which she stated was part of her "longstanding recovery process".
102.
On February 11,2012, Whitney Houston was found unconscious in Suite 434 at the Beverly Hilton, submerged in the bathtub.
103.
Whitney Houston reportedly appeared "disheveled" and "erratic" in the days before her death.
104.
On March 22,2012, the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office reported that Whitney Houston's death was caused by drowning and the "effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use".
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Whitney Houston's death coincided with the 54th Annual Grammy Awards, which took place the day following her death and included a tribute to Whitney Houston; it was later credited for the Grammys' second-highest ratings in history.
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Whitney Houston's death was covered internationally in the media, along with her memorial service, which was held for Whitney Houston at her home church, New Hope Baptist Church, in Newark, New Jersey, on February 18,2012.
107.
Whitney Houston set a Guinness World Record for a female artist by placing 10 albums inside the Billboard 200 simultaneously.
108.
In October 2023, Whitney Houston made the list of the top 10 highest-earning posthumous celebrities on Forbes, earning $30 million, later winning a posthumous Guinness World Records entry as the highest-earning posthumous female celebrity, her record 31st.
109.
Whitney Houston was referred to as "the Voice" because of her vocal talent.
110.
Jon Pareles of The New York Times stated Whitney Houston "always had a great big voice, a technical marvel from its velvety depths to its ballistic middle register to its ringing and airy heights".
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Whitney Houston's voice was an instrument and she knew how to use it.
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Whitney Houston had years and years of honing her craft on stage and in the studio before she ever got signed to a record label.
113.
Whitney Houston has been regarded as one of the greatest vocalists of all time and a cultural icon.
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Whitney Houston became the first black woman to receive heavy rotation on the network following the success of the "How Will I Know" video.
115.
Stephen Holden of The New York Times said that Whitney Houston "revitalized the tradition of strong gospel-oriented pop-soul singing".
116.
Whitney Houston won numerous accolades throughout her career, including two Emmy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, 14 World Music Awards, 16 Billboard Music Awards and 22 American Music Awards.
117.
Whitney Houston currently holds the record for most American Music Awards in a single night with eight, a record for a woman and tied in general with fellow musician Michael Jackson.
118.
Whitney Houston was the first artist to win more than 11 Billboard awards in one night at its fourth annual ceremony in 1993, which set a Guinness World Record at the time.
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Whitney Houston continues to hold the record for the most WMAs won in a single year, winning five trophies at the sixth World Music Awards in 1994.
120.
Whitney Houston is the black female artist with the most Guinness World Records in history with 31.
121.
In 2001, Whitney Houston became the first artist to receive the BET Lifetime Achievement Award.
122.
Whitney Houston is one of the best-selling recording artists of all time, with more than 220 million records sold worldwide.
123.
Whitney Houston sold more physical singles than any other female solo artist in history.
124.
Whitney Houston released seven studio albums and two soundtrack albums, all of which have been certified diamond, multi-platinum or platinum.
125.
Whitney Houston became the first female artist to go diamond with an album after her soundtrack to The Bodyguard went ten-times platinum in November 1993.
126.
In January 1994, her debut album Whitney Houston was the first studio album by a woman to be certified ten-times platinum, making her the first solo artist to receive two diamond-certified albums.
127.
When her sophomore album, Whitney, was certified diamond in October 2020, Houston became the first black recording artist in history to have three diamond-certified albums.
128.
Whitney Houston is the only black female artist with six or more albums to sell more than ten million units worldwide.
129.
Whitney Houston held an honorary Doctorate in Humanities from Grambling State University, Louisiana.
130.
Whitney Houston was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2013.
131.
Whitney Houston was inducted into the official Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in its second class in 2014.
132.
In 2020, Whitney Houston was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after her first nomination.
133.
In May 2023, Whitney Houston was one of the first of 13 artists to be given the Brits Billion Award by the BPI for reaching 1 billion career streams in the United Kingdom.
134.
Whitney Houston is one of only a handful of artists from the 20th century to have multiple songs streamed a billion times on Spotify with her 1987 hit, "I Wanna Dance with Somebody ", and her posthumous 2019 hit, "Higher Love", reaching the feat in 2023 and 2024.
135.
Whitney Houston was a long-time supporter of charities around the world.
136.
At a 1988 Madison Square Garden concert, Whitney Houston earned more than $250,000 for the United Negro College Fund.
137.
Whitney Houston donated all of the earnings from her 1991 Super Bowl XXV performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" sales to Gulf War servicemen and their families.
138.
Whitney Houston declined to perform in apartheid-era South Africa in the 1980s.