Born: August 9, 1963
City and Country of Origin: Newark, New Jersey
Music Training: performing as a soloist in the junior gospel choir at her Baptist church;
Awards: Grammy for "Saving All My Love For You;" Emmy for Outstanding Individual Performance In A Variety Program; American Music Awards, Female Vocal and Soul/R&B Female Vocal; Grammy "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)"
Top Recordings: "Saving All My Love For You," "How Will I Know," "Greatest Love Of All," "Didn't We Almost Have It All," "I Will Always Love You"
Whitney Houston Biography: Whitney followed in the footsteps of her famous cousin Dionne Warwick and her somewhat less well known mother Cissy. She started her career singing back up for acts like Chaka Khan and Lou Rawls, as well as lead vocals on the Michael Zager Band's single Life's A Party. She has become known as the greatest female vocalist of all time. She also put her statuesque figure and good looks to work modeling in various magazines and acting on televison shows like Give Me A Break. By 1983 she had a record agreement with Arista Records and followed shortly with her first hit "Hold Me" a duet with Teddy Pendergrass broke into the to 50. Artista head Clive Davis took a special interest in the budding star and made certain that only the best songwriters would contribute material for her first album Whitney Houston. It was released in March of '84 and its long trek to the top of the charts took almost a whole year. The singles "You Give GoodLove" and "Saving All My Love For You" climbed to number 3 and number 1 respectively. The latter became an international hit making Whitney a worldwide star. This success was followed up rapidly by 2 more number 1 hits "How Will I Know" and "Greatest Love Of All." 1987 would bring even more success with I Want To Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) which debuted at number 1 on both the U.S. and British album charts. Singles from the album included "I Know Him So Well," sang as a duet with her mother Cissy, and "Didn't We Almost Have It All," which became her fifth consecutive number 1 hit single. Her recording of the 1988 Olympic tribute "One Moment In Time" brought her back to prominence while "I'm Your Baby Tonight" put her back on top of the charts in the U.S. In 1992 she married singer Bobby Brown and made her acting debut in The Body Guard. Her 1993 Dolly Parton cover "I Will Always Love You" became the biggest hit single in rock history. 1995 saw the release of her second film "Waiting to Exhale." The single "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)," from the movie put Whitney back on top of the charts. Over the years she has seemed to lose some interest in her career and there have been many grumblings about her personal life particularly when it comes to hubby Bobby Brown who has had numerous run ins with the law mostly concerning illicit drug use.

Music by the Decade:

Sounds of the Fifties

Sounds of the Sixties

Sounds of the Seventies

Sounds of the Eighties

Sounds of the Nineties