Whitney Elizabeth Houston was an American singer and actress. Known as "the Voice", she is one of the most awarded entertainers and one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with sales of over 220 million records worldwide. Houston's crossover appeal on the popular music charts and her performances influenced the breaking down of gender and racial barriers, as well as popular culture. Known for her vocal delivery and distinctive timbre, Houston was ranked second by Rolling Stone on its list of the greatest singers of all time. Her life and career have been the subject of multiple documentaries and television specials.
Emily Drinkard, known professionally as Cissy Houston, was an American soul and gospel singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, Houston began singing with three of her siblings in the family gospel group, The Drinkard Singers. By the early 1960s, Houston began a career as a session vocalist for several secular musicians in the rhythm and blues, soul, rock and roll, pop and rock genres. After initially joining her nieces' group the Gospelaires for a session with Ronnie Hawkins in 1961, Houston gradually took control of the group, which revamped into "The Group" with Houston, niece Sylvia Shemwell, Myrna Smith and teenager Estelle Brown. She eventually founded the girl group The Sweet Inspirations with Shemwell, Smith and Brown in 1967 and that year signed a contract with Atlantic Records where, with Houston as lead singer, they would record four albums before Houston departed for a solo career in 1970. Her best known solo singles include the top 20 R&B chart single, "I'll Be There" and the top 5 dance single, "Think It Over". Her solo career culminated with two Grammy Award wins, both in the Traditional Gospel Album category.
I'm Your Baby Tonight is the third studio album by American singer Whitney Houston. It was released on November 6, 1990, by Arista Records. The album is one of the best-selling female albums of all time and has been certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
"When You Believe" is a song made for the 1998 DreamWorks musical animated feature The Prince of Egypt, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. A pop single version of "When You Believe" performed by American singers Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, with additional music and lyrics by writer-producer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, was also recorded for the film's end credits and its soundtrack album by DreamWorks Records. Additionally, the song was released as a single on November 2, 1998, serving as the lead single for the soundtrack and for both Houston's fourth studio album, My Love Is Your Love by Arista Records, and the second single and first commercial single for Carey's first compilation album, #1's by Columbia Records. The original version of the song, featured in the narrative portion of the film, is performed by Sally Dworsky, Michelle Pfeiffer, and a children's choir soloist Andrew Bryan. "When You Believe" is described as a big ballad, with meaningful and inspirational lyrics, describing the ability each person has to achieve miracles when they reach out to God and believe.
"I Will Always Love You" is a song written and originally recorded in 1973 by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton. Written as a farewell to her business partner and mentor Porter Wagoner, expressing Parton's decision to pursue a solo career, the country single was released in 1974. The song was a commercial success for Parton, twice reaching the top spot of the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart: first in June 1974, then again in October 1982, with a re-recording for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas soundtrack.
"How Will I Know" is a song recorded by American singer Whitney Houston for her self-titled debut studio album. It was released on November 22, 1985, by Arista Records as the album's third single. Written and composed by George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam, it was originally intended for pop singer Janet Jackson, who passed on it. Houston then recorded the song with altered lyrics and production from Narada Michael Walden.
"I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" is a song recorded by American singer Whitney Houston for her second studio album, Whitney (1987). It was released as the lead single from the album on April 28, 1987, by Arista Records. It was produced by Narada Michael Walden, and written by George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam, of the band Boy Meets Girl, who had previously collaborated with Houston on "How Will I Know". At the 30th Annual Grammy Awards, "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" won for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, marking Houston's second win in the category.
"Saving All My Love for You" is a song written by Michael Masser and Gerry Goffin, originally recorded by Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. for their album Marilyn & Billy (1978). American singer Whitney Houston recorded it for her self-titled debut studio album (1985). It was released on August 13, 1985, by Arista Records, as the second single from the album in the United States, and third worldwide.
"Didn't We Almost Have It All" is a song recorded by American singer Whitney Houston for her second studio album, Whitney (1987). The song was written by Michael Masser and Will Jennings and produced by Masser. Initially, Houston's cover version of the Isley Brothers' "For the Love of You" was intended to be released as the second single from the album. However, the record label decided to release "Didn't We Almost Have It All", believing all Houston's material should be original. The song was released in July 1987 by Arista Records.
The albums discography of American singer, actress and producer Whitney Houston consists of seven studio albums, eight compilations, three soundtracks, five box sets and six extended plays. Houston is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with over 220 million records sold worldwide. In 1986, Houston's self-titled debut album spent fourteen weeks at number one on the Billboard 200, earned three number one singles in a row on the Billboard Hot 100 including "How Will I Know" and "Greatest Love of All" and was 1986's top album of the year, giving Houston the distinction of the first female artist to earn that honor. The album became the first studio album by a female artist to be certified over ten-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in January 1994, and went on to be certified fourteen-times platinum, tying with Britney Spears' ...Baby One More Time, as the highest-certified debut album by a female artist in history. It sold 25 million copies worldwide and earn a Guinness World Record as the best-selling R&B studio album by a female artist in the United States. Houston's second album, Whitney, was released in 1987 and became the first album by a female artist to debut at the top of the Billboard 200. It also became the first female album to spend its first ten weeks at number one, eventually staying there for eleven consecutive weeks. The album spawned four number one singles in a row including "I Wanna Dance with Somebody ", which helped Houston become the only artist to produce a record seven consecutive number-one hits. The album was certified Diamond by the RIAA for sales of ten million equivalent album sales and topped the charts in other countries, eventually selling in excess of 20 million copies worldwide. Houston earned a third consecutive top ten album on the Billboard 200 with the release of I'm Your Baby Tonight in 1990. The album helped Houston become the first female artist to earn multiple number one singles off three or more albums.
"You Give Good Love" is the debut solo single by American singer Whitney Houston for her 1985 eponymous debut studio album. It was written by La Forrest 'La La' Cope and produced by Kashif. When La La sent Kashif a copy of the song, originally offered to Roberta Flack, he thought it would be a better fit for Houston and told Arista Records he would be interested in recording with her.
"It's Not Right but It's Okay" is the third single from American singer Whitney Houston's fourth studio album, My Love Is Your Love. It was written by LaShawn Daniels, Rodney Jerkins, Fred Jerkins III, Isaac Phillips, Toni Estes and produced by Rodney Jerkins, who went by the nickname Darkchild. The song examines a woman confronting her lover about his infidelity. Houston won the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for this song. In 2003, Q Magazine ranked "It's Not Right but It's Okay" at number 638 in their list of the "1001 Best Songs Ever". In 2019, Billboard listed it as one of the Greatest Songs of 1999. In 2022, the Thunderpuss club mix was listed in the list of the 200 greatest dance songs of all time on Rolling Stone. The single reached number one in Spain and the top five in Canada, Iceland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
I Look to You is the seventh and final studio album by American singer Whitney Houston. It was first released on August 28, 2009, through Sony Music in Europe, then August 31, 2009 with Arista Records in the United States before being released by RCA Records in the United Kingdom on October 19, 2009. The album was Houston's first non-holiday studio album since 2002's Just Whitney. It received favorable reviews from music critics, based on an aggregate score of 66/100 from Metacritic and debuted on the US Billboard 200 at number one with sales of 305,000 beating her previous career best first-week sale of 205,137 units with Just Whitney (2002), and it was her first album to reach number one in the US since 1992's The Bodyguard. Additionally it became her fourth chart-topping album, thus extending her as the female artist with the most cumulative weeks at the number one position.
"I Look to You" is a pop-soul song performed by American recording artist Whitney Houston, from her seventh and final studio album of the same name. It was released as a worldwide promotional single and as the first US single from the album on July 23, 2009 on US radio following highly favorable reviews at pre-release album listening parties.
"Million Dollar Bill" is a song performed by American recording artist Whitney Houston from her seventh and final studio album, I Look to You (2009). The song was written by Alicia Keys, her husband Kaseem "Swizz Beatz" Dean and Norman Harris, and produced by Keys and Beatz. It was released as the official worldwide lead single from the album on August 18, 2009, through Arista Records in the US and August 24, 2009, through RCA Records in the UK. It is Houston's final single from a studio album, and the last song released in her lifetime before her death in 2012. The song samples R&B singer Loleatta Holloway's "We're Getting Stronger", co-written by Harris.
The Nothing but Love World Tour was the ninth and final concert tour by American recording artist Whitney Houston. It was her first major tour in almost a decade and was used to promote her seventh studio album I Look to You released in 2009.
"The Greatest Love of All" is a song written by Michael Masser, who composed the music, and Linda Creed, who wrote the lyrics. It was originally recorded in 1977 by George Benson, who made the song a substantial hit, peaking at number two on the US Hot Soul Singles chart that year, the first R&B chart top-ten hit for Arista Records. The song was written and recorded to be the main theme of the 1977 film The Greatest, a biopic of the boxer Muhammad Ali, and is performed during the opening credits.
American singer Whitney Houston, known as "The Voice", released 57 singles as a leading artist and 4 as a featured artist. Houston is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with over 220 million records sold worldwide. In the United States, Houston amassed 11 Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles, all of whom have been certified either gold, platinum, multi-platinum or diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America and was one of a selected group of artists to have a top ten single in the Billboard Hot 100 in four different decades. She is currently ranked in seventh place of the artists with the most number one singles in the history of the Billboard Hot 100. Prior to the introduction of digital singles, Houston sold 16.5 million physical singles in the country, the most ever by a female recording artist. In October 2012, the Official Charts Company claimed Houston was the fourth biggest-selling female singles artist of all time with a sales total of 8.5 million singles in that country.
