Whitney Elizabeth Houston was an American singer and actress. Known as "the Voice", she is regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of music and one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with over 220 million records sold worldwide. She influenced many singers in the recording industry, and was known for her powerful, soulful vocals, vocal improvisation skills, use of gospel singing techniques in pop music, and live performances. Houston 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. She also enhanced her popularity by entering the film industry. Her accolades include eight Grammy Awards, 22 American Music Awards, two Emmy Awards, and 30 Guinness World Records. Houston's inductions include the Grammy Hall of Fame (twice), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame, the BET Walk of Fame, the Soul Train 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.
Robert Barisford Brown Sr. is an American singer, songwriter, and dancer. Brown, alongside frequent collaborator Teddy Riley, is noted as one of the pioneers of new jack swing: a fusion of hip hop and R&B. Brown started his career in the R&B and pop group New Edition, from its inception in 1978 until his exit from the group in December 1985.
Vivica Anjanetta Fox is an American actress, producer and television host. Fox began her career on Soul Train (1982–1983), and played roles on the daytime television soap operas Days of Our Lives (1988) and Generations (1989–1991)). In prime time she starred opposite Patti LaBelle in the NBC sitcom Out All Night (1992–1993). Fox's breakthrough came in 1996, with roles in two box-office hit films, Roland Emmerich's Independence Day and F. Gary Gray's Set It Off.
Set It Off is a 1996 American heist crime action film directed by F. Gary Gray and written by Kate Lanier and Takashi Bufford. The film stars Jada Pinkett, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox, and Kimberly Elise. It follows four close friends in Los Angeles, California, who plan to execute a bank robbery—each doing so for different reasons—to achieve better for themselves and their families.
Lela Rochon Fuqua, is an American actress. She is best known for her starring role as Robin Stokes in the 1995 romantic drama film Waiting to Exhale. Rochon also had roles in the films Harlem Nights (1989), Boomerang (1992), The Chamber (1996), Gang Related (1997), Knock Off (1998), Why Do Fools Fall in Love (1998), and Any Given Sunday (1999).
Terry Kinney is an American actor and theater director, and a founding member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, with Gary Sinise and Jeff Perry. Kinney is best known for his role as Tim McManus on HBO's prison drama Oz.
Two Can Play That Game is a 2001 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Mark Brown and starring Vivica A. Fox and Morris Chestnut.
What's Done in the Dark (Will Come to the Light) is an 2007 American stage play written, directed and produced by Tyler Perry. The show first opened in September 2006. The play focuses on two nurses, one of whom is a single mother and the other of whom is having an affair with a doctor, and an eccentric hypochondriac patient, Mr. Brown. It stars Tamela Mann as Cora and David Mann as Mr. Brown. The live performance released on DVD on February 12, 2008 was taped in Charlotte at the Ovens Auditorium in May 2007.
BET's Top 25 is a countdown show that features top 25 favorites such as top 25 men/women, dances, actors, rappers, etc., with commentary from industry insiders.
Lance Darnell Gross is an American actor and model. He is known for his role as Calvin Payne on the TBS/BET sitcom Tyler Perry's House of Payne, for which he won four NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
Bobbi Kristina Houston Gordon was an American reality television personality and singer. She was the only child of pop superstar Whitney Houston and singer Bobby Brown. Her parents' fame kept Brown in the public eye, as did her appearances on the reality show Being Bobby Brown.
Travis Cherry is a two-time Grammy-nominated American music producer, musician and songwriter from Raleigh, North Carolina. He has worked with artists such as Bone Thugs and Harmony, Keith Sweat, Jennifer Lopez, Trina, Snoop Dogg, Charlie Wilson and J. Holiday. His work appears on the Gold-selling album Back of My Lac' by J. Holiday and on Jennifer Lopez's 2007 album Brave. He also appeared on Episode 3 of the first season of BET's TV show Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is.
Gary Joseph Houston is an American former professional basketball player for the Denver Nuggets in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played one season with the Nuggets (1979–80). Gary is the half-brother of singer Whitney Houston and also half-brother to Michael Houston. Gary, Michael, and Whitney are the children of singer Cissy Houston. Gary is the cousin of singers Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick and the uncle of Bobbi Kristina Brown, Whitney's daughter with singer Bobby Brown. Garland has toured several times as a background singer and an occasional duet partner with Whitney Houston. Garland has also studied at DePaul University.
The Houstons: On Our Own is an American reality documentary television series that premiered on October 24, 2012, on Lifetime. The series was announced on May 11, 2012, with the working title of The Houston Family Chronicles and was to have ten episodes. The Houstons: On Our Own chronicles the lives of Whitney Houston's family as they move on from her death. It ran for 14 episodes.
Demetria Dyan McKinney is an American actress, model, and singer. From 2006 to 2012, during its original run, she starred in the TBS sitcom Tyler Perry's House of Payne, a BET revival of the show was announced in 2020. Her other series regular roles include TV One sitcom The Rickey Smiley Show, Bounce TV prime time soap opera Saints & Sinners and Syfy horror drama Superstition, as well as Motherland: Fort Salem on Freeform.
Whitney is a 2015 American biographical film directed by Angela Bassett based on American singer Whitney Houston and her turbulent marriage to R&B artist Bobby Brown that premiered on Lifetime in North America on January 17, 2015. Whitney received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, with DaCosta's performance as Houston and Bassett's direction being praised but Escarpeta's casting and the film's accuracy being criticized. Bassett was nominated at the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Miniseries or TV Film and at the Black Reel Awards for Outstanding Director in a Television Miniseries or Movie.
Bobbi is a given name and nickname, almost exclusively feminine and usually a diminutive form (hypocorism) of Roberta or Barbara. It may refer to:
Whitney: Can I Be Me is a 2017 British-American documentary film that was written, co-produced by Nick Broomfield and directed by Broomfield and Rudi Dolezal. The film's subject is the life and career of singer Whitney Houston.
Je' Caryous Johnson is an American stage and film producer, author, playwright and director known for his Off-Broadway stage productions in the urban theater circuit. He is also known for his work of adapting stage plays from various classic urban novels from authors such as Michael Baisden's books Men Cry in the Dark (2002) and Maintenance Man (2003) and Eric Jerome Dickey's book Friends and Lovers (2004) as well as films such as Two Can Play That Game (2017), Set It Off (2018) and New Jack City (2022). Johnson is the author of the urban fiction novel Men, Money and Gold Diggers and is a four-time national championship playwright and became the honoree recipient of the NAACP Trailblazer Award in 2007. Je'Caryous has also been acknowledged as the first producer to adapt an African-American romance novel into a stage theater production.
