Portal:Whitney Houston

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
The Whitney Houston Portal

Template:/box-header

Flickr Whitney Houston performing on GMA 2009 3.jpg

Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer, actress, producer, and model. In 2009, the Guinness World Records cited her as the most-awarded female act of all time. Her list of awards includes two Emmy Awards, six Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among a total of 415 career awards as of 2010. Houston was also one of the world's best-selling music artists, having sold over 170 million albums, singles and videos worldwide. Inspired by prominent soul singers in her family, including her mother Cissy Houston, cousins Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick, and her godmother Aretha Franklin, Houston began singing with New Jersey church's junior gospel choir at age 11. After she began performing alongside her mother in night clubs in the New York City area, she was discovered by Arista Records label head Clive Davis. Houston released seven studio albums and three movie soundtrack albums, all of which have diamond, multi-platinum, platinum or gold certification.

Houston was the only artist to chart seven consecutive No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hits ("Saving All My Love for You", "How Will I Know", "Greatest Love of All", "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)", "Didn't We Almost Have It All", "So Emotional" and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go"). She was the second artist behind Elton John and the only female artist to have two number-one Top Billboard 200 Album awards (formerly "Top Pop Album") on the Billboard magazine year-end charts. Houston's 1985 debut album Whitney Houston, became the best-selling debut album by a female act at the time of its release. The album was named Rolling Stone's best album of 1986, and was ranked at number 254 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Her second studio album Whitney (1987), became the first album by a female artist to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Houston's crossover appeal on the popular music charts as well as her prominence on MTV, starting with her video for "How Will I Know", influenced several African-American female artists to follow in her footsteps.

Houston's first acting role was as the star of the feature film The Bodyguard (1992). The film's original soundtrack won the 1994 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Its lead single "I Will Always Love You", became the best-selling single by a female artist in music history. With the album, Houston became the first act (solo or group, male or female) to sell more than a million copies of an album within a single week period. The album makes her the only female act in the top 10 list of the best-selling albums of all time, at number four. Houston continued to star in movies and contribute to their soundtracks, including the films Waiting to Exhale (1995) and The Preacher's Wife (1996). The Preacher's Wife soundtrack became the best-selling gospel album in history. Three years after the release of her fourth studio album My Love Is Your Love (1998), she renewed her recording contract with Arista Records. She released her fifth studio album Just Whitney in 2002, and the Christmas-themed One Wish: The Holiday Album in 2003. In 2009, Houston released her seventh studio album I Look to You.

Read more...

Template:/box-footer

Selected article - show another

Whitney Houston discography
Studio albums 7
Compilation albums 4
Video albums 7
EPs 1
Singles 53
Soundtrack albums 3

The discography of Whitney Houston, an American pop/R&B singer, consists of six studio albums, five compilations, a holiday album, two soundtrack albums, five box sets and six extended plays, as well as fifty-three singles released. Houston's recording debut was actually made in 1978 when she sang back-up (and partially lead) vocals for The Michael Zager Band's "Life's a Party."

According to the RIAA, Houston is top-selling R&B female artist of the 20th century, and the fourth best-selling female artist in the United States, with shipments of 55 million albums. As of 2010, her albums and singles, sold over 11 million and 7.8 million copies, respectively, in the UK alone. Whitney Houston is one of pop music's best-selling music artists of all-time, with more than 170 million combined albums, singles, and videos sold worldwide.

Read more...

Selected album - show another

I Look to You is the seventh and last studio album by American R&B-pop 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 is Houston's first studio album since One Wish: The Holiday Album (2003).

It received favorable reviews from music critics, based on an aggregate score of 66/100 from Metacritic and debuted on the U.S. Billboard 200 at number one with sales of 305,000, beating her previous career best first-week sale of 205,000 units with Just Whitney (2002), and it was her first album to reach number one album in the United States since 1992's The Bodyguard. Additionally it became her fourth chart-topping album thus extending her lead as the female artist with the most cumulative weeks at the number one position.

It has spawned two official singles: The title song, which became a top 20 U.S. R&B chart single, and the international single "Million Dollar Bill", which hit the top ten in several countries worldwide and also becoming a US top 20 R&B hit. Since its release, I Look to You has gone on to sell 2.5 million units worldwide, earning platinum certification in seven countries and gold certification in eight. A promotional single, "Nothing But Love", was only released to UK radio stations to promote the accompanying Nothing But Love World Tour.

Read more...

Template:/box-header Template:/Categories Template:/box-footer

Selected song - show another

"How Will I Know" is a song recorded by American recording artist Whitney Houston for her debut album, entitled Whitney Houston, which was released in February 1985. It was released by Arista Records in November that year, as the album's third single. Composed by George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam, the song was originally intended for Janet Jackson, but she passed on it. Houston then recorded the song with altered lyrics and production from Narada Michael Walden. An up-tempo dance song, the lyrics speak about the protagonist trying to decide if a boy she likes will ever like her back.

"How Will I Know" received mainly positive reviews. The song became Houston's second number one single on the United States Billboard Hot 100. It spent two weeks atop the chart and also became Houston's first chart topper on the Canadian RPM Singles Chart. In other regions, the song was successful, reaching the top ten in Sweden, Norway, and United Kingdom and the top twenty in the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Switzerland.

Read more...

Selected picture - show another

Whitney Houston Welcome Heroes 1.JPEG
Houston performing "Greatest Love of All" at the Welcome Home Heroes concert, in 1991


More media...

Template:/box-header

Template:/box-footer Template:/box-header

Celine Dion Concert - Singing I'm Alive.jpg
Mariah Carey by David Shankbone.jpg
Madonnaicon.jpg
Namexhh01.png
Celine Dion Mariah Carey Madonna Michael Jackson
Janet Jackson.jpg
Jessica Simpson crop.jpg
Christina Aguilera Sanremo.jpg
Shania Twain Janet Jackson Jessica Simpson Christina Aguilera
Ladygagaperforming-edit.jpg
Circus Tour.jpg
Avril Lavigne cropped2.jpg
Kylie Minogue Cannes.jpg
Lady Gaga Britney Spears Avril Lavigne Kylie Minogue


Template:/box-footer Template:/box-header

The following Wikimedia sister projects provide more on this subject:
Wikibooks  Wikimedia Commons Wikinews  Wikiquote  Wikisource  Wikiversity  Wikivoyage  Wiktionary  Wikidata 
Books Media News Quotations Texts Learning resources Travel guides Definitions Database

Template:/box-footer

diq:Portal:Whitney Houston