Whitney Elizabeth Houston was an American actress, singer, producer, and model. Nicknamed "the Voice", she was considered one of the greatest and best-selling music artists of all time according to Guinness World Records. Aside from her famous singing career, she was also well-known for playing Rachel Marron in the 1992 romantic thriller drama film The Bodyguard, Savannah Jackson in the 1995 romance film Waiting to Exhale (alongside Angela Bassett), and Emma Anderson in the 2012 musical film Sparkle (her final film role before her death).
For Disney, she portrayed Julia Coleman Biggs in the 1996 Touchstone Pictures Christmas film The Preacher's Wife (alongside Denzel Washington), as well as the Fairy Godmother in the 1997 telefilm adaptation of Cinderella. She also produced the 2001 comedy film The Princess Diaries and its 2004 sequel, as well as the 2003 Disney Channel Original Movie The Cheetah Girls and its 2006 sequel.
Houston began singing in church as a child and became a background vocalist while in high school. She was one of the first black women to become a teen model in 1981, appearing on the cover of Seventeen. Later, at age 19, she signed a contract with Arista Records. Her first two studio albums Whitney Houston (1985) and Whitney (1987) both peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 and are among the best-selling albums of all time. Her third studio album I'm Your Baby Tonight (1990) yielded two top hit number-one singles "I'm Your Baby Tonight" and "All the Man That I Need". Houston's rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Super Bowl XXV in 1991 received widespread media coverage.
Houston made her acting debut in the romantic thriller film The Bodyguard, which, despite its mixed reviews, became the tenth highest-grossing film to that date. Its soundtrack won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and remains the best-selling soundtrack album of all time. It generated multiple hit singles, including "I Have Nothing", "I'm Every Woman", and "I Will Always Love You"; the latter won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year, spent a then-record 14 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, and became the best-selling single by a woman in music history.
Roles[]
Trivia[]
- She was considered for the voice role of Rita in Disney's 1988 animated film Oliver & Company, but Sheryl Lee Ralph was cast instead.[citation needed]
- She was also considered for the role of Tina Turner in the 1993 Touchstone Pictures film What's Love Got to Do with It. Houston was actually offered the role, but had to decline due to imminent maternity.[citation needed] The role ultimately went to Angela Bassett, whom Houston later co-starred with in Waiting to Exhale.
- Houston's song "You Give Good Love" was heard over clips of classic Disney cartoons in the 1986 DTV special Disney's DTV Valentine (later renamed Disney's DTV Romancin').
- One other song, "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)", was released as a video in a follow-up series DTV².
- Her cover of "I Will Always Love You" was featured at the start of Spider-Man: Far From Home.
- Houston died on the birthday of her Cinderella co-star Brandy Norwood, who turned 33 years old that day.
- Jerrod Carmichael joked about Houston's tragic 2012 drowning at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, a historic facility known for its annual hosting of the Golden Globe Awards ceremony.[1]