Whitney Elizabeth Houston August 9, — February 11, was an American singer, actress, and film producer. Commonly referred to as " the Voice ", [ 1 ] [ 2 ] she is one of the most awarded performers of all time.
Houston signed to Arista Records at the age of Her first two studio albums, Whitney Houston and Whitney , both reached number one on the Billboard The soundtrack from her film debut The Bodyguard won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and remains the best-selling soundtrack album of all time. The Preacher's Wife' s soundtrack became the best-selling gospel album of all time. On February 11, , Houston accidentally drowned in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills , California, with heart disease and cocaine use as contributing factors.
News of her death coincided with the Grammy Awards and was covered internationally along with her memorial service. Houston is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with sales of more than million records worldwide.
Houston scored 11 Billboard Hot number-one singles and remains the only artist to have seven consecutive singles top the chart. Guinness World Records named her the highest-earning posthumous female celebrity.
Houston was given the nickname "Nippy" by her father. Houston's parents are both African-American. Cissy Houston stated that she has partial Dutch and Native American ancestry. Aretha Franklin became an "honorary aunt" while Darlene Love was Houston's godmother. The Houston family relocated to a suburban area of East Orange three years following the Newark race riots of Houston was raised in the Baptist faith. Throughout her teenage years, she would be taught how to sing by Cissy.
