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Early life of Whitney Houston

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Whitney Houston onstage early in her career, 1987

Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress, commonly referred to as The Voice. The youngest child of American singer Cissy Houston, she was born in Newark, New Jersey, and moved to East Orange, with her family at age seven. Houston began singing at her mother's church, New Hope Baptist Church, and started to lead its junior choir at the age of twelve. At fourteen, Houston entered the music business first as a background singer for her mother during Cissy's cabaret club performances in downtown Manhattan and then as a session vocalist, where she backed industry artists such as Lou Rawls, Chaka Khan and the Neville Brothers among others.

Occasionally during this era, Houston was allowed to take the lead vocal during Cissy's shows and received her first standing ovation at The Town Hall and recorded her first lead vocal with disco music producer Michael Zager at fifteen. In 1980, she began a successful career in modeling, landing the cover of Seventeen in 1981. Houston's music career picked up a year later in 1982 when she recorded full lead vocals on songs by Material and Paul Jabara.

After auditioning for Elektra Records and CBS, Houston eventually signed to Arista Records in 1983. While recording her debut album, she entered the record charts in 1984 with American R&B singer Teddy Pendergrass on the love ballad, "Hold Me” and appeared with Jermaine Jackson on an episode of As the World Turns. Reaction to Houston's debut album upon its release in early 1985 was slow at first but picked up after she performed the single, "You Give Good Love", on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Her ascension to stardom culminated with winning the Grammy Award for "Saving All My Love for You" in 1986.

Childhood in Newark and East Orange

[edit]
Houston was raised in Newark, New Jersey until she was seven.

Whitney Elizabeth Houston was born on August 9, 1963, in Newark, New Jersey, to Emily "Cissy" (née Drinkard) and John Russell Houston Jr. at the city's Presbyterian Hospital.[1] Houston's mother discovered she was pregnant with her around the same time Houston's cousin Dionne Warwick made her chart debut with the R&B hit "Don't Make Me Over" in December 1962.[2]

On the day of Houston's birth, her mother Cissy was reportedly recording background vocals with the Drifters at Atlantic Studios and was "well past her due date".[3] Upon her arrival, her mother initially didn't believe she had a daughter as she had given birth to two boys.[4] When her then-boyfriend John told her they had a daughter, she felt John was "joking around" until a nurse confirmed the baby's identity.

Upon seeing her, Houston's mother named her. She got her first name from actress Whitney Blake, one of the main stars of the 1960s sitcom, Hazel, and her middle name from her paternal grandmother Sarah Elizabeth Houston.[5][6][7][5][8][a]

Houston's father John was of African American, Lenni Lanape Native American, Scottish and English descent and was the great-great-grandson of Jeremiah Burke Sanderson, an abolitionist, schoolteacher and civil rights activist.[9][10] Her mother Cissy was of African American heritage with some English and Irish descent. Cissy once claimed in an interview to have partial Dutch and Native American descent.[11] Houston's maternal descendants were landowners in Blakely, Georgia, one of the few black families to do so at the time.[12] The Drinkards later moved to Newark during the Great Migration in the early 1920s.[13]

Houston was the only daughter and youngest child of her parents; along with two elder half-brothers John Houston III and Gary Garland, born during her parents' previous marriages to Elsie Hamilton and Fred Garland,[14][15] she was also preceded by another older brother Michael, born exactly two years apart.[16] Houston's maternal relatives were part of a musically gifted family. Alongside Cissy, Houston's first cousins Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick were successful pop and soul singers while operatic soprano Leontyne Price was a distant cousin.[17]

Initially living at an apartment at Newark's 8th Street, following her birth, Houston's parents, who officially married in 1964, moved to a middle-class neighborhood in the city called Wainwright Street.[18][19] As an infant, Houston earned her lifelong nickname "Nippy" from her father; the nickname came from a comic book character Nippy Nibbs, known for getting into mischief.[20] As a fussy baby during winter months, she constantly kicked off her blankets at night. Houston's father would then joked, "Nippy — seldom right".[21][22]

Newark in the aftermath of the Newark race riots in July 1967.

During her early childhood, Houston's mother spent most of her time in recording studios while her father looked after her and her two elder brothers. In 1967, Houston injured her neck after a clothes hanger she was playing with got caught near her throat after her brother accidentally swung his hands at her direction. Panicked, her father sent her to Beth Israel Hospital in Newark where doctors managed to patch up her wound after finding the hanger had been "within an inch" of severing Houston's vocal cords.[23][24][25]

Not long after the incident, the Houston family witnessed the Newark race riots.[26] The singer later recalled eating her dinner on the floor while the city was being engulfed by protesters, police officers and gunfire.[26][27][28] The aftermath of the riots left the Houston family in what was quickly becoming an unsafe environment.[29]

That same year, Houston's mother formed the pop-gospel quartet, the Sweet Inspirations. Upon the group making the charts late that year, both Cissy and John, who became the group's manager, were on the road shortly afterwards to bring in much needed income so they could be able to move out of Newark.[30] Before the end of the year, Houston was taken by her mother to Atlantic Studios where she witnessed her mother recording with the likes of Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and Solomon Burke.[30][31] Houston also witnessed her mother and the Sweet Inspirations performing at venues such as the Philharmonic Hall and the Apollo Theater.[32]

By six, the Sweet Inspirations were regularly performing in Las Vegas with American rock singer Elvis Presley. However, in September 1969, Cissy Houston left the group to stay more at home with her children. In 1970, just as Houston turned seven, the family moved to a two-story Cape Cod-styled home at a suburban East Orange neighborhood called Dodd Street, nicknamed "Doddtown" by its residents.[33]

Houston attended this school in East Orange. Its original name was Franklin Elementary School. The name was changed to the Whitney E. Houston Academy of the Creative and Performing Arts in 1997.

Houston was described by her mother as an easy-going, inquisitive child.[34] However, her behavior changed somewhat when she entered third grade at her school, Franklin Elementary, and she became the target of darker skinned black girls due to her long haired braids, plaid skirts and lighter complexion.[35][36] Houston eventually was forced to fight the bullies by her mother.[37][38][39]

Houston began to be much more isolated as she got older. In 1987, the singer told Time magazine: "I finally faced the fact that it isn't a crime not having friends. Being alone means you have fewer problems. When I decided to be a singer, my mother warned me I'd be alone a lot. Basically we all are. Loneliness comes with life."[40]

Said her cousin Dionne in the same article of Houston and the entire family: "You don't get in unless we let you in."[40] Houston said years later that her mother told her, "Whitney, sometimes you have to be your own best friend. Sometimes you're better off just being by yourself."[41]

It was around this time that Houston, who began singing in the children's choir of her mother's church, New Hope Baptist Church, began to take refuge in the church.[42][43] Raised Baptist, it would be while attending a nearby Pentecostal church that Houston later claimed she [accepted] the Savior in my life and in my heart... knowing that He was real. It wasn't fake."[44] Cissy Houston later stated, "[Whitney would] never let go of that faith, even through all the turmoil and hard times to come."[45]

By her preteen years, Houston told her mother that she wanted to seriously pursue a career in music; Cissy began to give Houston rigorous training in singing and voice control.[46] In November 1975, at 12 years of age, Houston made her public performance solo debut at New Hope singing the church hymn, "Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah".[47][48][b]

The performance was received well by the congregation. According to the singer, they were "Holy Ghost fired out" from her performance, which further encouraged Houston to pursue a singing career.[49] A year later, the teenager was transferred to an all-girls Catholic school, Mount Saint Dominic Academy, in nearby Caldwell but felt out of place there due to being one of the very few black students there in the predominantly white school.[50] Houston eventually graduated from the school before turning 18.[51][52]

Around the same time she attended Mount Saint Dominic Academy, Houston's parents' marriage began falling apart following her father John suffering a near fatal heart attack in September 1976. By the time Houston was 18, they had separated.[53][54]

Early music career

[edit]
Houston received her first non-church standing ovation at The Town Hall at age fourteen.

In 1977, prior to Houston turning fourteen, her mother entered her in the Garden State Competition.[55] Houston managed to make it to the finals but lost due to singing outside the minute limit.[56] Undeterred, she joined her mother's band as a background vocalist that year as Cissy became a regular performer at several downtown Manhattan cabaret and jazz clubs such as Reno Sweeney, Fat Tuesday, the Bottom Line, Seventh Avenue South and Mikell's.[57]

In February 1978, when Houston was fourteen, at The Town Hall in Manhattan, she took her mother's place during a performance of the song "Tomorrow", from the Broadway musical, Annie, which Cissy had recorded for her 1977 self titled album. Houston's performance was so well received that she was given a standing ovation.[58] Later that year, Houston contributed backing vocals to all but one track on her mother's album, Think It Over, including the hit title track; Houston had replaced a vocalist who got sick prior to the recording.[59]

The producer of the album, Michael Zager, was so impressed that he convinced Cissy to let her sing most of the lead in his disco song "Life's a Party".[59] Further convinced of her being a potential star, Zager later offered Houston a recording contract with Columbia Records in 1980; however, Cissy rebuffed this attempt, stressing that Houston continue to attend school.[59][60][61]

Houston was soon singing background on various artists' recordings, including Alvin Fields, Chaka Khan, Lou Rawls, Herbie Mann and the Neville Brothers.[62] It would be during the Khan recording sessions in late 1979 that Houston, aged sixteen, first met Luther Vandross, who was himself a session vocalist at the time. After one session, according to Houston, he handed the teenager a note but told her not to open it until she got home. Upon reading it, Vandross had wrote "you'll be one of the greatest singers who ever lived."[63]

In 1980, when Houston was around 17, Cissy Houston convinced her to perform her first full-length show after telling her that she was too sick to carry on a performance at Mikell's.[64][65][66] The performance turned out to be successful and after getting Whitney on the phone, her mother told her, "Well, I was kinda sick, but I really had to show you that you could do this and if that’s what you want, you have to go do it."[65]

Modeling career

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Following a performance with Cissy during a UNCF benefit concert at Carnegie Hall in 1980, photographer Dean Avedon spotted Houston and her mother walking towards a Manhattan recording studio when he approached her and asked if she ever modeled. When Houston told him she hadn't, he gave her a Click Model Management card and that same day Houston met up with the agency's president Frances Grill, who immediately put Houston to work as a model for the agency.[67][68]

Within a year, Houston signed with the more established Wilhelmina Models agency. In November 1981, the 18-year-old landed the cover of Seventeen, becoming the first black model since Joyce Walker in the early 1970s to do so.[69] Houston's girl next door charm helped her to land in fashion spreads for Glamour, Cosmopolitan and Young Miss, which was a rarity for African American models at the time.[61] Houston would continue to model throughout the early 1980s. In February 1982, Houston was photographed in her first solo photo session by Jack Mitchell.

At one point, Houston joined fellow young models Christie Brinkley and Elle MacPherson for a photo shoot in late 1982 and were joined by Billy Joel, who was so inspired by the beauty of the trio that he wrote the song "Uptown Girls", which later became "Uptown Girl" as his relationship with Brinkley was heating up.[70] Houston notably refused modeling engagements in South Africa as the country was under apartheid at the time.[71]

Around 1983–84, Houston was shown in many photo ads for the Scope mouthwash brand; the ads were so popular that Houston was nicknamed "the Scope girl".[72] Around that same time, she was featured as a singing waitress in the commercial for the soft drink Canada Dry.[73]

Work with Material and Paul Jabara and signing with Arista

[edit]

In 1981, Houston worked on a trio of gospel demos with producer Steven Abdul Khan Brown, which he claimed later helped Houston to sign her first recording contract.[74] Later that year, Houston signed with Eugene “Gene” Harvey of Tara Productions to be her manager, with Seymour Flics and Daniel Gittleman helping.[75][76][77][78]

In 1982, Houston auditioned for both Elektra Records and CBS Records.[79] That year, she sang her first full lead vocal on her rendition of "Memories" from Material's album One Down. The performance led to some of Houston's first critical notices, a notable review coming from Robert Christgau of The Village Voice, calling it "one of the most gorgeous ballads you've ever heard".[80] Producer Paul Jabara later featured her on the ballad, "Eternal Love", issued off his album, Paul Jabara & Friends.[81]

Around the same time, in early 1983, Gerry Griffith, A&R representative for Arista Records, saw Houston perform at Seventh Avenue South and convinced Arista CEO Clive Davis to view a performance of hers.

Reportedly, Davis was convinced to sign her after she performed her rendition of "The Greatest Love of All" at the Sweetwaters nightclub. At the time, Houston was still being sought after by Elektra Records. According to Houston years later, she was eventually convinced by her mother to sign with Arista due to Clive Davis's successful roster of artists he mentored and produced. Houston signed with Arista on April 10, 1983, at the age of 19.[82][83]

In June 1983, Houston made her national television debut on The Merv Griffin Show, performing "Home" from the Broadway musical The Wiz, which was well received by the audience and viewers who later wrote about her performance.[84][83][85][86]

Duets with Teddy Pendergrass and Jermaine Jackson

[edit]

Work on Houston's debut was initially slow due to Davis struggling to court potential producers in various showcases in New York and Los Angeles.[87] Eventually, producers such as Michael Masser, Kashif, Jermaine Jackson and Narada Michael Walden would be the main producers for Houston's debut. It would be with Masser that Houston would find early success with after he recruited her to be the featured duet partner of American R&B singer Teddy Pendergrass on the song "Hold Me". Released in May 1984, the song became Houston's first successful single, reaching the top ten of both the Billboard Black Singles and Adult Contemporary singles charts and the top 50 of the Billboard Hot 100.[88]

Houston and American singer Jermaine Jackson recorded a series of duets together that would be issued in a two-year span, the first of which, "Take Good Care of My Heart", was first featured in Jackson's self titled album and later featured in Houston's debut. In July 1984, the two performed that song and another duet, "Nobody Loves Me Like You Do", on the soap opera, As the World Turns.[89] During this period, Houston continued to model and started getting brief acting work.

Early into the album's recording, Houston auditioned for the role of Denise Huxtable on comedian Bill Cosby's upcoming family sitcom, The Cosby Show and nearly won the role but eventually pulled out of it due to her emerging music career.[90] Lisa Bonet eventually ended up with the role. Houston accepted a brief cameo role in another sitcom, Gimme a Break!

Release of debut

[edit]

After a year in various recording studios, Houston released her self titled debut album, Whitney Houston, on Valentines Day, February 14, 1985.[91] The album initially didn't become an immediate hit upon its release, entering the Billboard 200 at number 166 on March 30 of the year. During that month, Houston promoted the album at the Sweetwaters club in Manhattan.[92][93][94] Over a week after its release, "You Give Good Love" was released as the album's official lead single. The music video for the song, shot at a Manhattan club by director Michael Lindsay-Hogg was rejected by MTV brass for being "too R&B".

In early April, Houston performed the song on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, which at the time was seen as a breakthrough as very few emerging African American talent was ever featured on late night talk shows.[95] The performance helped in the rising popularity of both the single and the album. By late May, the song became Houston's first number one single on the Hot Black Singles chart.

Around that same time, the song was also starting to rise on the crossover markets of pop and adult contemporary music, much to the surprise of Clive Davis and Arista brass.[96] By the last week of July, it had peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and number four on the adult contemporary charts.

Arista booked Houston on an extensive promotional tour in the United States and Europe, where in some selected countries, instead of "You Give Good Love", the ballad, "All at Once", was released as the first single. In June, Houston's debut was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Between June and August, Houston opened for established R&B artist Jeffrey Osborne on his national US tour. The artist often stole the show from the headliner.[97] In some selected dates, Houston also opened some shows for longtime friend, Luther Vandross. By late August, Houston began headlining her own shows after her manager at the time felt Houston's crossover pop success had made her too big to be an opening act, starting her first regional tour all over the United States called the US Tour.[98]

In August, just as "You Give Good Love" peaked, Arista released "Saving All My Love for You" as the second official single in North America and, in many countries, the first official release from the album. The song became a hit, becoming her first to top the Billboard Hot 100 on October 26.[99][100]

The song also broke Houston through internationally, topping the charts in the UK and Ireland and reaching the top ten in several countries such as Canada, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and New Zealand while peaking inside the top 20 in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, France and Australia. Unlike the video for "You Give Good Love", the video for "Saving All My Love for You" was accepted by MTV due to its popularity.

Two days after "Saving All My Love for You", Houston opened at Carnegie Hall.[101][102] In November, the uptempo single "How Will I Know" was officially released as the third single from the album. By the beginning of 1986, the colorful music video for the song, shot in London, entered heavy rotation on MTV, her first video to do so. The song topped the Hot 100 in February 1986.

A week later, she won her first Grammy Award in the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Saving All My Love for You", having accepted the award from cousin Dionne Warwick. Then, on March 8, over a year after its release, Whitney Houston, topped the Billboard 200, starting a 14-week run. Weeks later, the fourth single, "Greatest Love of All" was released. It topped the Hot 100 on May 17, making Houston the first female artist to produce three consecutive number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. By then, her debut album had been certified five times platinum in the United States alone.

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ Houston 2013, p. 10.
  2. ↑ Houston & Singer 1998, p. 161.
  3. ↑ Houston 2013, p. 42.
  4. ↑ Houston 2013, pp. 10–11.
  5. 1 2 Houston 2013, p. 11.
  6. ↑ "Whitney Houston at 22: From the Star archives". The Toronto Star. August 21, 1986. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
  7. ↑ Ammons & Bacon 1998, p. 9.
  8. ↑ Bowman 1994, p. 2.
  9. ↑ "Jeremiah Burke Sanderson". New Bedford Historical Society. Retrieved November 7, 2020.
  10. ↑ Lapp, Rudolph M. (1968). "Jeremiah B. Sanderson: Early California Negro Leader". The Journal of Negro History. 53 (4): 321–333. doi:10.2307/2716356. ISSN 0022-2992. JSTOR 2716356. S2CID 150279633.
  11. ↑ Houston, Cissy (September 2, 2009). "Visionary Project Video – Cissy Houston: My Family". Archived from the original on September 21, 2018. Retrieved February 11, 2012.
  12. ↑ Houston & Singer 1998, pp. 6–9.
  13. ↑ Houston & Singer 1998, pp. 25–30.
  14. ↑ "John Russell Houston III (1943-2021)". NJ.com. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  15. ↑ Frost, Ilana (February 10, 2025). "Whitney Houston's 3 Siblings: All About the Late Singer's Brothers — And How They're Keeping Her Memory Alive Today". People. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  16. ↑ Merriman, Rebecca (February 12, 2012). "Michael Houston 'Devastated' At Death Of Sister". Entertainment Wise. Archived from the original on February 15, 2012. Retrieved November 4, 2012.
  17. ↑ Taylor Berry (February 13, 2024). "Black History Excellence: Opera Singer Leontyne Price Was First Cousins With Whitney Houston And Dionne Warwick". Madame Noire. Retrieved February 10, 2026.
  18. ↑ Houston 2013, p. 43.
  19. ↑ Parish 2003, p. 26.
  20. ↑ Crawford 2019, p. 16.
  21. ↑ Kindelan, Katie (February 20, 2012). "Whitney Houston Nicknamed 'Illegal', Pastor Reveals". ABC News. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  22. ↑ Beattie, Eve (January 19, 2023). "I Wanna Dance with Somebody: Why was Whitney Houston nicknamed Nippy and who was Bobby Brown?". Scottish Daily Express. Retrieved July 20, 2026.
  23. ↑ Braithwaite, Lester Fabian (August 9, 2023). "The Voice at 60: On Whitney Houston's immortal instrument". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 20, 2026.
  24. ↑ Houston 2013, pp. 51–52.
  25. ↑ Bowman 1994, pp. 40–41.
  26. 1 2 Parish 2003, p. 33.
  27. ↑ Houston 2013, pp. 52–53.
  28. ↑ Kennedy 2022, p. 114.
  29. ↑ Houston 2013, p. 53.
  30. 1 2 Houston 2013, pp. 53–54.
  31. ↑ Crawford 2019, p. 67.
  32. ↑ Bowman 1994, p. 47-49.
  33. ↑ Houston 2013, pp. 61–62.
  34. ↑ Houston 2013, pp. 63–64.
  35. ↑ Olivier, Bobby (July 10, 2018). "10 revelations from 'Whitney,' a new, comprehensive and bleak documentary". NJ.com. Retrieved July 21, 2026.
  36. ↑ Bowman 1994, p. 35.
  37. ↑ Houston 2013, p. 70.
  38. ↑ Houston 2013, pp. 71–74.
  39. ↑ Bowman 1994, p. 38.
  40. 1 2 Corliss, Richard (July 13, 1987). "Whitney Houston: The Prom Queen of Soul". Time. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  41. ↑ Houston & Singer 1998, p. xiv.
  42. ↑ Houston & Singer 1998, pp. 207–209.
  43. ↑ Gardner, Elysa (January 28, 2013). "Cissy Houston remembers Whitney, with love and candor". USA Today. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
  44. ↑ Houston & Singer 1998, pp. 209.
  45. ↑ Houston 2013, p. 75.
  46. ↑ Houston 2013, p. 76.
  47. ↑ Houston 2013, pp. 78–79.
  48. ↑ Bowman 1994, pp. XII–XIII.
  49. ↑ Forer, Ben (February 13, 2012). "Where Whitney Houston Dreamed She'd Be in 2012". ABC News. Retrieved July 21, 2026.
  50. ↑ Crawford 2019, pp. 67–68.
  51. ↑ Parish 2003, p. 73.
  52. ↑ Waldman, Tyler (February 13, 2012). "Mount Saint Dominic Classmate Remembers Whitney Houston". Patch.com. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
  53. ↑ Houston 2013, p. 82-85.
  54. ↑ Houston 2013, p. 104-105.
  55. ↑ Houston 2013, p. 88.
  56. ↑ Houston 2013, pp. 88–89.
  57. ↑ "Happy Birthday: Whitney Houston's 2000 Out Interview". Out. February 13, 2012. Retrieved July 26, 2026.
  58. ↑ Bowman 1994, p. 58.
  59. 1 2 3 Fernandez, Carolina (February 21, 2012). "FAU professor and director of commercial music discovered 14-year-old Whitney Houston". University Press.
  60. ↑ Bronson, Fred (October 1, 2003). The Billboard book of number 1 hits. Random House Digital. p. 629. ISBN 978-0-8230-7677-2.
  61. 1 2 Norment, Lynn (June 1990). "Forever Daddy's Girl". Ebony. p. 136. ISSN 0012-9011. Retrieved September 7, 2021.
  62. ↑ "Singer Whitney Houston A Model Of Success". Jet. July 16, 1990. p. 32. ISSN 0021-5996. Retrieved September 7, 2021.
  63. ↑ Rare! Whitney Houston Talks About Luther Vandross on YouTube
  64. ↑ Houston 2013, pp. 90–91.
  65. 1 2 Hochman, Steve (February 28, 1995). "Mom Can Carry a Pretty Mean Tune : Pop music: Cissy Houston, mother of Whitney, will receive a Rhythm & Blues Foundation Pioneer Award on Thursday for her work as a backing singer". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 26, 2026.
  66. ↑ Houston & Singer 1998, p. 228.
  67. ↑ Spero, Shayna (August 8, 2019). "Whitney Houston: 20 Facts You Didn't Know". iHeart.
  68. ↑ Felder, Rachel (January 28, 2019). "Frances Grill, 90, Founder of an Inclusive Modeling Agency, Dies". New York Times.
  69. ↑ Wilson, Julee (February 13, 2012). "Whitney Houston Graces Cover Of Seventeen Magazine, November 1981 (PHOTO)". HuffPost.
  70. ↑ "Billy Joel Visits. 11/16/10. 7:55am". Howard Stern archive. Marksfriggin.com. November 16, 2010. Archived from the original on May 28, 2012. Retrieved March 15, 2012.
  71. ↑ Prince Mensah (February 25, 2012). "Artist Profile - Whitney Houston and the Anti-Apartheid Movement". One Ghana, One Voice.
  72. ↑ "Whitney Houston Modeling For Scope In Early 1980s". whitneyhouston.com. March 24, 2017.
  73. ↑ Edwards, Jim (February 12, 2012). "Whitney Houston's Early TV Commercials: She Could Really Sell It". Business Insider.
  74. ↑ Fekadu, Mesfin (March 22, 2023). "Whitney Houston Gospel Songs from 'I Go to the Rock' Explained - The Hollywood Reporter". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  75. ↑ Scoppa, Bud (December 1986). "Whitney Houston: The Long Road to Overnight Stardom". Billboard. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  76. ↑ Grein, Paul (June 8, 1986). "HOUSTON HITS: MASTER PLAN, BLIND LUCK". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  77. ↑ Holtzman, Michael (February 14, 2012). "Fall River music businessman was instrumental in launching Whitney Houston's early career". Wicked Local. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  78. ↑ Parish 2003, p. 76.
  79. ↑ Brianne Tracy (January 9, 2022). "Young Whitney Houston: Never-Before Seen Photos of the 'One in a Million' Superstar Before Fame". Yahoo News. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
  80. ↑ Christgau, Robert. "Material she was a great song writer". RobertChristgau.com. Retrieved December 12, 2007.
  81. ↑ Ripol, Vince. "Paul Jabara & Friends Album Review". AllMusic. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
  82. ↑ Hoskyns, Barney (February 12, 2012). "The Rock's Backpages Flashback: The Making - and Stellar Ascent - of Whitney Houston". Retrieved January 2, 2025.
  83. 1 2 Bernstein, Jacob (September 30, 2017). "Production of a Lifetime: Whitney Houston and Clive Davis". New York Times. Retrieved May 21, 2024.
  84. ↑ "Whitney Houston: For Talented Young Star, Singing Is A Family Tradition". Ebony. December 1985. p. 155. ISSN 0012-9011. Retrieved September 7, 2021.
  85. ↑ ""The Merv Griffin Show" Episode dated 23 June 1983 (TV Episode 1983)". IMDb. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  86. ↑ "Whitney Houston: Watch her earliest TV appearances". Los Angeles Times. February 12, 2012. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
  87. ↑ Finkelman, Paul (2009). Encyclopedia of African American history, 1896 to the present: from the age of segregation to the twenty-first century. Oxford University Press. pp. 459–460. ISBN 978-0-19-516779-5.
  88. ↑ "Arista Aims New Houston Album at 'Core Urban' Fans". Billboard. December 14, 2002. p. 64. ISSN 0006-2510.
  89. ↑ "Whitney Houston & Jermaine Jackson On 'As The World Turns'". WhitneyHouston.com. Retrieved February 15, 2026.
  90. ↑ Mya Abraham (December 21, 2022). "Whitney Houston Was Almost Cast As Denise Huxtable On 'The Cosby Show'". Vibe. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
  91. ↑ Sullivan, Caroline (February 11, 2012). "Whitney Houston obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
  92. ↑ Cite error: The named reference sweetwaterswhitney was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  93. ↑ David Hinckley (May 30, 2005). "Nice Story, Solo Whitney, 1985". NY Daily News. Mortimer Zuckerman. Retrieved March 15, 2011.
  94. ↑ "Whitney Houston Makes Musical Debut in N.Y." Jet. 68 (12). Johnson Publishing Company. June 3, 1985. ISSN 0021-5996. Retrieved March 15, 2011.
  95. ↑ "Charts '86". Billboard. December 27, 1986. p. 52. ISSN 0006-2510.
  96. ↑ Paul Grein (June 8, 1986). "Houston Hits: Master Plan, Blind Luck". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 15, 2011.
  97. ↑ "Singer Whitney Houston Hits A High Note Early In Her Career". Orlando Sentinel. July 2, 1985.
  98. ↑ Defendorf, Richard (October 20, 1985). "Whitney Houston Takes Fame in Stride". Orlando Sentinel.
  99. ↑ "Billboard - October 26, 1985 Edition - Google Books". Google Books. October 26, 1985. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
  100. ↑ "This Day in History (October 26, 1985): Whitney Houston earns her first #1 hit with "Saving All My Love For You"". History. April 1, 2010. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  101. ↑ "SINGER WHITNEY HOUSTON HITS A HIGH NOTE EARLY IN HER CAREER". Orlando Sentinel. August 4, 1985. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  102. ↑ Holden, Stephen (October 29, 1985). "POP: WHITNEY HOUSTON IN CARNEGIE HALL DEBUT". New York Times. Retrieved May 17, 2023.

Notes

[edit]
  1. ↑ As an adult, Houston used the pseudonym Elizabeth Collins, which was her grandmother’s middle name and maiden surname, to enter hotel rooms.
  2. ↑ In various interviews, Houston sometimes claimed she was 11 when she first sang solos at the church.

Bibliography

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