Whitney Houston is a leading American R&B singer. She is also an actor, a record and film producer, a songwriter, and used to be a fashion model. She was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1963. At age 11, she followed in the footsteps of her mother, who was a backup singer with Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin, and sang as a soloist in a junior gospel choir. She was the lead singer on a single "Life's a Party" by the Michael Zager Band at 14, and did backing vocals on the hit single "I'm Every Woman" by Chaka Khan at 16. Houston spent much of her youth touring night clubs at her mother's side. As a model, she featured in Vogue and was the first non-white woman on the cover of Seventeen.

After being offered recording contracts as a teenager, she signed a worldwide contract with Arista Records in 1983. Her national television debut came later that year on the Merv Griffin Show. She recorded a duet with Teddy Pendergrass, "Hold Me", which went to the top 5 on the R&B charts. Her self-titled debut album came in 1985. It made a slow start but took off in 1986, making it to number one on Billboard 200 where it stayed for 14 weeks. It became one of the biggest selling albums ever, with more than 25 million copies sold so far. Three number one singles came from the album. "You Give Good Love" reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on R&B charts. "Saving All My Love For You", a jazz-pop ballad, went to number one in the US and UK. A third single, "How Will I Know", also climbed to number one.

Houston was nominated for three Grammy Awards in 1986, including for "Album of the Year", and won "Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female". She won an Emmy for "Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program". She also took out seven American Music Awards as well as an MTV Video Music Award, and paved the way for other African American female performers such as Janet Jackson and Anita Baker.

The release of her second album, Whitney, in 1987 saw critics complaining it was too similar to her first album. Record buyers ignored the comments and the album became the first one by a female to enter both the US and UK album charts at number one. It went on to sell about 20 million copies worldwide. Four singles off the album - "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)", "Didn't We Almost Have It All", "So Emotional" and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" - all went to number one. This meant she'd had a record seven number ones in a row, one better

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