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(NewsNation) — Considered “the greatest singer of her generation” — and by some, one of the best of all time — Whitney Houston’s dazzling voice and stage presence inspired countless other artists.
From an early age, Houston, who was born Aug. 9, 1963, in Newark, New Jersey, per Encyclopedia Britannica, was surrounded by music industry stars.
Houston’s mother, named Emily or “Cissy,” is a gospel singer whose group, the Sweet Inspirations, sang backup for Aretha Franklin. Franklin ended up being Houston’s godmother, and her cousin was singer Dionne Warwick.
Her own career began when Houston was just a child. She would sing in church, and then in high school, Houston began singing back up for Chaka Khan and Lou Rawls and would also model for fashion magazines.
“Being around people like Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick and Roberta Flack, all these greats, I was taught to listen and observe,” Houston said, according to People magazine. “Growing around it, you just can’t help it. … It was something that was so natural to me that when I started singing, it was almost like speaking.”
In 1983, she was spotted at a gig by Arista music exec Clive Davis. People writes that Davis signed Houston to a record deal on the spot.
Two years later, Houston would release her debut album, giving her three No. 1 singles in the United States: “Greatest Love of All,” “Saving All My Love for You” and “How Will I Know.” “Saving All My Love for You” would earn Houston her first Grammy award.
“From the start of her career more than two decades ago, Ms. Houston had the talent, looks and pedigree of a pop superstar,” The New York Times wrote about her. “Ms. Houston’s range spanned three octaves, and her voice was plush, vibrant and often spectacular. She could pour on the exuberant flourishes of gospel or peal a simple pop chorus; she could sing sweetly or unleash a sultry rasp.”
The singer made her motion-picture debut in 1992’s “The Bodyguard,” which featured Houston’s version of “I Will Always Love You,” originally written and recorded by Dolly Parton.
Britannica wrote that the song itself stayed at No. 1 for 14 weeks, while the film’s soundtrack as a whole dominated the Grammys. Houston won awards for Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
Her later films, “Waiting to Exhale” and “The Preacher’s Wife,” would see success as well.
Even amid her success, Houston still faced struggles in her personal life.
She married singer Bobby Brown in 1992. It was a relationship “marred” by drug use, Brown’s professional jealousy, psychological abuse, and physical confrontations described by Houston in a 2009 interview with Oprah Winfrey, according to the New York Times. The couple would end up divorcing in 2007.
Although the marriage itself was tumultuous, it gave Houston what she called her “greatest inspiration:” a daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown. Tragically, Bobbi Kristina Brown died on July 26, 2015, after being found unconscious in a bathtub months before.
“(Bobbi Kristina Brown) supports me, she loves me, she gives me good mommy hugs,” Houston told Access Hollywood of their bond.
“Just Whitney,” her 2002 album, was written as a personal response to critics, but sales were “disappointing,” Britannica wrote. While Houston would spend the next few years “in a state of virtual retirement,” she started working on a comeback with a performance at Clive Davis’s annual pre-Grammy Awards gala in 2009 and a positively reviewed new album.
Only years after that, though, Houston was found dead in a bathtub at the Beverly Hills hotel in 2012. Accidental drowning, heart disease and cocaine use were listed as contributing factors in a coroner’s report.
Houston’s story wouldn’t end there, though: She appeared posthumously in the musical film “Sparkle” she had coproduced and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020.
Neil Portnoy, president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, called her “one of the world’s greatest pop singers of all time, who leaves behind a robust musical soundtrack.”
“A light has been dimmed in our music community today,” he said of Houston after she died.