History Music / WhitneyHouston

Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 -- February 11, 2012) was an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. In her prime, Houston -- the cousin of pop singer Dionne Warwick -- was known as the "Queen of Pop" and "The Voice". Houston was the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records. Her list of awards includes 2 Emmy Awards, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among a total of 415 career awards as of 2010.

Her early peak came in the mid-to-late 1980s, when she had a record seven No. 1 hits in a row -- in order, "Saving All My Love for You", "How Will I Know", "Greatest Love of All", "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)", "Didn't We Almost Have It All", "So Emotional", and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go."

In the early 1990s, she branched out into acting, starring in the acclaimed film ''Film/TheBodyguard'' (1992) alongside Creator/KevinCostner. The movie's original soundtrack won the 1994 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Its lead single, "I Will Always Love You" (yes, that one, written by Music/DollyParton) became pop music's best-selling single by a female vocalist.

As successful as Houston was, her personal life was questionable. Her marriage to troubled [=R&B=] singer Music/BobbyBrown from 1992-2006, [[DrugsAreBad drug use]] and alcohol use took its toll on Houston's voice, career as a whole and health. She attempted a few comebacks in the 2000s, but she continued to be the subject of many tabloid stories suggesting drug binges and other escapades. She died on February 11, 2012, which was the night before the 54th Grammy Awards, drowning in her bathtub due to heart disease and cocaine use. A few years later, Anne Hathaway, Julie Andrews, Garry Marshall and Dawn Soler placed a "In Loving Memory of Whitney Houston: 1963-2012" screen on international prints of ''Film/ThePrincessDiaries'' shown on Disney Channel (UK), BBC One (UK) and Disney Channel (Japan).

* DeadArtistsAreBetter: Houston sold over 170 million records in her career, but just like Music/MichaelJackson, she spent the later years her life being ridiculed constantly for her problems with drugs & alcohol and increasingly erratic behavior, not to mention her tumultuous relationship with Bobby Brown. Shortly after her death, sales of her records soared, tributes to her began to pour out and [[NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead jokes about the problems she had were largely forgotten]].

* LyricalDissonance: Both her version and Music/DollyParton's of "I Will Always Love You" is not a silly love song or a I'm happy I found you song, it's a sad lost, break up song, yet try telling that to the many people who make it their wedding/relationship song. Including many who requested it over the years as a Long Distance Dedication on [[Creator/CaseyKasem Casey Kasem's]] "[[Radio/AmericanTop40 American Top 40"]], or on love-song request radio programs.

* PrettyInMink: Wore a full length white mink coat for the video of "Heartbreak Hotel" (not a cover of the Music/ElvisPresley song).
* TheRival: Music/MariahCarey. However, this was mostly made up, and after her death Mariah was one of the first to respond with her condolences. They also collaborated on the song "When You Believe" for ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'' soundtrack.

** In a straightforward example, her voice notably deepened between ''The Bodyguard'' and ''My Love is Your Love''.

* LyricalShoehorn: The chorus of "Shoop shoop shoo-be-doo" in Houston's #1 hit "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)" was originally intended by songwriter Music/{{Babyface}} as a placeholder until he was able to write actual lyrics. In the end, he gave up trying to write something more profound and decided to leave the song as it was. Houston still made it sound special.

* CoverVersion: Her famous songs "I'm Every Woman", "I Will Always Love You" and "The Greatest Love of All" are covers of songs by Chaka Khan (to whom she gives a shout-out during the song's FadeOut), Music/DollyParton and George Benson, respectively. Less obvious cover versions among her hit singles include "Saving All My Love for You" (a duet by former 5th Dimension members Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr.), "I Believe in You and Me" (The Four Tops), "Step by Step" (Music/AnnieLennox), and "All the Man That I Need" (originally by Linda Clifford, later a minor R&B hit for Sister Sledge).

* CoverVersion: Her famous songs "I'm Every Woman", "I Will Always Love You" and "The Greatest Love of All" are covers of songs by Chaka Khan (to whom she gives a shout-out during the song's FadeOut), Music/DollyParton and George Benson, respectively. Less obvious cover versions among her hit singles include "I Believe in You and Me" (The Four Tops), "Step by Step" (Music/AnnieLennox), and "All the Man That I Need" (originally by Linda Clifford, later a minor R&B hit for Sister Sledge).

* LyricalDissonance: Both her version and Music/DollyParton's of "I Will Always Love You" is not a silly love song or a I'm happy I found you song, it's a sad lost, break up song, yet try telling that to the many people who make it their wedding/relationship song. Including many who requested it over the years as a Long Distance Dedication on [[Creator/CaseyKasem Casey Kasem's]] "[[Radio/AmericanTopForty American Top 40"]], or on love-song request radio programs.

* LyricalDissonance: Both her version and Music/DollyParton's of "I Will Always Love You" is not a silly love song or a I'm happy I found you song, it's a sad lost, break up song, yet try telling that to the many people who make it their wedding/relationship song. Including many who requested it over the years as a Long Distance Dedication on [[Creator/CaseyKasem "American Top 40"]].

* ButNotTooBlack[=/=]PopCultureIsolation: Her first major hit, "You Give Good Love," had been intended only to be a major R&B hit, and surprised Houston's camp with how strongly it crossed over to Pop and Adult Contemporary stations, which led Houston to begin super-serving the crossover audience with a heavy dose of pop ballads at the expense of her Urban following (who leveled the "Oreo" insult at her), particularly on her second album. Thus, her next album, ''I'm Your Baby Tonight'', was an attempt to re-establish herself as an R&B singer first and foremost, and it worked - at least until "I Will Always Love You."

* IncrediblyLongNote: She was noted for this. The most [[{{Narm}} (in?)]]famous is "And IIIIIIIII-ee-IIII will always love yoooooooouuuuuuuuu...."

* ''[[Film/{{Cinderella}} Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella]]'' (1997)

As successful as Houston was, her personal life was questionable. Her marriage to troubled [=R&B=] singer Music/BobbyBrown from 1992-2006, [[DrugsAreBad drug use]] and alcohol use took its toll on Houston's voice, career as a whole and health. She attempted a few comebacks in the 2000s, but she continued to be the subject of many tabloid stories suggesting drug binges and other escapades. She died February 11, 2012, which was the night before the 54th Grammy Awards, drowning in her bathtub due to heart disease and cocaine use. A few years later, Anne Hathaway, Julie Andrews, Garry Marshall and Dawn Soler placed a "In Loving Memory of Whitney Houston: 1963-2012" screen on international prints of ''Film/ThePrincessDiaries'' shown on Disney Channel (UK), BBC One (UK) and Disney Channel (Japan).

Married to troubled [=R&B=] singer Music/BobbyBrown from 1992-2006, [[DrugsAreBad drug use]] and alcohol use took its toll on Houston's voice, career as a whole and health. She attempted a few comebacks in the 2000s, but she continued to be the subject of many tabloid stories suggesting drug binges and other escapades. She died February 11, 2012, drowning in her bathtub due to heart disease and cocaine use. A few years later, Anne Hathaway, Julie Andrews, Garry Marshall and Dawn Soler placed a "In Loving Memory of Whitney Houston: 1963-2012" screen on international prints of ''Film/ThePrincessDiaries'' shown on Disney Channel (UK), BBC One (UK) and Disney Channel (Japan).

* CultSoundtrack: She is involved in two. ''The Bodyguard'' soundtrack is possibly the MostTriumphantExample of this trope; it's one of the bestselling albums of all time, in no small part due to her cover of "I Will Always Love You" as well as "I Have Nothing" and "I'm Every Woman". ''The Preacher's Wife'' soundtrack is also this, being ''the'' bestselling GospelMusic album of all time.

* CoverVersion: Her famous songs "I'm Every Woman", "I Will Always Love You" and "The Greatest Love of All" are covers of songs by Chaka Khan (to whom she gives a shout-out during the song's FadeOut), Music/DollyParton and George Benson, respectively. Also, "I Believe in You and Me" was done by The Four Tops originally, and "Step by Step" by Music/AnnieLennox.

* CoverVersion: Her famous songs "I'm Every Woman", "I Will Always Love You" and "The Greatest Love of All" are covers of songs by Chaka Khan (to whom she gives a shout-out during the song's FadeOut), Music/DollyParton and George Benson, respectively. Also, "I Believe in You and Me" was done by Music/TheFourTops originally, and "Step by Step" by Music/AnnieLennox.

* CoverVersion: Her famous songs "I'm Every Woman", "I Will Always Love You" and "The Greatest Love of All" are covers of songs by Chaka Khan (to whom she gives a shout-out during the song's FadeOut), Music/DollyParton and George Benson, respectively.

* LyricalDissonance: Both her version and Music/DollyParton's of "I Will Always Love You" is not a silly love song or a I'm happy I found you song, it's a sad lost, break up song, yet try telling that to the many people who make it their wedding/relationship song.

* ButNotTooBlack[=/=]PopCultureIsolation: Notably, her debut started being played only in white A/C radio stations while avoiding Urban Radio stations. Until that point, black artists either had to cross over.

'''Whitney Elizabeth Houston''' (August 9, 1963 -- February 11, 2012) was an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. In her prime, Houston -- the cousin of pop singer Dionne Warwick -- was known as the "Queen of Pop" and "The Voice". Houston was the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records. Her list of awards includes 2 Emmy Awards, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among a total of 415 career awards as of 2010.

* PrettyInMink: Wore a full length white mink coat for the video of "Heartbreak Hotel" (not a cover of the ElvisPresley song).

* CoverVersion: Her famous songs "I'm Every Woman", "I Will Always Love You" and "The Greatest Love of All" are covers of songs by Chaka Khan (to whom she gives a shout-out during the song's FadeOut), DollyParton and George Benson, respectively.

* LyricalDissonance: Both her version and DollyParton's of "I Will Always Love You" is not a silly love song or a I'm happy I found you song, it's a sad lost, break up song, yet try telling that to the many people who make it their wedding/relationship song.

->''We all know what this woman can do.''

* FollowTheLeader: Pick a popstar, any popstar. When you ask who their influences are, 90% of them will say "Whitney Houston".

In the early 1990s, she branched out into acting, starring in the acclaimed film ''TheBodyguard'' (1992) alongside Creator/KevinCostner. The movie's original soundtrack won the 1994 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Its lead single, "I Will Always Love You" (yes, that one, written by Music/DollyParton) became pop music's best-selling single by a female vocalist.

Married to troubled [=R&B=] singer BobbyBrown from 1992-2006, [[DrugsAreBad drug use]] and alcohol use took its toll on Houston's voice, career as a whole and health. She attempted a few comebacks in the 2000s, but she continued to be the subject of many tabloid stories suggesting drug binges and other escapades. She died February 11, 2012, drowning in her bathtub due to heart disease and cocaine use. A few years later, Anne Hathaway, Julie Andrews, Garry Marshall and Dawn Soler placed a "In Loving Memory of Whitney Houston: 1963-2012" screen on international prints of ''Film/ThePrincessDiaries'' shown on Disney Channel (UK), BBC One (UK) and Disney Channel (Japan).

* ''WaitingToExhale'' (1995)