Whitney Houston in 1985
Whitney Houston (1963-2012) was an American singer of the 1980s and 1990s. She was the daughter of Cissy Houston, cousin of Dionne Warwick and wife of Bobby Brown, all singers in their own right. She died two years ago today.
She won six Grammy Awards and sold over 170 million records and videos worldwide.
Whitney Houston in Ebony magazine, December 1985.
Her songs that made the top ten on either the American pop or R&B charts:
- 1984: Hold Me (pop #45, R&B #5)
- 1985: Thinking About You (-, #10)
- 1985: You Give Good Love (#3, #1)
- 1985: Saving All My Love For You (#1, #1)
- 1985: How Will I Know (#1, #1)
- 1986: Greatest Love of All (#1, #3)
- 1987: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me) (#1, #2)
- 1987: Didn’t We Almost Have It All (#1, #2)
- 1987: So Emotional (#1, #5)
- 1988: Where Do Broken Hearts Go (#1, #2)
- 1988: Love Will Save the Day (#9, #5)
- 1988: One Moment in Time (#5, #22)
- 1990: I’m Your Baby Tonight (#1, #1)
- 1990: All the Man That I Need (#1, #1)
- 1991: The Star Spangled Banner (#6, -)
- 1991: Miracle (#9, #2)
- 1991: My Name is Not Susan (#20, #8)
- 1991: I Belong to You (-, #10)
- 1992: I Will Always Love You (#1, #1)
- 1993: I’m Every Woman (#4, #5)
- 1993: I Have Nothing (#4, #4)
- 1995: Exhale (Shoop Shoop) (#1, #1)
- 1996: Count on Me (#8, #7)
- 1996: I Believe in You and Me (#4, #4)
- 1999: Heartbreak Hotel (#2, #1)
- 1999: It’s Not Right but It’s Okay (#4, #7)
- 1999: My Love Is Your Love (#4, #2)
“I Will Always Love You” was a huge hit worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling songs of all time.
She appealed to both blacks and whites, pretty much equally. Her music, though, especially before 1995, seemed like it was watered down to appeal to whites.
It was not just me. Nelson George in 1988:
Houston is extremely talented, but most of her music is so “color-blind,” such a product of eighties crossover marketing, that in her commercial triumph is a hollowness of spirit that mocks her own gospel roots.
The mastermind behind that crossover marketing was Clive Davis, then of Arista Records, the man who gave us Alicia Keys – and sidelined Phyllis Hyman. Among other things.
Whitney Houston as a teen model in YM magazine, August 1981
Before she became famous, Houston was a fashion model in the early 1980s, when she appeared in Seventeen, Glamour, Cosmopolitan and YM magazines.
In the 1990s she became an actress. She was good in “Waiting to Exhale” (1995) and “The Preacher’s Wife” (1996) and unforgettable in “The Bodyguard” (1992).
She was beautiful and talented, rich and famous – and then.
And then.
And then she looked like a well-dressed cracklady, frighteningly thin.
In 2002 Diane Sawyer asked if she was on crack. Houston famously said:
First of all, let’s get one thing straight. Crack is cheap. I make too much for me to ever smoke crack. Let’s get that straight, okay? We don’t do crack. We don’t do that. Crack is wack.
She was hooked on cocaine. Some blame her descent into drugs on Bobby Brown. She was married to him from 1992 to 2007. He beat her and was reportedly unfaithful. A woman so beautiful who sang such beautiful love songs and yet had such an unhappy marriage.
She was in and out of drug rehab in her last years. She drowned in a bathtub at age 48, with cocaine, Benadryl, Xanax, marijuana and Flexeril in her body.
She had one daughter, Bobbi Kristina, born in 1993.
– Abagond, 2014.
Whitney Houston with her mother in 1987. She had been performing with her mother since the age of 12.
See also:
Abagond 
Whitney Houston is one of my top, favorite artists. Which is saying a lot for me, being i typically don’t have many favorite female artists as i prefer male music artists as they sing about and too women, which is something i can relate too. ^_^
The majority of our black movie and music celebrities seems to always meet this fate.
I couldn’t help but to hang my head down in shame, when looking at Houston in her cocaine addicted, body. We had many, top music artists back then, not so much anymore.
Off topic, abagond, still no word on that Dennis Rodman article?
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Whitney truly was “the voice”. She had a God given talent no one could take from her. She opened the door for many of today’s pop starlets. Beyonce,Ciara,Rihanna,Jennifer Hudson,Britney Spears,Katy Perry,Pink,Lady Gaga,Selena Gomez,Alicia Keys,Christina Aguelira,Shakira—-all owe her a debt of gratitude. Whitney didn’t have to dress half naked and act like a whore to get attention. She relied on pure talent. People like her,Patti Labelle,Marvin Gaye,Sade,Stevie Wonder and Anita Baker didn’t have to sell sex to sell records.
She will be missed greatly by her millions of fans. Her music will live forever.
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Sondis, I think you are one of many men who love Whitney, but you are more open about it than many in showing your good taste!
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RIP to Whitney. So beautiful, I wished she could have been saved.
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I was just watching her music video, I Will Always Love You on Youtube and then I realized that’s he died two years ago this day. May she rest in peace.
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I remember that “Crack is whack business, then she added show me the receipts. I am sorry but I have to admit I did chuckle at that interview, God bless her she was so ill. May she rest in peace now.
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Whitney’s pretty black princess image was Arista records Clive Davis’s creation.That watered down music was what made her acceptable to white audiences. A black person can’t just have pure undiluted soul. For it to be marketable, it must be watered down.
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I pretty much said everything I want to say on “Nippy” in the “open thread.” God rest her soul; I don’t there will ever be another like Whit. I pray God will have his hand upon Bobby Kristina, and her mother.
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Man her voice was legendary. I cant think of too many modern pop stars with voices that are as powerful as Whitney’s. Maybe Beyonce or Ariana Grande, but i dont enjoy much of the music they make
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It’s so sad that Whitney’s is gone. I just happened to be listening to “Didn’t We Almost Have It All” the last couple of days. It is one of the few songs that Whitney made in the 80’s that I liked, mainly because of the melody and how it shows off her powerful voice. My other favorite songs by her are “I Look To You”, and “I Learned From The Best”.
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Some blame her descent into drugs on Bobby Brown.
Like many people I thought like this but, I read an article a while ago that said that she was doing this long before. Her brother amongst others confirm this.
(http://piersmorgan.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/14/jennifer-holliday-on-whitney-houstons-drug-use-she-had-started-before-she-had-met-bobby-brown/)
& (http://diaryofahollywoodstreetking.com/michael-houston-admits-introducing-whitney-to-drugs/)
Nevertheless – what talent, beauty, voice. She didnt need to go the route of many singers nowadays who seem to use ‘sex’ to get them noticed.
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Yeah, it’s not Bobby’s fault. He smoked weed before he met her, but Whitney introduced him to coke. And (for those us that always blamed Bobby) we must acknowledge that after the divorce, Bobby managed to get himself clean but Whitney didn’t. Whitney attended an upper middleclass school in her teens where she was introduced to cocaine, “the yuppy drug of the rich” back then.
I will always remember her at her best.
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It’s such a shame that many people within in the Black community treated Whitney the way they did by booing at the Soul Train Awards of 1989. She had reached brand new heights as a Black artist but paid the price for breaking through those doors and truly becoming a “Crossover success” and I believe that bothered her a great deal. She just wanted nothing more than be accepted/loved by her own people/community. We’ve heard more in recent years about this booing and since Whitney’s passing, the effect of it on her has been talked about a bit more by the people who knew her personally. Also..
1. What Whitney did then was less mainstream than what Beyoncé or Rihanna are doing now or at the start of their careers and I’d like to see them – and other – Black Female artists be far more vocal about how Whitney has opened doors for them to be able to do what they do. What’s more, Whitney was pretty much on her own (although Janet came along not too after) whereas now, there are many Black Female artists making Pop music for mass consumption. Whitney was the first Black Female artist to become a Global Superstar; Aretha Franklin, Donna Summer, Diana Ross and Dionne Warwick are up there but not to Whitney’s level – at least on the international stage. Beyoncé and Rihanna (just as examples again) have yet to touch the peak that Whitney achieved and it’s unlikely anyone will in our lifetime.
2: Whitney did not have a “Princess” image created for her – she was a Young Black Woman of whom was raised in a Middle-Class neighbourhood of East New Jersey and went to a Private School; she was, by nature, Smart and Articulate/Eloquent. Why do we have to assume that’s something of which she was TOLD to be just to appease White people. She was not from “the Hood or the Projects”. She was a Princess, a Black Princess.
3: Whereas I do agree that Whitney’s music was, somewhat, “watered-down”, has anybody actually listened to her voice between 1982-1986? Although very powerful, Whitney had a very Pure and Sweet tone to her voice – attributes which aren’t generally “suited” for ‘Soulful’ voices ie: Diana Ross. Did you know that along with Aretha Franklin, – Barbra Streisand, Judy Garland, Maria Callas & Joni Mitchell – White singers – were some of her Idols too. What I don’t understand is why we must assume that just because an artist is Black, they MUST cater to music that is, supposedly, “ours”. Did you know that Leontyne Price – a Black OPERA singer – was also chastised by the Black community and accused of being a sellout in the 1960’s/70’s? Why? Because she sang European music? The same applies to Kathleen Battle and Marion Johnson.
I think the reason why Whitney married Bobby was by means of wanting to appear like she was “down”.
This needs to stop.
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I can see what you’re saying, and I too disagree with the flack she received for what the label did to make her a mass success. But I disagree with your point that she was not recreated by her label. This has personally been noted by Clive Davis himself. Whitney, although she moved to an upper middleclass neighbourhood, as the daughter of a father who was a social climber, Whitney was born and raised in Newark New Jersey, in her early years.
On her first album cover, she had her hair slicked back, and wore afrocentric clothing. But Clive was disappointed with sales and believed they could do even better. So in came the blonde wigs, out went the sound of “You give good love to me,” in came the sound of “I wanna dance with somebody.” She was given media lessons, and was trained to talk and carry herself in a very particular way. We can see the difference in the way Whitney was at the beginning of her career, to the way she spoke later on. She married Bobby in part specifically in an effort to rebel.
As I said, I do not agree with the way she was treated by the community for such a small thing, like a sqeaky clean image, and that is incredibly small when you consider the cooning we see nowadays, all in the name of crossing over. But, you also have to consider the times. It was the Public Enemy, early 2pac, Spike Lee, and New Jack Swing era, where the Black community was starting to reject mainstream artists like Michael Jackson and Whitney, because they were not touching on the things their communities were contending with as though they were not a part of it, because they had crossed over. It was the Raegan (ketchup) era, mass unemploynent, the crack epidemic, crime was overflowing, the war on drugs was beginning and poor African American and Afro Hispanic kids, were being sent down for 10-20 years for being caught with crack, while yuppys in business suits were walking free when found with stacks of cocaine. As is told in the song “White lines.” There was murmuring over Michael, he did the Remember the time video, and later became Black again when he got in trouble. Even Prince began to be pushed out by the new political Hip hop movement.
I’m not saying I agree with the backlash in any way, shape, or form, but I think you have to bear in mind what the African American community was dealing with that none of their entertainers would acknowledge. (Which is essentially what created the huge welcome of an artist like Mary J Blige.) And as far as her image, if you do some research on the huge preparations that were undertaken to make her appeal to White audiences, you will see.
But, you’re absolutely right in saying that she did not deserve to be criticised so harshly and publicly rebuked over it.
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@Ebonymonroe…
Thank you for responding.
I do happen to agree with everything you said, especially your third paragraph – that made me see things in a whole new light.
Although I still stand by my sentiments in terms of Whitney adopting an image in which Black people (particularly Black Women) at that time could be especially proud of, regardless of whether or not it was a persona that was created as a means of ‘sales/cross-over’ purposes, the state of African-American social relations back then did bypass me.
Overall, this reminds me of a: “Claire Huxtable vs. Dominique Devereaux” situation. Many Black people accused Diahann Carroll in the 1980’s, throughout the Dynasty era, of being a “Sellout” and a “House Negro” too – largely because of the character she played on a TV show. On the other hand, we praised & uplifted Phylicia Rashad and her character on ‘The Cosby Show’ because she was a “Classy- Black Woman” of whom was “Still Black”.
It was the same with “Whitney vs. Anita”: Anita was “down” and made music that catered to her roots (as was/did Janet) whereas Whitney “wasn’t & didn’t”. Even Donna Summer, Minnie Riperton, Diana Ross are never hailed as heavily amongst us as Aretha, Gladys and Patti are and it is extremely ironic considering that the former three are the most commercially successful on both a domestic and international front. Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Sammy Davis Jr & Billy Eckstine didn’t start receiving their “Black acception” medals, by the Soul Train Awards/NAACP, after the civil rights movement – years after their prime. I’ve spoken to some Black people myself who have openly called a Nat King Cole a sellout and I don’t know why.
It’s sad really, but its something that is extremely frequent within our community.
As for M.J, although he was chastised to an extent, I suppose the burden wasn’t as great because he already paid his dues with Motown as did Tina Turner when she had gone into a Rock direction because of her music with Ike.
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Can you remember when she sang the Star Spangled Banner before the Superbowl? I was deployed for Desert Shield / Desert Storm and she lifted me. I loved her ever since.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1QmeEdFOSc)
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@Clarke
I agree with you thoroughly. Those who buy into the narrative that the personality and demeanor displayed throughout her earlier career was a product of her record label seemed to have completely forgotten that this is the same individual who was teased and ridiculed throughout her childhood for being “too this” and “too that” and it’s the very same thing she would experience years later, on a more public stage.
As we mature and develop, we tend to change and adapt in a myriad of ways. Doesn’t make the latter more “real” than the former. I never understood that assumption, where Whit was concerned, considering the vast exposure to society and the world at large she experienced from the very beginning.
[Hearing some folks suggest the articulation in her lyric phrasing was manufactured for “pop” audiences is perhaps one of the most absurd, if not, completely offensive accusations I’ve encountered]
In my opinion, the extraordinary amalgamation of Whitney Houston wasn’t restricted to the dynamic versatility of her voice and musicianship; it was imbued in the life of the very woman herself.
To me, the “real” Whitney Houston was basically the one you’d see during her Arsenio Hall interviews. She was very articulate/well-spoken (you cannot necessarily fake that) but she had a little “tough edge” to her. She knew the language of Wall Street and how to act professionally but she also knew the language of the street corners and she knew when to use each one. I know countless black women who act just like Whitney did – Poised and Professional; Down-Home and Tough. I think that it’s the media and their constant over-simplification that tries fo fit Whitney into one box or another when all she was was a normal, multi-faceted, human being.
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Leverage said:
That is because Leverage and Clarke are the same person.
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Whitney Houston was one of a kind. There will never be another like her. She will always be one of my favorite singers of all time.
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Why do we alwayd have to judge each others blackness? Are their rules on how to be black? Is their a panel of blackness that has the power to issue and revoke black cards. Its like your either too ghetto or a sell-out. What is the right measure of blackness?
Sigh.. people stop being so judgemental
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@ Abagond I knew (and can always, always smell a troll from a 1,000 yards away)!!! Lol
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The Pragmatist
What is the right measure of blackness?
—————————————————————————————————-
The use of words in a manner which reveals truth.
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Possible musical dynasties:
When the children of famous musical artists will reach 22, the age at which Whitney Houston had her first hit:
2015 Bobby Kristina Brown (Whitney Houston + Bobby Brown)
2018 Christopher Wallace, Jr (Faith Evans + Notorious B.I.G.)
2019 Zion David Marley (Lauryn Hill + Rohan Marley)
2019 Seven Sirius (Erykah Badu + Andre Benjamin)
2020 Sela Louise Marley (Lauryn Hill + Rohan Marley)
2024 Joshua Marley (Lauryn Hill + Rohan Marley)
2031 Knight Jones (Kelis + Nas)
2032 Egypt Daoud Dean (Alicia Keys + Swizz Beatz)
2034 Blue Ivy Carter (Beyonce + Jay-Z)
Note that Rohan Marley is not himself a musician, but comes from a family with more than its share of them.
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Wasn’t there a rumour about her having feelings for her lesbian friend, and her life long misery stemming from living in the closet? I actually began to believe this, but once again it’s a rumour for now.
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I came across an old Whitney interview a few weeks back, and when asked about the lesbian rumors, she said something along the lines of “if I was, I’d say more power to me and be open about it, but I’m not.” I’ve always assumed the rumors were due to Whitney having few relationships, and not having a public relationship up until Bobby, which was when she was well into her twenties. I think Whitney was just a real deal church girl who didn’t get around, but I don’t believe she was a lesbian, at all.
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cocaine does strange things
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Your Love Is My Love, My Name Is Not Susan, Queen of The Night. She had a great music catalogue.
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She had superior vocal i don’t there is nobody out there today who can match her or come close.
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