Latest Release
- 8 NOV 2024
- 24 Songs
- One Wish: The Holiday Album · 2003
- Exhale - EP · 1987
- One Wish: The Holiday Album · 2003
- Whitney · 1987
- Whitney Houston · 1985
- Higher Love - Single · 2019
- The Bodyguard (Original Soundtrack Album) · 1992
- My Love Is Your Love · 1998
- Whitney: The Greatest Hits · 1992
- Whitney Houston · 1985
Essential Albums
- From the beginning of the pop-R&B jam “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” to the final sustained notes of “I Know Him So Well”, every corner of Whitney is invigorated by the dynamism and momentum of Houston’s voice. At 23 years old, she was like a young athlete in peak form, operating in total control of an awe-inspiring gift. Whether on the uplifting energy of “Love Will Save the Day” or the simmering regret of “Where Do Broken Hearts Go”, her voice always leads the music in a gust of pure soul and exuberance.
- It’s hard to imagine a time when Whitney Houston wasn’t well-established as one of the greatest singers in history—a voice so powerful and electrifying that even now, years after her death, attempts to cover her require a certain delusional confidence. But when her eponymous debut album was released in February 1985, when Houston was just 21, no one had heard of her—no one, that is, except Clive Davis of Arista Records, who was determined to make the vivacious backup singer and model into a global superstar. Davis’ strategy was simple and genius: By merging R&B’s groovy, soulful intimacy with pop’s catchy largesse, they’d maximise her crossover potential and deliver America a unifying voice. And that they did. Not only did the album produce three No. 1 singles—the Grammy-winning “Saving All My Love for You”, “Greatest Love of All” and, of course, “How Will I Know”—it effectively altered the course of contemporary music, imbuing the exhaustively white pop charts with distinctively black sounds and textures. Its influence can be heard in the many powerhouse divas who followed in Houston’s footsteps (Mariah, Christina, Alicia and Beyoncé, to name a few), and who approached pop not as a category but as an ethos. “Thinking About You” is a gloriously ’80s take on dance pop, and “Greatest Love of All”—one of the original self-empowerment anthems—is show-stopping, knowingly schmaltzy and fabulously over-the-top.
- 2002
Artist Playlists
- The pop-R&B icon's voice rang with a bell's clarity and a pearl's elegance.
- These clips double down on the iconic soul star's impact.
- These R&B and pop belters have a great love for Whitney.
- Soul stars and gospel greats who inspired her to lift her voice.
- Left turns and stirring collaborations from a soul legend.
Compilations
More To Hear
- Revealing the story behind “Where Do Broken Hearts Go.”
- The Whitney Houston film celebrates 30 years today.
- How Whitney Houston’s first No. 1 changed pop music forever.
- Celebrate the 35th anniversary of the artist's second album.
- Music from two icons, Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston.
- Estelle highlights the two icons in celebration of Mariah Day.
- ALL WOMEN EVERYTHING.
About Whitney Houston
With a towering voice and a singing style that was rooted in revival halls and massive arenas, Whitney Houston helped define pop-R&B in the late 20th century. Born in Newark, New Jersey, to gospel singer Cissy Houston in 1963, Houston, a model and singer in her younger years, was taken under the wing of legendary music mogul Clive Davis in 1983. Her 1985 self-titled debut was a blockbuster, her voice lending power and poignancy to singles like the slow-burning “Saving All My Love For You”, the buoyant “How Will I Know” and the inspirational “The Greatest Love of All”. Its 1987 follow-up, Whitney, blended the glittery club hits “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” and “So Emotional” with emotion-packed ballads such as “Didn’t We Almost Have It All”, further establishing Houston as one of the decade’s premier pop stars. She took the U.S. national anthem to church at Super Bowl XXV in 1991, and in 1992 she starred in the pop romance The Bodyguard, which had a Whitney-focused soundtrack that included her world-conquering version of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You”. That year she also married R&B singer Bobby Brown, with whom she’d have one child, Bobbi Kristina Brown. Houston had star turns on film and on record with 1995’s Waiting to Exhale and 1997's The Preacher’s Wife, and on the next year’s My Love Is Your Love, she teamed up with other female stars of R&B and hip-hop, including Mariah Carey and Missy Elliott. In the 2000s, Houston stepped away from the pop spotlight, appearing on Brown's TV show. She passed away in February 2012, leaving a recorded legacy that singers all over the world still strive to emulate.
- HOMETOWN
- Newark, NJ, United States
- BORN
- 9 August 1963
- GENRE
- Pop