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Whitney was born on August 9th , 1963 in Newark.
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Houston was the 2nd child of army serviceman and entertainment executive John Russell Houston.
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Houston has 2 older brothers.
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She was of African American , Natice American , and Ducth descent.
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Houston was raised a Baptist, but was also exposed to the Pentecostal church.
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After the 1967 Newark riots, the family moved to a middle-class area in East Orange , when she was 4.
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In 1977, at the age 14,Whitney became a backup singer on the Micheal Zager Band.
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In 1978, at the age 15, Houston sang background voacals on Chaka Khan's hit.
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In the early 1980s, Houston started working as a fashion model after a photographer saw her at the Carneale Hall singing with her mother.
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In the 1980s, Houston was linked to the American football star Randall Cunningham and actor Eddie Murphy, in which she had dated.
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Whitney had been offered several recordings agencies, but however , her mother declined the offers stating that Whitney had to first complete high school.
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Whitney signed with Arista in 1983, but did not begin working on her album immediately.
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Whitney's debut album " Whitney Houston " was released in Feburary 1985.
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By 1986, a year after its initial release , Whitney hit toppped the Billboard 200 album chart and stayed there for 14 non-consecutive weeks.
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At the 1986 Grammy Awards , Whitney was nominated for 3 awards including album of the year.
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Houston won seven music awards in total in 1986 and 1987, and an MTV Music Award Video.
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With many expectations, Houston's second album, WHITNEY, was released in June 1987.
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At the 1989 Soul Train Music Awards, when Houston's name was called out for a nomination, a few people in the audience jeered.
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In 1989, Whitney formed THE WHITNEY HOUSTON FOUNDATION for children, a non-profit organization for the needs of children around the world.
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Houston also won two American Music Awards in 1988 and 1989, respectively, and a Soul Train Award.
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She then met R&B singer Bobby Brown at the 1989 Soul Train Music Awards.
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In 1990, Whitney was the spokesperson for a youth leadership conference hosted in Washington, D.C. She had a private audience with President George H. W. Bush in the Oval Office to talk about associated challenges.
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Later in 1991, Houston put together her Welcome Home Heroes concert with HBO for the soldiers fighting in the Persian Gulf War and their families.
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Whitney's concer gave HBO its highest rankings.
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Whitney's first acting role was as the star of the feauture film The Bodyguard.
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After a three-year courtship, Whitney and Bobby were married on July 18,1992.
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On March 4, 1993, Whitney gave birth to their daughter Bobbi Kristina Houston Brown, her only child, and Bobby's fourth.
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In 1993, Ferry Griffith , an A&R representative from Arista Records saw her performing with her mother in a New York City nightclub and was impressed
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Houston won 3 Grammys for the album in 1994 , also with two of the Academy's highest honors, Album of the Year and Record of the Year.
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October 1994, Houston attended and performed at a state dinner in the White House honoring newly elected South African president Nelson Mandela
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In 1995, Houston starred alongside with Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine, and Lela Rochon in her second film Waiting to Exhale, a motion picture about four African-American women struggling with relationships.
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By 1996, she told Oprah " doing drugs was an everyday thing... I wasn't happy by that point of time.
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In November 1999 , Whitney was named top-selling R&B Female Artist of the Century with certified US sales of 51 million copies at one time.
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In May 2000 , Whitey : The Greatest Hits was released worldwide.
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On January 11, 2000, airport security guards discovered marijuana in both Houston's and husband Bobby Brown's luggage at a Hawaii airport, but the two boarded the plane and departed before authorities could arrive.
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Though Whitney was seen as " good girl " with a perfect image in the 1980s and early 1990s , by the late 1990s , her behavior changed.
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Whitney admitted on the show to using drugs with former husband Bobby Brown , who " laced marijuana with rock cocaine".
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Skinner filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit and sued for $100 million but lost, Stating that Houston owed the company previously unpaid compensation for helping to negotiate her $100 million contract with Arista Records and for sorting out legal matters.
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In 2002, Houston became involved in a legal dispute with John Houston Enterprise. Although the company was started by her father to manage her career, it was actually run by company president Kevin Skinner
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Whitney stated her 81 year old father had nothing to do with the lawsuuit.Whitney's father died in Feburary 2003
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On a June 2003 trip to Isreal,Whitney said of her visit " I've never felt like this in any other county. I feel at home, I feel wonderful."
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In early 2004, husband Bobby Brown starred in his own reality TV program,Being Bobby Brown, which provided a view into the domestic goings on in the Browns household.
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The lawsuit was dismissed on April 5th, 2004, and Skinner was awarded nothing.
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In September 2004, she gave a surprise performance at the World Music Awards in a tribute to long-time friend Clive Davis
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After yearss of contreversy and turmoil, Houston seperated from Bobby Brown in September 2006, filing divorce the following month.
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On Feburary 1,2007, Houston asked court to fast track their divorce.
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In March 2007, Clive Davis of Artista Records announced that Houston would begin recording a new album.
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The divorce was finalized on April 24,2007, with Houston granted custody of the couples daughter.
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On May 4 , Houston sold the suburban Atlanta home feautured in Being Bobby Brown for $1.19 million.
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In October 2007, Artista released another complation The Ultimate Collection outside United States.
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In 2009, the Guinness World Records cited Whitney as the most awarded female act of all time.
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Houston released her new album , I Look to You , in August 2009.
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On Janurary 26,2010 , her debut album was re-released in a special edition entitled Whitney Houston- The Deluxe Anniversary Edition.
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In Janurary 2010, Houston was nominated for two NAACP image awards, one for Best Female Artist and one for Best Music Video.
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In April 2010, the UK newspaper The Mirror reported that Houston was thinking about recording her eight studio album and wanted to collaborate with will.i.am, her first choice for a collaboration.
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In May 2011, Houston enrolled in a rehabilitation center again, as an out-patient,citing drug and alcohol problems.
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Whitney died on Feburary 11th in Beverly Hills.
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On February 11, Houston was found unconscious in Suite 434 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, submerged in the bathtub; she was later pronounced dead.
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The cause of death was not immediately known.It was later ruled by the coroner to have been an "accidental drowning".
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Beverly Hills paramedics arrived at approximately 3:30 p.m. and found the singer unresponsive and performed CPR. Houston was pronounced dead at 3:55 p.m
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Houston had an invitation-only memorial on Saturday, February 18, 2012, at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey
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Houston was buried on Sunday, February 19, 2012, in Fairview Cemetery, in Westfield, New Jersey next to her father, John Russell Houston, who died in 2003.
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The service was scheduled for two hours, but lasted four.
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On March 22, 2012, the Los Angeles County coroner's office reported the cause of Houston's death was drowning and the effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use
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On May 21,2012 " Celebrate " the last song Houston recorded with Sparks, premiered at RyanSeacrest.com .
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In June 2012, the McDonald's Gospelfest in Newark became a tribute to Houston.
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The song was feautured on the movie Sparkle; Music from the Motion Picture and the movie was released on August 12,2012 in the United States.
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In August 2001, Houston signed the biggest record deal in music history with Arista/BMG. She renewed her contract for $100 million to deliver six new albums, on which she would also earn royalties.
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On January 16, she recieved The BET HONORS AWARD for entertainer citing her lifetime achievements spanning over 25 years in the industry.
