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Whitney Elizabeth Houston (born August 9, 1963) is an iconic, Grammy Award-winning American pop and R&B singer, actress, film producer, record producer, songwriter, and former fashion model. Her crossover success opened doors for other African Americans, particularly women, to find success in pop music. She is frequently referred to as "The Voice" and is known for her "powerful, penetrating pop-gospel voice." Whitney Houston is inarguably one of the of the biggest female pop stars of all time. Her accomplishments as a hitmaker are extraordinary; just to scratch the surface, she became the first artist ever to have seven consecutive singles hit number one, and her 1993 Dolly Parton cover "I Will Always Love You" became nothing less than the biggest hit single in rock history. Houston was able to handle big adult contemporary ballads, effervescent, stylish dance-pop, and slick urban contemporary soul with equal dexterity; the result was an across-the-board appeal that was matched by scant few artists of her era, and helped her become one of the first black artists to find success on MTV in Michael Jackson's wake. Like many of the original soul singers, Houston was trained in gospel before moving into secular music; over time, she developed a virtuosic singing style given over to swooping, flashy melodic embellishments. The shadow of Houston's prodigious technique still looms large over nearly every pop diva and smooth urban soul singer -- male or female -- in her wake, and spawned a legion of imitators (despite some critics' complaints about over-singing). Always more of a singles artist, Houston largely shied away from albums during the '90s, releasing the bulk of her most popular material on the soundtracks of films in which she appeared. By the end of the decade, she'd gone several years without a true blockbuster, yet her status as an icon was hardly diminished. In the 1980s, Houston was one the first black artists to receive regular rotation on MTV in the network's early years during a white male rock dominated time. Her debut album became the biggest selling debut album of all time for a solo artist (a record that has since been broken), her follow up album became the first album by a female artist to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200, and she had a record seven consecutive #1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Houston continued her success into Hollywood in the 1990s, starting with the box office hit The Bodyguard. The soundtrack became the best-selling soundtrack of all time, and the single "I Will Always Love You" the best-selling single by a female artist and 6th best-selling song in history of music. She continued the decade with other successful and culturally significant projects before returning to the studio. Houston is the fourth best-selling female recording artist according to the Recording Industry Association of America, and is the "The Most Awarded Female Artist of All Time" according to the Guinness Book of World Records. After Houston married former R&B singer Bobby Brown at the height of her career, rumors of drug and spousal abuse started to affect her career. This led to a decline in her public image and her album sales dropped during the 2000s. Her personal troubles and erratic behavior became more talked about than any of her music, with stories regularly appearing in the tabloid press. Houston underwent two drug rehab programs in 2005 and 2006. After a successful second program in 2006, Houston divorced Brown and gained custody of their only daughter. She has since been working on her 7th studio album with music mogul and close friend and mentor Clive Davis, who confirmed that the album will be released in November 2008. Houston also pursued modeling and acting, appearing on the sitcoms Gimme a Break and Silver Spoons. Somewhat bizarrely, Houston's first recording as a featured vocalist was with Bill Laswell's experimental jazz-funk ensemble Material; their 1982 album One Down placed Houston alongside such unlikely avant-gardists as Archie Shepp and Fred Frith. The following year, Arista president Clive Davis heard Houston singing at a nightclub and offered her a record contract. Her first single appearance was a duet with Teddy Pendergrass, "Hold Me," which missed the Top 40 in 1984. Houston's debut album, Whitney Houston, was released in March 1985. Its first single, "Someone for Me," was a flop, but the second try, "You Give Good Love," became Houston's first hit, topping the R&B charts and hitting number three pop. Houston's next three singles -- the Grammy-winning romantic ballad "Saving All My Love for You," the brightly danceable "How Will I Know," and the inspirational "The Greatest Love of All" -- all topped the pop charts, and a year to the month after its release, Whitney Houston hit number one on the album charts. It eventually sold over 13 million copies, making it the best-selling debut ever by a female artist. Houston cemented her superstar status on her next album, Whitney; despite the unimaginative title, it became the first album by a female artist to debut at number one, and sold over nine million copies. Its first four singles -- "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" (another Grammy winner), "Didn't We Almost Have It All," "So Emotional," and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" -- all hit number one, an amazing, record-setting run of seven straight (broken by "Love Will Save the Day"). In late 1988, Houston scored a Top Five hit with the non-LP single "One Moment in Time," recorded for an Olympics-themed compilation album. Houston returned with her third album, I'm Your Baby Tonight, in 1990; a more urban-sounding, R&B-oriented record, it immediately spun off two number one hits in the title track and "All the Man That I Need." But the quality of the material was generally viewed as, overall, much weaker than her previous efforts, and following those two hits, sales of the album tapered off quickly, halting around four million copies. Nevertheless, Houston remained so popular that she could even take a recording of "The Star Spangled Banner" (performed at the Super Bowl) into the pop Top 20 -- though, of course, the Gulf War had something to do with that. In retrospect, the erratic quality of I'm Your Baby Tonight seemed to signal Houston's declining interest in making fully fleshed-out albums. Instead, she began to focus on an acting career, which she hadn't pursued since her teenage years; she also married singer Bobby Brown in the summer of 1992. Her first feature film, a romance with Kevin Costner called The Bodyguard, was released in late 1992; it performed well at the box office, helped by an ad campaign which seemingly centered around the climactic key change in Houston's soundtrack recording of the Dolly Parton-penned "I Will Always Love You." In fact, the ad campaign undoubtedly helped "I Will Always Love You" become the biggest single in pop music history. It set new records for sales (nearly five million copies) and weeks at number one (14), although those were later broken by Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997" and Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men's "One Sweet Day," respectively. Meanwhile, the soundtrack eventually sold an astounding 16 million copies, and also won a Grammy for Album of the Year. Once Houston had stopped raking in awards and touring the world, she prepared her next theatrical release, the female ensemble drama Waiting to Exhale. A few months before its release at the end of 1995, it was announced that she and Brown had split up; however, they called off the split just a couple months later, and rumors about their tempestuous relationship filled the tabloids for years to come. Waiting to Exhale was released toward the end of the year, and the first single from the soundtrack, "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)," topped the charts; the album sold over seven million copies. For her next project, Houston decided to return to her gospel roots; the soundtrack to the 1996 film The Preacher's Wife, which naturally featured Houston in the title role, was loaded with traditional and contemporary gospel songs, plus guest appearances by Houston's mother, Shirley Caesar, and the Georgia Mass Choir. Houston also began making headlines for what appeared to be increasing unreliability, cancelling several TV and concert appearances due to illness. In 1998, Houston finally issued a new full-length album, My Love Is Your Love, her first in eight years. Houston worked with pop/smooth soul mainstays like Babyface and David Foster, but also recruited hip-hop stars like Missy Elliott, Wyclef Jean, Lauryn Hill, and Q-Tip. The album sold even fewer copies than I'm Your Baby Tonight, but it received Houston's most enthusiastic reviews in quite some time. Moreover, it produced one of her biggest R&B chart hits (seven weeks at number one) in the trio number "Heartbreak Hotel," done with Faith Evans and Kelly Price. She also duetted with Mariah Carey on "When You Believe," a song from the animated film The Prince of Egypt. Unfortunately, Houston was also back in the tabloids in early 2000; she was arrested in Hawaii when airline authorities reportedly found marijuana in her luggage (the charges were later dismissed). Speculation about Houston's personal life only grew when she was dropped from the Academy Awards telecast that March, officially because of a sore throat, but reputedly due to poor rehearsals and a generally out-of-it air. Later in the year, Arista released the two-disc compilation Greatest Hits, which actually featured one disc of hits and one of remixes; it also included new duets with Enrique Iglesias, George Michael, and Deborah Cox. It was also announced that Houston had signed a new deal with Arista worth $100 million, requiring six albums from the singer. Her personal issues became even more public through the reality television series Being Bobby Brown, and she eventually divorced her husband and went into intense rehabilitation. An album of new material was set for release by the end of 2007. Whitney Houston was born in a rough neighborhood in the projects of Newark, New Jersey. She is the third and youngest child of John and gospel singer Cissy Houston. Her mother, along with cousin Dionne Warwick and Godmother Aretha Franklin are all notable figures in the gospel, rhythm and blues, and soul genres. Houston was raised a Baptist, but was also exposed to the Pentecostal church. After the 1967 Newark riots, the family moved to a middle class area in East Orange, New Jersey when she was four. While her mother was away touring with Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin as a backup singer, her father would spend most of the time raising the children. Houston did not have many friends and she was picked on because her face was too light or her hair was too long compared to the other black girls. At the age of eleven, Houston began to follow in her mothers footsteps and started performing as a soloist in the junior gospel choir at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, where she also learned to play the piano. Her first solo performance in the church was "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah". When Houston was a teenager, her parents divorced and she continued to live with her mother. She attended a Roman Catholic single-sex high school, Mount Saint Dominic Academy, where she met her best friend Robyn Crawford, whom she describes as the "sister she never had." Crawford would later become Houston's personal assistant and the two of them would eventually be constantly subjected to lesbian rumors. While Houston was still in school, her mother continued to teach her how to sing. In addition to her mother, Franklin, and Warwick, Houston was also exposed to the music of Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, and Roberta Flack, most of which would have an impact on her as a singer and performer. Houston spent much of her teenage years touring night clubs with her mother. In 1977, at fourteen years of age, Houston was featured as the lead singer on the Michael Zager Band's single "Life's a Party". Zager subsequently offered to help obtain a recording contract for the young singer, but Cissy declined, wanting her daughter to finish school first. Then in 1979, at age sixteen, Houston sang background vocals on Chaka Khan's hit single "I'm Every Woman", a song she would later turn into a bigger hit in 1992. In the early 1980s, Houston worked as a fashion model after a photographer saw her at Carnegie Hall singing with her mother. She appeared in Vogue Magazine and became one of the first women of color to grace the cover of Seventeen magazine She also appeared in a Canada Dry soft drink commercial. While modeling and touring nightclubs with her mother, she continued her recording career, working with producers Michael Bienhorn, Bill Laswell and Martin Bisi on an album they were spearheading called One Down, which was credited to the group Material. For that project, Houston contributed the ballad "Memories", which Robert Christgau of the The Village Voice called "one of the most gorgeous ballads you've ever heard". Houston had previously been offered several recording contracts (Michael Zager in 1980 and Elektra Records in 1981). In 1983, Gerry Griffith, an A&R representative from Arista Records, saw her performing with her mother in a New York City night club and was impressed. He convinced Clive Davis, Arista's label head, to take time to see Houston perform at the nightclub. Davis too was impressed after the performance and offered her a worldwide recording contract, which Houston signed. Later in the year, she made her national televised debut alongside Davis on the The Merv Griffin Show. Houston signed with Arista in 1983 but did not began work on her album immediately. Arista put forth the deal to make sure no other label signed the singer from under them. At first, Davis had a hard time finding material for Houston to record. Many major producers passed on her. Houston first recorded a duet with Teddy Pendergrass entitled "Hold Me", which appeared on his album, Love Language. The single became a Top 5 R&B hit, and would also appear on her debut album. With production from Michael Masser, Kashif, Jermaine Jackson and Narada Michael Walden, Houston's self-titled 1985 debut album was released in February 1985. Rolling Stone Magazine praised the new talent, calling her "one of the most exciting new voices in years" while The New York Times called the album "an impressive, musically conservative showcase for an exceptional vocal talent." After the dance-funk single "Someone For Me" failed to chart in both the US and UK, the album initially sold modestly and failed to make an impact. The plan was to first appeal to a black audience, hence the release of the next single, the soulful ballad "You Give Good Love", which peaked at #3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 while going #1 on the R&B Charts. As a result, the album began selling and climbing the charts while Houston continued promoting the album touring night clubs in the US. With success on the R&B Charts, Davis wanted Houston to crossover to a broader audience. She began performing on popular night shows that usually weren't open to many black acts. The jazz-pop ballad "Saving All My Love for You" was released next and would become Houston's first #1 hit single in both the US and the UK. She was now an opening act for singer Jeffrey Osbourne on his nationwide tour. The next single, "How Will I Know", also peaked at #1 and would introduce Houston to the MTV audience. This would make the singer one of the only African American female artists to receive heavy rotation on the network. By 1986, a year after its initial release, Whitney Houston topped the Billboard 200 album chart and stayed there for 14 consecutive weeks. The final single, the black pride anthem "Greatest Love of All" became Houston's biggest hit after peaking #1 and remaining there for three weeks. Houston had established a cross-over base and was now able to headline her own tour thus embarking on The Greatest Love Tour. The 89 day tour was the sixth highest grossing tour of the year. The album had become an international success, selling over thirteen million copies in the United States alone making it the best-selling debut album of all time by a female artist. To date, the album has sold approximately 25 million copies worldwide. At the 1986 Grammy Awards, Houston was nominated for three awards including Album of the Year. Despite being the front runner, Houston was ineligible for Best New Artist due to her previous duet recordings in 1984. Still, she won her first Grammy award for 'Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female' for "Saving All My Love for You". At the same award show, Houston performed her Grammy-winning hit; the performance won Houston her first and only Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program. Houston also won seven American Music Awards and an MTV Video Music Award, while "Greatest Love of All" would receive a Record of the Year nomination at the 1987 Grammys. Houston's debut is currently listed as one of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and on The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame's Definitive 200 list. Whitney Houston's grand entrance into the music industry is considered one of the 25 musical milestones of the last 25 years according to USA Today. Following Houston's debut, other African-American female artists such as Janet Jackson and Anita Baker were able to find similar success in popular music. Houston’s second album, Whitney, was released in June 1987. Following the same formula as her debut, the album featured productions from Masser, Kashif and Walden again, as well as Jellybean Benitez. Many critics complained that the material was too similar to her previous album and also felt that Houston was holding back her gospel roots for mainstream pop music. Rolling Stone said, "the narrow channel through which this talent has been directed is frustrating." Still, it became the first album in history by a female artist to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 in the U.S. and the UK album chart, as well as topping the charts in several countries around the world. The album's first four singles, "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)", "Didn't We Almost Have It All", "So Emotional", and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" all peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 which brought her a total of seven consecutive Hot 100 number-one hits; breaking the record of six previously shared by The Beatles and The Bee Gees. The album's fifth, and final single, "Love Will Save the Day" also peaked in the Top 10 on the Hot 100. However, unlike her previous album, neither song topped the R&B Charts. Whitney was certified nine times platinum in America, and has sold approximately 20 million worldwide. At the Grammy Awards in 1988, Houston was nominated for three awards including Album of the Year, winning her second Grammy for 'Best Female Pop Vocal Performance' for "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)". She then embarked on the worldwide The Moment of Truth tour. In the same year, she recorded a song for NBC's coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics, "One Moment in Time", which peaked at number five in the U.S., while reaching number one in the UK and Germany. With the success of her first two albums, Houston was a crossover superstar. However, many black critics complained that her music was "too White" and that she was selling out. Some noted that her singing on record lacked the soul that was present in her concerts. At the 1989 Soul Train Music Awards, when Houston's name was called out for a nomination, the audience booed her. Houston spoke of the criticism and said "If you're gonna have a long career, there's a certain way to do it, and I did it that way. I'm not ashamed of it." However, the pop singer decided to take a more urban direction in her music. I'm Your Baby Tonight, Houston’s third studio album, was released in November 1990 and featured productions from Babyface and Antonio Reid, Luther Vandross, and Stevie Wonder. For the album, Houston was given more control; she was co-executive producer along with Clive Davis. The two would work together for the rest of Houston's albums in the 90s. The album showed Houston's versatility on a new batch of tough rhythmic grooves, soulful ballads and up-tempo dance tracks. The album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and went on to be certified four times platinum in the U.S., selling ten million worldwide. The first two singles, the new jack swing "I'm Your Baby Tonight" and the soul ballad "All The Man That I Need" each hit number one on both the pop and R&B singles charts respectively. The third and fourth singles: "Miracle", and "My Name Is Not Susan" peaked at numbers nine and twenty, respectively —the fifth single, "I Belong to You", peaked in the Top 10 on the R&B charts, while yet another single, the duet with Stevie Wonder entitled, "We Didn't Know", made the R&B Top 20. Though sales of the album were down drastically compared to her previous efforts, the album was well received by critics. Rolling Stone felt it was her "best and most integrated album". Houston performed "The Star Spangled Banner" at Super Bowl XXV in January 1991. Her recording of the song was released as a commercial single, reaching the top twenty on the U.S. Hot 100, and making her the only artist to turn the national anthem into a chart hit. (Ten years later, the song was re-released after the September 11, 2001 attacks, this time peaking becoming a Top 10 hit.) Houston donated her share of the proceeds to the American Red Cross. This legendary performance of the national anthem was named number one in the NFL's 2003 list of Top 25 greatest moments in NFL history. VH1 also listed it as the 12th greatest moment that rocked TV. In 1991, Houston embarked I'm Your Baby Tonight World Tour, which Rolling Stone poll voters voted "Worst Tour of the Year." The tour didn't sell out as much as her previous tours. She then performed for the Welcome Home Heroes Concert in Norfolk Virginia for the returning soldiers from the Gulf War. The concert was televised on HBO and subsequently released as a home video. All proceeds went to charity. November 1992, Houston made her big screen debut, opposite Kevin Costner, in The Bodyguard, which became a huge success at the box office thanks in large part to the accompanying soundtrack. Houston recorded six songs for the film's adjoining soundtrack album, which featured productions from David Foster. The soundtrack's lead single was a cover of the Dolly Parton country hit "I Will Always Love You". Some, including Foster, were skeptical that the song would fare well at radio due to its slow, acapella beginning. Still, the label took the risk and released it as the first single and it became Houston's biggest hit. It peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for a then-record-breaking 14 weeks and topping the charts in nearly every other country including the big markets of the UK, Germany, France and Australia. The song has sold approximately ten million copies worldwide, making it the best selling single by a female solo artist. The soundtrack debuted at number 1 and remained there for twenty consecutive weeks. The follow-up singles "I'm Every Woman", a Chaka Khan cover, and "I Have Nothing" both peaked in the top five. The album was certified 17x platinum in the United States with worldwide sales of forty-two million, and went on to become the best-selling soundtrack album ever. Houston won three Grammys for the project including two of the Academy's highest honors, Album of the Year and Record of the Year. Entertainment Weekly said the two cover songs are "artistically satisfying and uncharacteristically hip" while the rest is generic. Rolling Stone said it is "nothing more than pleasant, tasteful and urbane.". Following the success of the project, Houston embarked on another expansive worldwide tour in 1993, which concluded in 1994 when the HBO televised "Concert For A New South Africa" making Houston the first artist to perform in the newly apartheid-free country. With total capacities of over 200,000 and a home video subsequently released, all proceeds went to charity. In late 1996, Houston recorded, and co-produced with Mervyn Warren, the gospel The Preacher's Wife: Original Soundtrack Album, six of the songs were recorded with the Georgia Mass Choir at Greater Rising Star Church in Atlanta. Unlike Houston's previous soundtracks, The Preacher's Wife featured Houston on 14 of the 15 tracks including a collaboration with gospel legend Shirley Caesar. The soundtrack sold six million copies worldwide and scored pop hits with "I Believe in You and Me" and "Step by Step", becoming the largest selling gospel album of all time. The album received mainly positive reviews. Some critics, like USA Today, noted the presence of an emotional depth not always heard in her previous recordings. The UK Times said "To hear Houston going at full throttle with the 35 piece Georgia Mass choir struggling to keep up is to realise, at last, what her phenomenal voice was made for." In 1997, Houston performed the 3 night HBO televised "Classic Whitney" concert in Washington DC. The concert saw Houston perform her hits as well as covering classics by idols Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, Billie Holliday and Diana Ross. Later that year, Houston starred in the remake of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella with fellow singer Brandy. Though no soundtrack was made, Houston sang "Impossible" with Brandy, and "There Is Music In You". After spending much of the early and mid 1990s working on films, with their adjacent soundtrack albums as an outlet for new music, Houston's first studio album in eight years, the critically acclaimed My Love Is Your Love was released in November 1998. Though originally slated to be a greatest hits album with a handful of new songs, recording sessions produced enough new material for a full-length studio album. Recorded and mixed in only six weeks, it featured production from Rodney Jerkins, Wyclef Jean and Missy Elliott. The album had a more funkier and edgier sound than past releases and saw Houston handling urban dance, hip hop, reggae, mid-tempo R&B, torch songs, and ballads all with great dexterity. The album's first single, the Academy Award-winning "When You Believe" (a duet with Mariah Carey for 1998s The Prince of Egypt soundtrack) didn't do as well as expected and only reached the Top 20 in the U.S. As a result, the album debuted at #13. However, the next three singles, "Heartbreak Hotel", which featured Faith Evans and Kelly Price; "It's Not Right but It's Okay", which won Houston her sixth Grammy Award, and "My Love Is Your Love" all reached the U.S. Top 5 and became international hits. The album's fifth single, "I Learned from the Best", peaked inside the U.S. top forty, at number twenty-seven. All singles, except "When You Believe", also became number one hits on the U.S. Dance/Clubplay Chart. The album went on to be certified four times platinum in the U.S., with worldwide sales of ten million. The album gave Houston her strongest reviews ever. Rolling Stone said Houston was singing "with a bite in her voice that she's never come close to before" and The Village Voice called it "Whitney's sharpest and most satisfying so far". In 1999, Houston participated in VH-1's Divas’ Live '99, alongside Mary J. Blige, Tina Turner, Cher. The same year, Houston hit the road with her worldwide 70 date My Love Is Your Love tour. n April 2000, Whitney: The Greatest Hits was released. The double disc set peaked at number five on the Billboard Top 200, and reached number one on the UK chart. While the ballads were left unchanged, the album is notable for featuring house/club remixes of many of Houston's past up-tempo songs, in place of their original version. Also included on the album were four new songs: "Could I Have This Kiss Forever" (a duet with Enrique Iglesias), "Same Script, Different Cast" (a duet with Deborah Cox), "If I Told You That" (a duet with George Michael), and "Fine", all of which failed to crack the Billboard Top 40. Along with the album, an accompanying DVD was also released of the music videos to Houston's greatest hits. The greatest hits album was certified triple platinum in the U.S., with worldwide sales of ten million. The same year, Houston performed on the televised special commemorating Arista Records twenty-fifth anniversary. Houston was then the first ever reciepient of the BET Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution towards black music. In August 2001, Houston signed the biggest record deal in music history with Arista/BMG. She renewed her contract (worth $100 million) to deliver six new albums on which she would also earn royalties. Within weeks Houston's rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner" would be re-released after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The single peaked at #6 on the singles chart. Houston would donate her portion of the proceeds. In December 2002, Houston released her fifth studio album, Just Whitney. The album included productions from then-husband Bobby Brown, as well as Missy Elliott, and Babyface, while marking the first time Houston did not produce with Clive Davis. It received mostly poor reviews upon release. Rolling Stone said the album "only shows an artist vainly trying to reach for what her future once could have been" while The San Francisco Chronicle said the album "shows signs of life, but not enough to declare a resurrection." The album debuted at #9 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with the highest opening week sales of any album she had ever released. However, all of the singles, the media bashing "Whatchulookinat", "One of Those Days", and "Try It on My Own" failed to reach the top forty on the Hot 100 singles chart and the album quickly fell off the Billboard Top 200. Just Whitney would be certified platinum in the U.S. with cumulative worldwide sales of over three million, Houston's lowest sales of any studio album. In late 2003, Houston released One Wish: The Holiday Album, a specialty album of traditional Christmas songs. Houston produced the album with Gorden Chambers and Mervyn Warren. Some, like Slant Magazine, noted a decline in her voice while The New York Times praised the "lavish swoops, the sultry whispers, the gospelly asides and the meteoric crescendos." The single "One Wish" reached the Top 20 on the Adult Contemporary Chart as the album sold approximately 400,000 copies in the U.S. It eventually became Houston's lowest selling album and the first not to achieve gold status in the U.S.. In 2004, Houston embarked on an international tour, the Soul Divas Tour with Natalie Cole and cousin Dionne Warwick in Europe, before embarking on solo dates in the Middle East, Russia, and Asia. In September 2004, she gave a surprise performance at the World Music Awards, in tribute to long time friend Clive Davis. Houston received a thunderous standing ovation for her performance. After the show, Davis and Houston announced plans to go into studio to work on a new album. However, no further updates would surface and no album was released due to Houston's drug problems. After a successful rehabilitation period in 2006, Houston divorced Bobby Brown and gained full parental custody of their daughter, Bobbi Kristina. The singer began recuperating her career in the public eye by attending the various high profile events. Houston recorded the song "Family First" with Dionne Warwick and Cissy Houston for the soundtrack Daddy's Little Girls. In March 2007, Clive Davis announced that the singer would be heading in to the studio to record her first studio album in 4 years. Though the release date and title are yet to be determined, reported producers include will.i.am, Ne-Yo, R. Kelly, and John Legend among others. In the meantime, Arista released The Ultimate Collection in October 2007. The compilation included, for the first time, all of Houston's hit singles on one CD. It debuted at #5 in the UK, with sales of 37,228 and peaked at #3. The compilation was not released in the U.S. and also included a bonus DVD of music videos. In December 2007, Houston performed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to positive reception. Clive Davis later announced at Billboard's Music & Money Symposium in New York that Whitney Houston's forthcoming album is going to be released around the holiday season. Davis blames the delay on the creative process, saying he and Houston were unwilling to rush out an album of substandard tracks. Davis states "We're not going to compromise who she is to fit into today's hip-hop radio market. The public wants Whitney material." |
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