Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer, actress, producer, and model. In 2009, Guinness World Records recognized her as the most awarded female act of all time, with over 300 awards including 31 Grammy Awards, 26 American Music Awards, 22 American Country Music Awards, 22 Academy of Country Music Awards, 21 Golden Globe Awards, and 10 Emmy Awards.
Born to the American gospel singing couple Cissy Houston and John William Houston; she began performing as a child at her father's church. She won several pageants at her local Junior High School and was voted Most Beautiful Girl in her senior class. Houston attended college at Syracuse University before dropping out to pursue a music career in 1983
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Her professional debut came in 1992 with the song "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" from the The Bodyguard soundtrack. She starred in the soap opera A Different World from 1987 to 1989 and released her first studio album Whitney Houston in 1985. She became the top-selling female artist of that time period, with her second album Whitney.
The album sold over 32 million copies worldwide and produced the number one singles "I Will Always Love You" and "Greatest Love of All". Her fifth studio album I'm Your Baby Tonight (1997) saw commercial success with the top 20 hit single "One Moment in Time", becoming her second number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Houston is one of pop music's best-selling artists of all time, having sold over 170 million records worldwide. She has amassed seven RIAA certifications on the US "Billboard" 200 chart: six platinum (one double platinum), two gold (one double gold), and ten platinum (two double platinum).
In addition to her solo achievements, Houston is known for being a featured artist on classic songs such as Roy Orbison's "Oh Pretty Woman" from his 1964 album In Dreams and Patti LaBelle's "Lady Marmalade" from 1982's Lady Marmalade. With more than 50 top-ten hits on Hot 100 singles charts around the world, Houston has a total of 118 Hot 100 entries among us as a lead artist – more than any other artist in history – making her by far the most charted female artist across every decade since the 1960s.