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Legacy RecordingsWhitney Houston would have celebrated her 53rd birthday today. Born on August 9, 1963 in Newark, New Jersey, the recording artist appeared to be destined for superstardom from a young age.
Houston was a teen model, landing her first Seventeen magazine cover in 1981 at the age of 18. She was one of the first black women to ever achieve this honor. After her success as a cover girl, she pursued a career in music and rose to fame with her debut album, Whitney Houston, in 1985. With iconic songs such as “Greatest Love of All,” “How Will I Know,” and “Saving All My Love for You,” the emerging vocalist topped Billboard charts and the album sold millions of units worldwide.
Houston garnered an extraordinary number of industry awards from the start of her epic career. The music icon soon found her way to the big screen, and her first starring role in the 1992 drama, The Bodyguard, proved that she was certifiable Hollywood star. Her cover of Dolly Parton‘s 1975 song “I Will Always Love You,” featured on the film’s soundtrack, spent 14 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. In the same year she married R&B singer Bobby Brown and the two had a daughter — Bobbi Kristina Brown.
On February 11, 2012, Houston was found unconscious in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton Hotel and was shortly pronounced dead at the scene. Houston’s extraordinary legacy in music, film and television continues to live on.
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