CAIRO – 26 October 2017: On this day in history, Whitney Houston, the late superstar actress and singer released her first #1 hit, “Saving All My Love for You” in 1985; marking the start of a successful career with a tragic ending.
Houston was brought up in a musical family in New Jersey, having been born on August 9, 1963. Her mother was soul singer Cissy Houston and her aunt was pop star Dionne Warwick, both famed and beloved celebrities. Houston got her start when she sung as a child at her mother’s church choir, where she dazzled audiences.
Houston sought to hone and pursue her voice, which she considered a gift from God. At 15, she started singing with her mother at nightclubs. It was her looks that got her noticed first before settling into her famous career; Houston worked as a young model, prized by magazines such as Vogue for her beauty. Still, she continued to push on with her dream of becoming a musical star.
In the early 80s, Houston struck a deal with Arista’s President Clive Davis, and was on her way to releasing her first album, titled after her name. It was this album, which “Saving All My Love for You” was part of, that propelled Houston to become a hit from her very first release. The song was released independently on August and shot to the #1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 two months later.
Now called the “Princess of Pop,” Houston was well on her way to fame and glory. She won a Grammy Award in 1986 for “Saving All My Love,” and would continue putting out stellar hits such as "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” in 1987 and “Where Do Broken Hearts Go." She would sell tens of millions of albums and have well over eight #1 hit songs; a record broken only by Mariah Carey.
The music scene wasn’t enough to contain Houston’s glory, and she eventually broke into acting. She made her debut alongside Kevin Costner in 1992 with “The Bodyguard,” an action/drama where a secret service agent (Costner) is sent to protect a famous pop singer (Houston), leading to both conflict and eventually, romance between them.
While the film was not much of a critical success, it performed well at the box office. It was the soundtrack, sung by Houston of course, that really stuck in people’s memories, and produced a massive single, a cover of Dolly Parton’s "I Will Always Love You" that remained at the top of the charts for 14 weeks, a new record at the time.
The higher one rises, the harder they fall, and Houston was an unfortunate example of this. While the 90s was a time of great success for the superstar singer/actress, it also marked the start of her disastrous relationship and spiral into drug addiction. She married singer Bobby Brown in 1992, in what had begun as a loving and stable partnership. They had one child together, Bobbi Kristina Brown.
Unfortunately, both Houston and Brown began to experiment with drugs, with Brown beginning to both physically and emotionally abuse her. In 2003, Brown was arrested for charges of assault against his wife, and they eventually split in 2005. Despite the problems in her personal life, professionally Houston still managed to hold it together; she would star in several other films such as 1993’s “Waiting to Exhale,” and she won an Academy Award for her collaboration with Mariah Carey for Dreamworks’ animated film “The Prince of Egypt.”
Houston couldn’t escape the drama forever however, and the 2000s were not kind to her. Fans feared that her health was deteriorating, especially after she canceled several concerts. Her drug addiction continued to worsen, threatening to destroy both her health and career. She released her final album, “I Look to You” in 2009. In 2012, Houston was found drowned, face-down in a bathtub at a Beverly Hilton hotel, having lived to only 47. Her daughter would die of similar circumstances a few years later in 2015.
Although she burnt out too soon, Houston’s legacy lives on in the musical gift she shared with the world, having far succeeded her childhood dreams.
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