Whitney Houston was the youngest of three children born to John and Cissy Houston in East Orange, New Jersey. She was born into a musical family as her mother was a successful R&B backup singer, her father was Cissy's agent, and her cousin was Dionne Warwick. (John Houston later became Whitney's agent.)
Houston grew up in East Orange, New Jersey and first began singing in the Baptist church. As a teen she sang backup for Lou Rawls and Chaka Khan and worked as a model, and appeared on the cover of magazines such as Glamour and Seventeen.
She broke into the music industry in 1985 when she signed a record contract with Arista Records and produced her self-titled album, Whitney Houston. She received her first Grammy Award for one of the number one songs on the album, "Saving All My Love for You." Her second album, Whitney, was the first album by a female artist to enter the charts at number one.
Whitney has since received numerous Grammys, and became the first performer to have seven consecutive number one singles on the Billboard magazine pop-music charts. She has also enjoyed a successful career as an actress in lead roles for such movies as The Bodyguard and Waiting To Exhale. She has performed most of the music for the soundtracks in these films.
Whitney is involved with such humanitarian organizations as the United Negro College Fund, the Children's Diabetes Fund, and St. Jude's Children's Hospital. She established The Whitney Houston Foundation for Children, Incorporated, a nonprofit organization assisting homeless children and children with cancer and AIDS.
