From
the moment Whitney Houston first opened her mouth to sing, it was
obvious that she was bound for greatness. As the daughter of Cissy Houston,
a successful rhythm-and-blues backup singer, and a cousin of the even more
renowned singer Dionne Warwick, young Whitney grew up steeped in music.
She dutifully sang in the New Hope Baptist Junior Choir, aspiring to nothing
higher than being a backup performer like her mother. But by the time she
was 11, it was readily apparent that hanging in the background wasn't in
the cards for her. When Whitney took center stage one evening to sing
a solo, the power of her performance moved many in the congregation to tears.
Despite her shrinking-violet tendencies, Houston's combination of
exceptional beauty and her stunning, church-inflected soprano propelled her
into the spotlight.
A period of two years passed before her debut
LP was released, and in the interim, Houston increased her profile
by performing for industry bigwigs, appearing on television shows, and helping
her advisers choose songs for her album. Applying a fluid, soaring technique
to R&B, soul, and disco arrangements, Houston's eponymous debut
spun off three No. 1 singles"Saving All My Love for You," "How Will
I Know," and "The Greatest Love of All"and sold more than 13 million
copies to become the best-selling debut of all time by a female solo
artist.
More record-setting success was to come with
Houston's 1987 follow-up effort, Whitney. Not only was it the
first album by a female to enter the charts at No. 1, but she became the
first artist in history to score seven consecutive No. 1 hits, surpassing
milestones set by the Beatles and the Bee Gees. Houston's acting and
dancing lessons paid off in her dynamic MTV videos, and her galvanizing rendition
of the "Star Spangled Banner" at the 1990 Super Bowl. Houston promoted
Whitney by heading back out on tour, and in 1990, she released I'm
Your Baby Tonight, a more danceable, technically impressive effort.
Since 1990, Houston has managed to maintain
her easily won eminence, despite the fact that she has greatly curtailed
her output. Not that she hasn't been busy: navigating through some perilous
straits in her personal life, the pop diva managed to bear a daughter, Bobbi
Kristina, and conquer the world of film. Her first feature, The
Bodyguard, banked more than $400 million worldwide, and boasted the most
successful soundtrack ever released, with sales in excess of 33 million units,
due largely to Houston's soaring interpretation of the Dolly Parton
classic "I Will Always Love You." In 1995, Houston rounded out the
cast of Waiting To Exhale, a film about successful black women looking
for good men. Exhale became something of a phenomenon, as did its
Whitney-heavy soundtrack. Her third and most recent film, The Preacher's
Wife, didn't fare quite as spectacularly at the box office, but the
soundtrack for the film presented her with an opportunity to get back in
touch with her gospel roots.
The The Prince of Egypt
soundtrack landed in stores Nov. 17, the same day as Houston's
new solo album, My Love Is Your Love. Guests on her first full-length
studio recording in eight years include Missy Elliott, Faith Evans, and Wyclef
Jean. The disc also sports a special hidden track, "My Love," produced by
Lauryn Hill. As for "When You Believe," the track appears on the movie
soundtrack, Houston's album, and Carey's new hits collection,
#1'sall released the same day. Octave overload? Hardly. Retailers the
world over will undoubtedly make plenty of room on store shelves for the
duelingand duetingdivas.