"Whitney Houston was born in Newark, New Jersey, on August 9, 1963. Her life in music began with her mother, who was gospel and R&B singer Cissy Houston, and her cousin Dionne Warwick. At 11 years old, she was already singing solos at the junior gospel choir at the Baptist church that she attended. When she reached her teens she started accompanying her mother in concert and sang on the album Think It Over in 1978 around the age of 15. With such an early start in music, it was clear what direction Whitney's career was headed from early on in her life.Starting out as a backup artist, Houston featured on a Bill Laswell record. Then, in 1983, Clive Davis, the president of Artista, witnessed her singing at a nightclub and signed her to the label. Her debut album was released in 1985. The self-titled debut album received excellent points for its second track ""You Give Good Love."" The album reached number one in the charts, and her second album, released as an eponymous album under her first name only, also hit the number one spot on The Billboard 200.After that, she quickly grew in fame as a pop star. I'm Your Baby Tonight did very well at number three on the Billboard 200. This was followed by the film The Bodyguard, which featured a soundtrack sung almost entirely by Whitney herself, starting with her cover of Dolly Parton's song ""I Will Always Love You,"" which spent a total of 14 weeks at the top of the charts. The album also had the hit singles ""I Have Nothing,"" ""I'm Every Woman,"" ""Queen of the Night"" and ""Run To You."" Even though Houston has had some incredible records released since then, most notably Just Witney from 2002 and The Greatest Hits from 2000, The Bodyguard still remains her biggest hit having sold over 15 million copies and winning her a Grammy for Album of the Year."
