8 years ago we lost the legendary Whitney Houston, fans all over the world paid tribute to music legend Whitney Houston on what would have been her 57th birthday.
Houston was born on August 9 and grew up in Newark, New Jersey, before rising to international fame and reaching a level of success in the music industry rivaled by few.
Whitney Houston is one of pop music's best-selling music artists of all-time, with an estimated 170–200 million records sold worldwide. Although she passed away in 2012 her influence on music lives on forever.
"God gave me a voice to sing with, and when you have that, what other gimmick is there?"
10 Reasons Why Whitney Houston Is 'The Greatest Of All Time'
1. First off, her range was literally out of this world. Only a certain few can belt out high notes without cracking. These new singers could never.
2. Her acting credits should NOT be overlooked. In The Bodyguard, she starred opposite Kevin Costner in what was probably one of the most bittersweet love stories of all time.
And the Film Waiting To Exhale... a moment in Black girl history and sisterhood.
3. She once dated Eddie Murphy. Before she met Bobby Brown, Whitney dated the American football player Randall Cunningham as well as the legendary comedy actor Eddie Murphy.
4. She had music in her blood. Whitney Houston was the cousin of Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick, and also had Aretha Franklin as an ‘honorary aunt’.
When Whitney won a Grammy Award in 1986 for ‘Saving All My Love for You,’ Dionne Warwick was the person who presented her with the trophy.
5. Let's not forget her epic duet with soprano legend Mariah Carey on 'When You Believe.' It'll probably go down as one of the best collaborations of all time.
6. She has sold a ridiculous number of records. Houston has sold a quite staggering 200 million records worldwide. Every one of of her seven studio albums and two soundtrack albums have been certified either diamond, multi-platinum, platinum, or gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.
7. Whitney had taste. Remember when she said she only listened to singers? Iconic!
8. A number of singers have been influenced by her. It may not come as too much of a surprise to hear this, but a number of singers have revealed that Whitney had a massive influence on both their singing style and career.
Her ‘one in a million’ singing voice is said to have influenced a number of world renowned singers, including Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Alicia Keys, Beyonce and Jennifer Hudson.
9. She also released the biggest selling gospel album ever. Whitney starred in a number of films in addition to The Bodyguard, including Waiting to Exhale and The Preacher’s Wife.
The Soundtrack to The Preacher’s Wife became the biggest selling gospel album of all time, and it also contained ‘Exhale (Shoop Shoop)’, her eleventh and final US number one hit.
8. She very nearly sang a duet with Michael Jackson. MJ originally wanted Whitney to sing Siedah Garrett’s lines on ‘I Just Can’t Stop Loving You’, and years later the legendary singers were scheduled to duet on Whitney’s hit ‘If I Told You That’.
In addition, songwriter Claude Kelly wrote ‘Hold My Hand’ with Akon, and both of them had Whitney in mind as a collaborator, but after finishing the track Akon decided to sing the song with Michael Jackson instead.
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