Whitney Houston

When it comes to powerful female musicians, a name that comes to everyone’s mind would be Whitney Houston. Houston was born on August 9, 1963, in Newark, New Jersey to an already musical family, with her mother, Cissy Houston, being the lead choir minister in their local church, and her cousin, Dee Dee Warwick, being a prominent figure in American gospel and soul. Houston got her first start singing around the city. At just 15, Houston was discovered by a photographer and pursued in modeling. As she modeled and became the first Black woman on Seventeen magazine, she continued her music and, at 19, signed to Arista Records. After years of experimenting with her music, Houston maneuvered through pop, soul, and gospel before becoming a pop sensation and landing her songs on the charts. She was also an actor and starred in hit films like “The Bodyguard” and “The Preacher’s Wife”. Even after dealing with domestic violence, substance abuse, and emotional abuse from her husband, R&B singer Bobby Brown, Houston was awarded three Grammys, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year while working on one of her most prominent movies, “Waiting to Exhale”. As Houston’s career continued, her private life became more public and her marriage and drug abuse issues almost destroyed her career. Nevertheless, her death on February 11, 2012 in Beverly Hills, California shook the world and hurt her eager fans. Since then, she has been honored into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside many greats like Tupac Shakur and Bob Marley, and has had countless tributes.