Whitney Houston is known to be one the greatest, most powerful singers of all time. The Guiness Book of World Records recognizes her as one of the most awarded female artists of all time. Not only is she an amazing powerhouse singer, but she is also an actress who has starred in and produced different movies. However, like many singers and movie stars, Whitney Houston’s life ended tragically and suddenly.
Whitney Houston was born on August 9, 1963 in Newark, New Jersey to her parents Cissy and John Russell Houston. Some people said that she was destined to be a singer. Her mother was a backup singer for Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin and was also a two time Grammy Award winning artist. Her cousin, Dionne Warwick, is an American singer,
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a television show host, and an actress and her godmother was Aretha Franklin who is also known as, “The Queen of Soul”. With such huge musical influences in her life, it wasn’t surprising that she was blowing people away with her outstanding vocal talents at a young age. Due to such prominent gospel singers to look up to, it doesn’t come as a shock that Whitney first started singing in a church choir.
However, by the age of 15 she was trying to land a record deal by frequently performing with her mother. Although music was her true passion, she actually became a teenage model and was the first African-American women to be featured on the cover of Seventeen magazine. A few years later, she was recognized by American Record Producer, Clive Davis. He immediately signed her and steered her from gospel to pop glory. Houston made her first big debut when she performed “Home” from the musical The Wiz on the Merv Griffin show. Over the next couple years, she and Davis worked with some of the best songwriters and producers to create her first debut album to flaunt her outstanding vocal …show more content…
abilities. In 1985, she finally released her first album Whitney Houston and rapidly became a pop sensation. Over the course of one year, her hit songs “Saving All My Love for You” and “How I Will Know You” shot her album up to the chart topping spot, where it remained for 14 weeks. The next couple years brought Houston great success. She went on a prosperous world tour, released another rewarding album, won two Grammys for her singles, and performed for Nelson Mandela’s birthday. Following the birthday concert for Nelson Mandela, Whitney started her first charity organization called Whitney Houston Foundation for Children.
This organization tended to the homeless and children with cancer and AIDS. Her association with the United Negro College Fund brought her many awards for her charity work that she was involved in. After her rendition of the Star Spangled Banner reached the Top 100 she donated all her benefits to the Red Cross. Also in 1977, the HBO Concert “Classic Whitney live from Washington, D.C.” raised a whopping $300,000 for the Children’s Defense Fund. Later in 2011, she collaborated with her sister-in-law to release a line of scented candles for another charity. Something that people will forever remember about Whitney Houston is her major involvement in various
charities. By 1992, Whitney Houston had it all, except for a significant other. That same year, she married Bobby Brown and also struggled with substance abuse. There were rumors around for years that her husband, Bobby Brown was the one who had started Whitney on drugs. However, when her brother appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show, the story was different. He admitted he felt responsible for her drug addiction. Michael (brother) said that Whitney tended to follow is his footsteps. He taught her how to drive, they always played together, and were practically inseparable. So when Michael got started on drugs, Whitney was right behind him doing the exact same thing. He made the statement that she was in her 20’s, famous, rich, thriving, and travelling around the world when they started on drugs. This all occurred long before her marriage to Bobby Brown. Browns and Houston’s substance abuse led to a troubled future. As their addictions grew, their unstable behavior increasingly got worse which then forced Houston to speak up about the emotional abuse and domestic violence she was experiencing in her marriage. Despite the personal struggles she was facing, Whitney still carried on with her growing career. In 1992, she turned to acting. One of her most well known movies, The Bodyguard starring Kevin Costner, became surprisingly popular. Whilst in midst of filming in different films, Houston seemed to be setting a trend. Whenever she was in a movie, she also released a hit single that constituted record sales for the soundtracks. For example, in the movie The Bodyguard, she recorded a cover of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” that sat at the top of the charts for over 14 weeks. That soundtrack is one of Houston’s most famous and well known songs she’s ever recorded and also went on to win multiple Grammys, Album of the Year, and Record of the Year. In the late 90’s Whitney starred in a couple more movies which both had hit soundtracks. Unfortunately, throughout all of this success she still couldn’t get away from the rocky marriage. Her drug problems, marriage problems, and health problems all threatened to end her lustrous career. In 2004, Houston’s reputation crumbled. Bobby Brown started filming a reality show in which bad behavior and other things were caught on camera. She tried to ignore all the fuss and focus solely on her music. Her plan didn’t work out too well because her new album that was released did not come close to the amount of success she had in previous years. A few years down the road, Whitney attempted to repair her marriage, and get rid of her drug habit. After several times relapsing, her mother stepped in and told her to give it up because it’s not worth it. She then made a wise decision to take a break and gain control of her life again. She divorced her husband and won sole custody of their daughter. After years of struggle, she finally seemed to be pulling it together. In 2009, she released another album called I Look to You. She told Entertainment tonight, “The songs themselves will speak to you and you’ll understand where I am and some of the changed I’ve gone through for the better”. Her album made it to the top of the charts. Despite some complaints about her voice quality, Whitney seemed to be regaining herself. By the time she started finding herself again, more trouble arose. Rumors had it that she was facing financial trouble, although she denied those claims. She was working on a new movie with Jordin Sparks called Sparkle. Then, everything took a turn for the worst. Whitney Houston was found dead in a pool on February 11, 2012. After autopsy results were released, the official cause of death was accidental drowning. However, there was cocaine and other components found in her system. This was a tremendous loss for the music industry. Although Whitney faced many difficulties throughout her life, she was still undeniably and unbelievably talented. Her songs and her story will forever live in history.
Ella was born in Newport News, Virginia on April 25, 1917. When alled “The First Lady of Song” by some fans. She was known for having beautiful tone, extended range, and great intonation, and famous for her improvisational scat singing. Ella sang during the her most famous song was “A-tiscket A-tasket”. Fitzgerald sang in the period of swing, ballads, and bebop; she made some great albums with other great jazz artists such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Louis Armstrong. She influenced countless American popular singers of the post-swing period and also international performers such as the singer Miriam Makeba. She didn’t really write any of her own songs. Instead she sang songs by other people in a new and great way. The main exception
With nearly 60 years in the music industry, Tina Turner is one of the most prolific RnB singers of all time. For two decades, she released hit after hit with ex-husband Ike, then transitioned into an extremely successful solo career. On her own, she released nine studio albums, five of which went multi-platinum. To date, she has sold more than 200 million albums worldwide and remains the Guinness World Record holder for most concert tickets ever sold.
She is also known to the world as the “Queen of Soul”. She went on tour with her father’s traveling revival and later released her very first recording under the album, Spirituals, when she was 14 years old. Similar to Bessie Smith, Aretha Franklin was signed by Columbia Records. There she released several classics such as, I’ll Keep on Smiling and I Still Can’t Forget. Years later (1966) she signed to Atlantic Records where she recorded I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You) and Respect which both sold millions. From the start of her career in 1961 she has had forty three top single and maybe more to come. Having won over eighteen Grammy awards in her career. In 1987, Ms. Franklin was the very first female artist to be inducted the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Grammys awarded her the Legend Award in 1991. In 1994 she was awarded the Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award and also received the Kennedy Center Honors. She has been nominated for nine American Music Award winning four out of her nine nominations. Aretha has performed at both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama presidential inaugurations. She has also been awarded different honorary degrees in music. There is no one who could manipulate the same sound that Aretha Franklin had into this new day
...ng to this day, she is one of few who could compete with the men of hip-hop, but she never pretended to be anything but a woman. She not only sang about female empowerment, but she wrote about being a woman from the insecurities that we as women sometimes feel to the nirvana of being in love. Sensuality and femininity were always as important to her which was her strength, and message to get out to women especially those of color.
In 1994, at the age of 15, Aaliyah catapulted onto the R&B charts herself with her debut album, Age Ain't Nothing But a Number. Produced by the successful singer R. Kelly, the album quickly sold a million copies and eventually earned platinum status based largely on the success of two hit singles, "Back and Forth" and "At Your Best (You Are Love)." Later that year, tabloid reports surfaced claiming that the sultry teen singer had married the 27-year-old Kelly, but Aaliyah denied the union and the marriage was reportedly annulled.
Singer/actress Lena Horne's primary occupation was nightclub entertaining, a profession she pursued successfully around the world for more than 60 years, from the 1930s to the 1990s. In conjunction with her club work, she also maintained a recording career that stretched from 1936 to 2000 and brought her three Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1989; she appeared in 16 feature films and several shorts between 1938 and 1978; she performed occasionally on Broadway, including in her own Tony-winning one-woman show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music in 1981-1982; and she sang and acted on radio and television. Adding to the challenge of maintaining such a career was her position as an African-American facing discrimination personally and in her profession during a period of enormous social change in the U.S. Her first job in the 1930s was at the Cotton Club, where blacks could perform, but not be admitted as customers; by 1969, when she acted in the film Death of a Gunfighter, her character's marriage to a white man went unremarked in the script. Horne herself was a pivotal figure in the changing attitudes about race in the 20th century; her middle-class upbringing and musical training predisposed her to the popular music of her day, rather than the blues and jazz genres more commonly associated with African-Americans, and her photogenic looks were sufficiently close to Caucasian that frequently she was encouraged to try to "pass" for white, something she consistently refused to do. But her position in the middle of a social struggle enabled her to become a leader in that struggle, speaking out in favor of racial integration and raising money for civil rights causes. By the end of the century, she could look back at a life that was never short on conflict, but that could be seen ultimately as a triumph.
...ieved much in her short life, including having won a Grammy. Although her life was cut short at the age thirty nine, that did not stop her legacy. She helped to pave a path for all African Americans in the future. For example, Diana Ross; she grew up in the housing projects and found her voice also in church. She eventually got signed to a record deal and was at one point declared the most successful female singer of all time. Being a big hit also brought in much money for Washington. Some of this money helped to financially support Martin Luther King Jr. in his fight for Civil Rights for all African Americans. Therefore, since Dinah Washington overcame the prejudice and became a huge success, she showed all that whatever a white could do, an African American could also do. She showed that no matter what race, with hard work and dedication, anything is possible.
After her divorce she began singing with Noble Sissie’s Society Orchestra. Through out their tour she had to endure harsh racism having to sleep in tenement boarding houses, the bus and even once in circus grounds. Soon after that, she toured with Charlie Barnet’s Outfit and became the first African American to tour with an all white band. She was their feature singer and considers this to be the beginning of her success.
Known as the “Empress Of Blues”, Bessie Smith was said to have revolutionized the vocal end of Blues Music. She showed a lot of pride as an independent African-American woman. Her style in performance and lyrics often reflected her lifestyle. Bessie Smith was one of the first female jazz artists, and she paved the way for many musicians who followed.
Aretha Franklin is a well known pop, R&B, and gospel singer. She has been nicknamed “The Queen of Soul” and is an internationally known artist and a symbol of pride in the African American community. Her popularity soared in 1967 when she released an album containing songs “I Never Loved a Man”, “Respect”, and “Baby I Love You.” Throughout her career she has achieved fifteen Grammy Awards, Lifetime Achievement Award, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Legend Awards, and many Grammy Hall of Fame Awards. In 1987 she became the first woman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Time magazine chose her as one of the most influential artists and entertainers of the 20th century. She sang at Dr. Martin Luther King’s funeral and at former President Bill Clinton’s inaugural party. Although she has all these accomplishments and awards there are other reasons that have driven Franklin to fame and landed her on the front cover of Time magazine on June 28, 1968. The reasons I believe allowed Aretha Franklin to become so successful are the following: Her family’s involvement with religion, the inspiring people that surrounded her, and the pain she suffered.
and impact on society. What is most amazing is how far her reach extends beyond hip-hop and
Whitney Houston is considered one of the greatest singers of our generation. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, she holds the record of being the most rewarded female artist of all time. I chose her as my topic, because she represents resiliency and tenacity, despite her troubled experiences with drugs and her personal life. Whitney Houston comes from a family with an amazing, musical pedigree; her mother, Cissy Houston, was a successful back-up singer for Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley. Dionne Warwick is her first cousin, and Aretha Franklin is her godmother.
Aretha Louise Franklin also known as the Queen of Soul was born on March 25, 1942 in Memphis Tennessee. She is known for being a solo singer, and also a very talented pianist. Soul, R&B, Jazz, and Gospel are genres that she sings. Throughout her career she signed with Colombia Records, along with some others, and has released many popular singles that would now be considered classical. Aretha was the first female artist to be introduced into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame. She also had to grow up sooner than many other girls because she had her first child at a very young age. Up until this day Aretha is still alive living at age seventy-two and has won many Grammy awards and is considered one of the most honored artist.
Rihanna, from her very first music videos has compelled public eyes as an effigy, an icon and a statement of music lifestyle. Her independent outlook, badass attitude mixed with a Caribbean accent has undoubtedly confined not only music but the whole popular culture of our time. Diamonds, We Found Love, Bitch Better Have My Money and S&M are some of the top songs by this epic singer. Songs that today rule bars, dance clubs, parties and of course her numerous fans.
Female pop artist in the music market today exhibit a wide range of ability, talent, and physical beauty. It is also safe to say that most of them have a large fan following. The vocal ability of some of these female artists vary; some artists have an extensive vocal range while some keep in minimal. All in all, the most widely known female artists in the popular music remain famous and successful by utilizing their talent to navigate specific spaces and platforms while engaging their fan base. This in turn allows for the female artist to market, brand themselves to maintain celebrity status. A well-known woman in today’s music charts is the young and multi- talented Ariana Grande. Ariana Grande is an excellent example of an accomplished,