Whitney Elizabeth Houston (born August 9, 1963) is an American (United States) singer, actress, and former fashion model. A relative to several prominent soul singers, including her mother Cissy Houston, cousins Dee Dee (Dee Dee Warwick) and Dionne Warwick, and godmother Aretha Franklin, Houston began singing at her New Jersey church as a member of a junior gospel choir at age eleven. After she began performing alongside her mother at night clubs in the New York City area, she was discovered by Arista Records label head Clive Davis. Houston released her debut album Whitney Houston (Whitney Houston (album)) in 1985, which became the best-selling debut album by a female artist at the time of release. Her second studio album Whitney (Whitney (album)) (1987) became the first album by a female artist to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 (Billboard 200) albums chart. Houstons crossover appeal on the popular music charts as well as her prominence on MTV enabled several African-American women to follow in her success.

Following her marriage to fellow singer Bobby Brown, Houston appeared in her first starring role in the feature film The Bodyguard in 1992. The films original soundtrack (The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album) won the 1994 Grammy Award for Album of the Year, and became the worlds best-selling (List of best-selling albums worldwide) soundtrack. Its lead single, "I Will Always Love You", became one of the best-selling singles (List of best-selling singles worldwide) in music history. Houston continued to star in feature films and contributed to soundtracks including Waiting to Exhale (1995) and The Preachers Wife (1996). After the release of her fourth studio album My Love Is Your Love (1998), she renewed her recording contract with Arista Records in 2001 for a historic $100 million. She subsequently released her fifth studio album, Just Whitney the following year with One Wish: The Holiday Album being released in 2003. Amidst widespread media coverage of personal and professional turmoil, Houstons marriage to Brown ended in 2006.

Houston is one of the worlds best-selling music artists (List of best-selling music artists), having sold over 170 million records, worldwide. She is ranked as the fourth best-selling (List of best-selling music artists in the United States) female artist in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America, with 54.5 million certified (RIAA certification) albums. She has been listed by Rolling Stone magazine as one of The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.