Whitney Houston

The voice by which modern pop singing is still measured, and one of the best-selling recording artists of all time. Born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1963 into gospel and soul royalty — the daughter of Cissy Houston, the cousin of Dionne Warwick, the goddaughter of Aretha Franklin — Whitney Houston sang in church as a child and was signed by Clive Davis before she was twenty. Her debut, Whitney Houston (1985), and its follow-up Whitney (1987) sent an unbroken run of singles to No. 1 and made her a global star, her range and control so complete she came to be known simply as "The Voice."

Her 1992 recording of The Bodyguard soundtrack, built around "I Will Always Love You," produced the best-selling single by a female artist in history and one of the best-selling albums ever made. Later work including My Love Is Your Love (1998) and roles in Waiting to Exhale and The Preacher's Wife extended her reach across music and film. She died on February 11, 2012, at 48, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020. She sold more than 200 million records and remains, by voice alone, one of the most influential singers who ever lived.