Whitney Elizabeth Houston (born August 9, 1963, Newark, New Jersey) is an American singer and actress. She was one of the most popular and successful singers of the 1980s and 1990s.

Houston is a singer who grew up in a musical family: Her mother is Grammy award winning gospel Cissy Houston, and her cousin is Grammy Award winning pop singer Dionne Warwick. By age 11, Houston was performing as a soloist in the junior gospel choir at the New Hope Baptist church in Newark. As a teenager, she began accompanying her mother in concert.

By 1983, Whitney Houston had entered a worldwide contract with Arista Records after Arista chief Clive Davis heard Houston perform at a nightclub with her mother. The following year had her first commercial success when "Hold Me", a duet with Teddy Pendergrass, crept into the US Top 50.

Whitney's debut film, The Bodyguard, was released four months after she married R&B singer Bobby Brown on July 18th, 1992. Starring alongside Kevin Costner, the film was hugely successful, grossing over $120 million in the U.S. and $410 million worldwide. The soundtrack to the film was also a mega success, as it sold over 37 million copies worldwide (with over 17 million copies being sold in the U.S. alone) and became the biggest selling soundtrack and female album of all-time.

In 1989, Whitney formed The Whitney Houston Foundation For Children, Inc., a non-profit organization, whose work assists with a variety of children's issues; homeless children, children with cancer and AIDS, as well as self-empowerment of today's youth. In June of 1995, the foundation was awarded a VH-1 Honor for it's charitable work. Houston has also given her time and energy to numerous other benefits and worthwhile causes.

In 2002, Houston admitted in a television interview to abusing cocaine, marijuana, and various other drugs. She claimed to have stopped using illegal drugs, but was seemingly making this admission to address the rumours circulating about her lifestyle. During said interview, Houston's comment about having never used crack cocaine because it was 'for poor people,' caused a new uproar. In March of 2004, Houston entered a drug rehab program in California.