“If I should stay, I would only be in your way, so I’ll go, but I know I’ll think of you every step of the way. And I will always love you, I will always love you, you, my darling you. Bittersweet memories, that is all I’m taking with me, so goodbye, please don’t cry. We both know I’m not what you, you need.”
These are just a few of the words from the song, “I will always love you,” written and performed by Dolly Parton years ago. Years later, Whitney Houston sang it with so much intensity and greatly impacted her fans.
Whitney Houston was born on August 9, 1963 in Newark, New Jersey. Whitney’s mother and cousins inspired her to sing. Whitney confirmed in an interview that her mother said she was born to sing. When she was a teenager, she sang at her Baptist church in Newark and performed at night clubs.
One day, Clive Davis from Arista Records went to a New York nightclub where Whitney was performing. He stated that when he heard her voice, it gave him chills in his body. He thought that her singing was splendid and that same night he signed her on the spot. It took two years for her to accomplish her debut album, thus in March 1985; the debut album came out as self-titled, Whitney Houston. The album went on to sell over 12 million copies in the U.S. and millions more in other countries; Whitney Houston set the record as the biggest selling debut album by a solo artist.
Houston was also the first female to chart seven constant number one Billboard Hot 100 hits. It made her the first female artist to enter the Billboard 200 album chart at number one with her second album from 1987, as well as the only artist with seven consecutive multi-platinum albums which included Whitney Houston, Whitney, I’m Your Baby Tonight, Waiting To Exhale,The Bodyguard, My Love Is Your Love and The Preacher’s Wife.
One of these soundtracks: “I will always love you” was her soundtrack for the film The Bodyguard in which she co-starred with Oscar-winning actor/director Kevin Costner in 1992. The soundtrack became the biggest selling motion picture soundtrack album of all time. Overall the movie broke box office records and became the Grammy-winning Album of the year. Ever since then, The Bodyguard soundtrack album, has sold more than 42 million copies worldwide. This success led Houston to become the Best Female Pop Vocal of the year.
The Bodyguard was not the only film Houston acted in. She also starred in The Preachers Wife (1996) and Cinderella (1997). Cinderella became the highest rated TV-musical in over a decade with more than 60 million viewers on its Sunday night ABC network release. The movie had seven Emmy nominations and the home video version became the best-selling video ever.
Throughout her career she continued to receive more admiration and awards such as the Nickelodeon “Kids’ Choice” award and was established into the “Kids Choice” Hall Of Fame in 1996. She was also inducted into the BET Walk of Fame in 1996. In addition she received the Gospel Music Association Award and Blockbuster Entertainment Award. She went on to receive Soul Train’s prestigious Quincy Jones Career Achievement Award in 1998.
In February 2000 at the 42nd annual Grammy Awards, Whitney received her sixth Grammy award. She was also voted Best Female R&B Vocal. A month later, she was named Female Artist of the Decade at the “Soul Train.”
She accomplished very much throughout her music career, but what she accomplished the most was gaining many fans who are still admiring her after her death.
“As a little girl growing up in Jamaica, I would post pictures of you from your modeling days on my bedroom wall…I’ve never been to a concert but I’ve bought every movie you were in and every tape & cd you’ve made…I watched every award show you were on…You were a gift straight from God…You had a voice that God blessed you with…Not a voice that was cultivated in a studio like many others…The industry is like poison sometimes, it took you away to a dark place…Whitney, we will forever miss you on earth but you are resting now…‘You Are Loved’ and there is a whole world of family, friends and fans that are saying ‘I Will Always Love You’ You were a Legend…an Angel here on earth…My deepest condolences goes out to your baby girl Bobbi Kristina and the rest of the family…Rest In Paradise. Whitney Elizabeth Houston…”-written by a fan.
On February 18, 2012, the day before her burial at Westfield’s Fairview Cemetery, fans, celebrities and family members were at the Baptist Church in Newark where Whitney had begun her journey as an artist. They said their last goodbyes to a legend and icon that will always be remembered.