Whitney Houston Sings Her Way To Stardom With Hit Album, Road Tour

This is the year of Whitney Houston. The gifted, young songstress who turned 22 on August 9, is chasing stardom in a big way with her smash, self-titled debut album and two hit singles, You Give Good Love and Saving All My Love For You.

Her Arista album, released earlier this year, quickly went gold and is fast approaching platinum status. You Give Good Love leaped to the No. 1 spot on Jet singles chart and No. 3 on pop charts. The popular uptempo ballad was one of the top 5 most-played tunes on contemporary hit radio (Top 40), adult contemporary and Black urban radio stations across the nation. Her latest single Saving All My Love For You is already a sizzling hot seller and is racing up all record charts.

And there's more. She teamed up with Jermaine Jackson in a duet for the soundtrack of the summer movie Perfect, which stars John Travolta and Jamie Lee Curtis. To top it all, the sultry lady of song who is also a noted fashion model, is on a whirlwind tour with balladeer Jeffrey Osborne which is taking the nation by storm. She has a few concert dates lined up with Luther Vandross which began this month. Yes, this is indeed the year of Whitney Houston.

"It's very exciting," she told Jet. "I'm having a lot of fun and enjoying it." With her unprecedented rise to stardom, the songstress is also carrying on a family tradition, a tradition rich in talent, class and soul. She grew up in East Orange, N.J., the daughter of gospel and soul singer Cissy Houston who performed backup with nearly everyone from Elvis Presley to Aretha Franklin. Dionne Warwick is her first cousin. Her aunts and uncles sang in the famed Drinkard Singers gospel ensemble.

She started singing backup with her mother at age 12 and became a fashion model at 17 with the noted Wilhelmina agency. She lists her mother, cousins Dionne Warwick and Dionne's sister Dee Dee, and family friend Aretha Franklin as her greatest inspirations.

"My mom taught me everything that I know today about this business, about singing, studio work and things like that." At age 15, she started singing in her mother's nightclub act. "I had a song to do and then as I got a little older, she gave me two songs to do and I went on from there," she fondly recalls.

She reveals that she learned about class and elegance from watching Dionne perform on stage. She notes, "Dionne also gives me great advice. Dee Dee does also. They're all just basically there in case I need them, I know I can ask them anything."

Whitney affectionately calls Aretha Franklin her "Aunt Ree." "I remember times when my mother was working with Aretha in the studio. I would go and just watch Aretha work. And being that her and Mom were good friends, I got to see her very often and she just became my 'Aunt Ree.'"

But despite her impressive musical lineage the alluring songstress has emerged as a major talent in her own right. She says she has never felt any pressure from a family of musical achievers. "I paid no attention to that kind of pressure because if I were to try to live up to my mother and Dionne, I mean, I would be trying to do that for the rest of my life because they are just great ladies in this business. That's just nothing to try to conquer. I do the best that I can and that's basically it."

Her unique talent and artistry have baffled critics who try to categorize her. "I don't like to categorize the kind of music that I sing," she maintains. "As far as the industry, I'm pop, R&B. I would just like to think that it is good music, that people like to listen to an that everybody can understand."