from "WHITNEY HOUSTON" by Carole Portland (published 1994)

Whitney Houston was born at 9th August 1963 in East Orange, NJ, in a talented family, she was inspired and encouraged by them to develop her natural ability as a singer, and her family also provided the security and support she needed to become an international star.

Whitney's mother, Emily Drinkard (nickname Cissy), was born in 1933 in Newark. As a youngster she started singing in family gospel group, the Drinkard Sisters, who recorded for RCA Records. Cissy performed with Dionne Warwick's first group, the Gospelaires, and formed the four-piece group the Sweet Inspirations(featuring Sylvia Shemwell of Bobby& Sylvia) In 1970s Cissy worked both as a session singer and as solo artist. She not only released three albums (Cissy Houston in 1977, Warning-Danger in 1979 and Step Aside For A Lady, EMI 1980) but also worked with such varied and celebrated singers as Elvis Presley and her close friend Aretha Franklin. Remarkably she was the first singer to record 'Midnight Train To Georgia', later a big hit for Gladys Knight.
John Houston was his wife's manager when Cissy was out on the road, and when their daughter, Whitney Elizabeth, was born, it was John who stayed at home to watch over her. "He was Mom's support network while she was out on tour." said Whitney, in tribute to her father. "He changed diapers, cooked, did my hair and dressed me, all the while providing Mom with advice and answers."
Together they lived in Newark, in the state of New Jersey, near New York. Although Cissy's work as a soul singer often caused her to be away from home, the family's strong religious convictions many that they were regularly seen in the congregation at New Hope Baptist Church, where Cissy was Minister of Music. In the natural progression of things, the church was to become the humble venue for Whitney Houston's first solo performance.

With so much music in her parent's lives, it was only a matter of time before Whitney realized that music was in her blood: "Being around people like Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick and Roberta Flack, all these greats, I was thought to listen and observe. It had a great impact on me as a singer, as a performer, as a musician. Growing around it, you just can't help it. I identified with it immediately. It was something that was so natural to me that when I started singing, it was almost like speaking."

The first time Whitney's solo voice was heard in public was, naturally, at the New Hope Baptist Church. At the age of about 11 she sang 'Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah', and the reaction she received taught her something she would never forget."I was aware of people staring at me. No one moved. They seemed almost in trance. I just stared at the clock in the center of the church. When I finished, everyone clapped and started crying."
When Whitney decided to become a professional singer like her mother, it was not just that the clamour of applause stimulated her so strongly - although that in itself was overwhelming - it was that a career as a vocalist was the only way she could imagine truly to repay God for the gift of music. "God gave me a voice to sing with," she said. "And when you have that, what other gimmick is there?"

Whitney's two older brothers, Michael and Gary, have both helped her in her career with business and music respectively. Michael became her production manager on tour, arranging everything from the lighting hire to the catering crew, while Gary joined her as a singer, performing duets and backing vocals with his sister on stage.
It is clear that Whitney and her family have always been close, and are able to rely on each other for support. That relationship has given Whitney Houston a famously unshakeable self-confidence, which is very much a part of her personality. And as famous as she is, Whitney always seems down to earth, because her simple family background and Christian faith remind her of her ordinary roots.

Throwing herself into her extra-curricular work, Whitney found a very promising career in modelling. She appeared in US magazines Cosmopolitan and Young Miss and on the covers of Glamor and Seventeen in 1981, describing herself later as "young, kind of innocent, but sexy". Whitney's modelling career began quite by chance. "My Mom and I were in New York and young man walked over to me and said that I should go to a modelling agency that was upstairs from where we were - that they were looking for someone like me and that I would be good. I was a little suspicious, but my Mom was with me and I said, 'What the heck, let's go see about this.'" Modeling led to offers of acting roles on television, such as the American family comedies Silver Spoons and Gimme A Break, but at the same time Whitney was in even greater demand as a singer.

When Arista Records president Clive Davis first spotted Whitney Houston on stage, he saw the gift of stardom in her eyes and signed her up almost on the spot, in 1983. Davis had founded Arista Records in 1975 and launched the careers of many singers and songwriters from Billy Joel to Barry Manilow. He made Whitney his own personal responsibility, and famously added a clause to her contract to ensure that is he ever moved on from Arista, Whitney would be coming with him. "He is the only head of a record company who is really involved in and knows about music," said Whitney. Conscious of the dizzying effects of the music business lifestyle on an impressionable young woman, Davis made every effort to protect Whitney from the harsher side of the industry while nourishing her promising talent. By pairing the beautiful voice with the classiest and best songs and musicians, Davis knew that he would get a winning combination. Using the best minds in the business, he began laying the foundations for Whitney's career. But her fame did not arrive overnight.

Contary to the opinions of Whitney's critics, the relationship worked best because Clive and Whitney both had the same goals and shared the same beliefs about entertainment. Whitney told Rolling Stone in 1993: "I don't like it when they [media critics] see me as this little person who doesn't know what to do with herself - like I have have no idea what I want, like I'm just a puppet and Clive's got the strings. That's bullshit. That's demeaning to me, because that ain't how it is, and it never was. And never will be."
Most of all, the reason that the partnership worked so well was that Clive Davis truly believed in Whitney's talent. Soon after they began working together, they appeared on The Merv Griffin Show in US television and Davis explained succinctly why he thought Whitney Houston would become a star: "You either got it or you don't", he said. "She's got it."

Whitney Houston was paired with well-established soul crooners like Teddy Pendergrass and Jermaine Jackson, who both releasted records featuring vocals by Whitney in 1984 - songs that appeared on her own debut album a year later. Houston and Jackson even made a cameo appearance on American soap As The World Turns mugging for the camera and smiling the slushy 'Take Good Care Of My Heart'.
Meanwhile, as Whitney worked ceaselessly, Clive Davis cast his net far and wide to find the best songs for her to sing, and some of the pop world's most prestigious songwriters - Michael Masser, Peter McCann, Linda Creed and Gerry Goffin - supplied the songs that would form Whitney's first collection.

Clive Davis did not stop his pursuit of excellence with the choice of songs for Whitney's first album, which was to be called, simply Whitney Houston. It was vital that the finished recordings had the class and quality befitting soul's newest queen. So far the album's producers Davis enlisted writer Michael Masser, George Benson's producer Kashif, and consummate all-rounded Narada Michael Walden.
"Clive Davis wasn't taking any risks", said Rolling Stone in their review of Whitney Houston. "The president of Arista invested two years and $250000 into the making of her debut album...those pipes and those looks are not to be denied...with the right songs and settings, she could be an earth-shattering performer."