Childhood

Whitney was born in Newark, New Jersey back in 1963 and it looked like she was destined to become a star. Her mother Cissy Houston, cousin Dionne Warwick and godmother Aretha Franklin were all legendary figures in American gospel, soul and pop music. That was a big influence on top of her head, most of all because of her mother. Cissy was choir minister at New Hope Baptist Church and Whitney used to perform in front of the audience letting them speechless. 

Whitney used to perform with her mother when she was 15 just trying to get a record deal of her own. Around the same time, she was discovered by a photographer who was awed by her natural beauty. She soon became an extremely sought-after teen model, one of the first African-American women to appear on the cover of Seventeen magazine. But music remained her true love.

When she was 19 used to perform in a nightclub where she was discovered by the renowned Clive Davis of Arista Records, who signed her immediately and took the helm of her career as she navigated from gospel to pop stardom. She and Davis spent the next two years working on her debut album, finding the best producers and songwriters available to showcase her amazing vocal talent.