UB Celebrates 40th Anniversary of ‘Whitney Houston’
The First Female Artist To Earn Billboard’s #1 Album of the Year.
Whitney Houston was signed to Arista Records by Clive Davis in 1983.
20-year-old Whitney Houston made her first ever national television debut on “The Merv Griffin Show.” She sang her version of the song “Home” from the movie, “The Wiz.” Her voice and performance were so beautiful and refreshing.
That was the day the world witnessed a star in the making.
She was blessed to be born into a musical family, with her mother being Cissy Houston a gospel star and her cousin being singer Dionne Warwick. Whitney Houston was also the legendary Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin’s goddaughter.
At a young age, Whitney Houston was singing in her local church choir. By the time she turned 15 she was singing background vocals with her mother on Chaka Khan’s 1978 song, “I’m Every Woman.”
She later began working as a background vocalist for a New York funk band called Material. The purity and astonishing quality of her voice attracted the attention of major record labels.
Not only could Whitney sing, she was also a very beautiful woman, her smooth brown skin, skinny frame and gorgeous white smile caught the eye of several magazines. She began modeling for fashion magazines like Seventeen.
Teddy Pendergrass in the summer of 1984, released the single “Hold Me,” that featured a then unknown singer.
Whitney‘s appearance on that single prevented her from being eligible for a Grammy as Best New Artist in 1986 for her own debut album.
Whitney‘s debut self-titled album was released 40 Years ago today on February 14th, 1985.
The album yielded a string of hits out the gate: including “You Give Good Love” and three consecutive #1 singles, the first debut album by a solo female artist to do so. “Saving All My Love For You,” “How Will I Know,” and the song that become a veritable anthem, “The Greatest Love of All.”
Narada Michael Walden, Jeffrey Osborne, Kashif and Jermaine Jackson contributed to the release.
Other singles from the album such as “Thinking About You” became a top 10 hit on the Billboard Black Singles chart.
Not only did the album establish her as an important new recording artist, but it has went on to sell over 14 million copies in the U.S.. The album sets the record as the biggest selling debut album by a solo artist.
In 1986, the album dominated the charts at #1 for 14 non-consecutive weeks, and went on to make her the first female artist to earn Billboard’s #1 Album of the Year.
Whitney won the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female, for “Saving All My Love for You.”
To date, Whitney Houston‘s debut album has sold over 25,000,000 worldwide.
Take A Trip Down Memory Lane with The Debut of Whitney Houston!
