Alexis Fretwell Broadcasting Hour 1 21 March 2016
Whitney Houston
In 1963, on August 9th, legendary Whitney Elizabeth Houston was born in Newark, NJ. “She was born into a musical family.” (IMDb). She was raised baptist. When she was 11 she joined her church's junior gospel choir as a performing soloist. She grew up performing on tours at nightclubs with her mom, Cissy Houston, during her teenage years. By the time she was 14, she was a background singer for Michael Zager Band’s single, “Life’s a party”. She also took on modeling at a young age. She appeared on Seventeen, and was one of the first women of color to be on the cover of the magazine. While modeling, she also still continued her recording career by working with several different …show more content…
After much fame, she was a spokesperson for a youth group leadership conference in 1990, where she had a private conference with President George H. W. Bush in the oval office to discuss challenges. During, the Persian Gulf War, she performed “The Star Spangled Banner” at Super Bowl XXV at the Tampa Stadium on January 27, 1991. “Later, the performance was considered to have been lipsynched which was later denied saying it was common protocol to have the microphone off to protect the noise factor.” (Smith). She then donated all of her share earned from singing The National Anthem to American Red Cross Gulf Crisis Fund. “She was then named to the Red Cross Board of Governors.” (Wikipedia). Throughout the 1980’s, Whitney Houston was involved with football star Randy Cunningham and was later involved with actor Eddie Murphy. In 1989, she met Bobby Brown at Soul Train Music Awards. After three years of dating, they got married on July 18, 1992. Their daughter, Bobbi Kristina, was born on March 4, …show more content…
That same day, she performed her last show. She went on stage with Kelly Price and sang “Jesus Loves Me”. On February 11, a few days later, she was found unconscious in suite 434 at the Beverly Hills Hotel. She was found in the bathtub. The paramedics were called at 3:30 PM and they found her unresponsive, so they attempted CPR. By 3:55 PM she was pronounced dead at the scene. “The cause of her death was drowning with the effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use.” (IMDb). There was also several other drugs in her system but the manner of death was listed as an “accident”. Her funeral was held on February 18, 2012 and was invite only. It was at New Baptist Hope Church in Newark, New Jersey. The service was only scheduled to last two hours even though it lasted four. Stevie Wonder, CeCe Winans, Alicia Keys, Kim Burrell, and R. Kelly all performed at her funeral. Her ex-husband, Bobby Brown, was invited to the ceremony but left before it had started. She was buried Sunday, February 19, 2012, in Fairview Cemetery in Westfield, New Jersey next to her father who died in 2003. It was announced in March 2016 that Nick Broomfield, is making a documentary on what caused Whitney’s success and