The Anoka Siren

By Tayler Bengtson

With an unforgettable voice and even more unforgettable story Whitney Houston will be greatly missed. On Saturday, February 11th, Whitney Houston was found dead in her hotel room at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The cause of her death is unknown, but some people suspect drugs are related to this star’s early death. The annual Grammy’s award show scrambled to create a tribute to the artist to symbolize the impact she had on the industry.

Over the past twenty years Houston has set the bar high for success in both the music and acting business. Overall her album sales have sold over 42.7 million albums, singles and digital tracks in her career which are expected to increase over the next few months.

Houston’s music career started in 1985 when she was signed to Arista Records in 1983 by Clive Davis. Her first big success was when she released her album Whitney that sold nine million albums that included the songs; I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me), So Emotional and Didn’t We Almost Have It All. She also became one of the first African-Americans to be featured in Seventeen magazine.

Houston then shifted to a whole other career by entering the acting field where she landed the starring role alongside Kevin Costner in the blockbuster, The Bodyguard. Houston played a new upcoming artist who ran into trouble when a stalker arose towards the singer and Costner played her bodyguard; eventually the two became closer than just acquaintances. The flick was a hit bringing in $121 million and one of Houston’s most common songs, I Will Always Love You, a cover song that was on the soundtrack that was originally sung by Dolly Parton. The tune was #1 on the Hollywood Hot 100 list for fourteen weeks in a row selling 17 million copies, and winning three Grammy’s.

One of the most shocking moves Houston made in 1992 was her marriage to New Edition singer Bobby Brown. From that point on Houston was in the media not for her talent, but her crazy antics. On January 11th 2000, Houston and Brown were found with marijuana hidden in their luggage in a Hawaiian airport. The couple then divorced in 2006, ending Houston’s fourteen year marriage to Brown. In 2009, she would eventually admit to repeatedly using marijuana and cocaine, claiming her actions were because of the abuse she received from her ex-husband.

Whether it being singing the Star Spangled Banner at a football game or hitting every note in the song I Will Always Love You, Whitney Houston will always have a place in our hearts where we can remember and appreciate her talent.

Source: usatoday.com