Welcome to our collection of quotes by Whitney Houston. We hope you enjoy pondering them and please share widely.
Wikipedia Summary for Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. She is one of the most-awarded and best-selling recording artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Known for her powerful and soulful vocals, Houston has influenced many singers in popular music. She is the only artist to have had seven consecutive number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, from "Saving All My Love for You" in 1985 to "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" in 1988.
Houston began singing in church as a child and became a background vocalist while in high school. She was one of the first black women to appear on the cover of Seventeen after becoming a teen model in 1981. With the guidance of Arista Records chairman Clive Davis, Houston signed to the label at age 19. Her first two studio albums, Whitney Houston (1985) and Whitney (1987), both peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 and are among the best-selling albums of all time. She became the first female artist to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 with her second studio album. Houston's third studio album, I'm Your Baby Tonight (1990), was certified quintuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album yielded two Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles: "I'm Your Baby Tonight" and "All the Man That I Need".
Houston made her acting debut with the romantic thriller film The Bodyguard (1992). She recorded six songs for the film's soundtrack album, including "I Will Always Love You" which won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and became the best-selling physical single by a female in music history, with sales of over 20 million copies worldwide. The soundtrack for The Bodyguard won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and remains the best-selling soundtrack album of all time, with global sales of over 45 million copies. Houston starred and recorded soundtracks for two other high-profile films, Waiting to Exhale (1995) and The Preacher's Wife (1996). Soundtrack of The Preacher's Wife became the best-selling gospel album of all time and scored hit singles with "I Believe In You And Me" and "Step by Step". Houston is credited as the music producer of the album. As a film producer, she produced multicultural movies including Cinderella (1997) and series including The Princess Diaries and The Cheetah Girls.
Houston's first studio album in eight years, My Love Is Your Love (1998), sold millions and spawned several hit singles, including "Heartbreak Hotel", "It's Not Right but It's Okay" and "My Love Is Your Love". Following the success, she renewed her contract with Arista for $100 million – one of the biggest recording deals of all time. However, her personal problems began overshadowing her career and the 2002 studio album, Just Whitney, received mixed reviews. Her drug use and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown received widespread media coverage. After a six-year break from recording, Houston returned to the top of the Billboard 200 chart with her final studio album, I Look to You (2009). On February 11, 2012, Houston accidentally drowned in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, with heart disease and cocaine use as contributing factors. News of her death coincided with the 2012 Grammy Awards and was covered internationally.
Houston was certified as the best-selling female R&B artist of the 20th century by the RIAA. She also sold more physical singles than any other female solo artist in history. Houston released seven studio albums and two soundtrack albums, all of which have been certified diamond, multi-platinum, platinum, or gold. She was inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in 2014 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020. Her accolades include two Emmy Awards, eight Grammy Awards (including Record and Album of the year wins), 14 World Music Awards, 16 Billboard Music Awards and 22 American Music Awards. In 1997, the Franklin School in East Orange, New Jersey was renamed to The Whitney E. Houston Academy School of Creative and Performing Arts. Houston was named as one of the 100 greatest singers of all time by Rolling Stone. She was also ranked by VH1 among the "Top 100 Greatest Artists of All Time" and the "200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons of All Time". Houston's entrance into the music industry is considered one of the "25 musical milestones of the last 25 years", according to the USA Today in 2007.
Crack is cheap. I make too much money to ever smoke crack. Let's get that straight. OK? We don't do crack. We don't do that. Crack is whack.
I have a mother that's very strong and family that surround me and constantly tell me they love me.
My mother sang with me in her stomach; I sang with Bobbi Kris in my stomach. I believe the child starts to develop within, and whatever you read, whatever you think, whatever you do affects the child.
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.
I feel so blessed to just have done what I had done. To be able to just use what God has given me is a blessing. You know, never mind the Grammys, never mind the records, never mind all of that. Just to be able to sing.
When you're feeling full of doubt and fear has got you in a bind, love will save the day.
I wish to you, joy and happiness. But above all this, I wish you love.
I would stay in my room for days, for days at times, just trying to get it together, to know what my next phase was going to be.
Growing around great musicians, 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.
I'm an old-fashioned girl. And I love gospel. I like things that lift me up, inspire me.
I can tell you that I am not self-destructive. I'm not a person who wants to die. I'm a person who has life, who wants to live. And I always have. And I wouldn't mistake it for anything else other than that.
Sometimes you'll laugh. Sometimes you'll cry. Life never tells us, the when's or why's. When you've got friends, to wish you well. You'll find your point when. You will exhale.
Nobody makes me do anything I don't want to do. It's my decision. So the biggest devil is me. I'm either my best friend or my worst enemy.
Being around people like Aretha Franklin and Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick and Roberta Flack, all these greats, I was taught to listen and observe.
Never let your heart take precedence over reason, otherwise you will have problems.
You don't have a baby based on that publicity madness. People don't live like that. Especially black people who were raised in families with morals and standards and integrity.
I know that I could really kill for my daughter. I know because I'm living for her, so I'm fierce when it comes down to it. And I feel the same about my husband and my family. I'm just fiercely protective. It's like, that's my lair and nobody messes with my lair.
Sometimes you do have a good time. But when it gets to the point where you're sitting in your home and you're just trying to cover what you don't want people to know. It's painful. And then you want more just so that you don't let anybody see you cry. Or anybody to see we're not happy.
If you say my eyes are beautiful, it's because they are looking at you.
I've got a good man. He takes care of me. I don't have to be scared of anything because I know he will kick every ass... disrespect him and you've got a problem.
I've turned down a lot of arena dates because I've done the big-arena thing. Now, I want to do something where people can feel me and I can feel them.
I almost wish I could be more exciting, that I could match what is happening out there to me.
I'm not crazy about arenas just because I can sell them out. It doesn't do anything for my ego at all. I want to play places where people don't have to sit in the nosebleed seats and wonder what the hell is going on.
No, I'm not a drug addict, and neither is my husband. If that were so, you'd get a lot less work out of me. It would show in the performances and in the work.
I've got some good saints out there -- that's right -- that pray for me constantly. You've gotta have that! You do.
I'm just fiercely protective. It's like, that's my lair and nobody messes with my lair.
I'm the kind of person, if, if I have a day that is nerve-wracking, or my week has been bad or something's going down, I won't eat. Some people eat, I don't eat. And it shows in my physical frame.
I've always been a thin girl. I'm not going to be fat, ever. Let's get that straight. Whitney is not going to be fat, ever. Okay?
In grammar school some of the girls had problems with me. My face was too light. My hair was too long. It was the black-consciousness period, and I felt really bad.
I wanted to be a teacher. I love children, so I wanted to deal with children. Then I wanted to be a veterinarian. But by the age of ten or eleven, when I opened my mouth and said, 'Oh, God, what's this?' I kind of knew teaching and being a veterinarian were gonna have to wait.
My mother taught me that when you stand in the truth and someone tells a lie about you, don't fight it.
When I decided to be a singer, my mother warned me I'd be alone a lot. Basically we all are. Loneliness comes with life.
When I decided to be a singer, my mother warned me I'd be alone a lot. Basically we all are.
When I heard Aretha, I could feel her emotional delivery so clearly. It came from down deep within. That's what I wanted to do.
I believe that children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside.
From the beginning, the camera and I were great friends. It loves me, and I love it.
I finally faced the fact that it isn't a crime not having friends. Being alone means you have fewer problems.
You can fool people. You can fool anybody anytime of the day, but you can't fool yourself. At night, when you go home, you've got to be straight up with you.
I like being a woman, even in a man's world. After all, men can't wear dresses, but we can wear the pants.
My mother was the first singer I had contact with. She sang constantly to us around the house, in church.
God gave me a voice to sing with, and when you have that, what other gimmick is there?
I'm older, I'm matured... I'm looking forward to the years to come. Good years.
I decided long ago never to walk in anyone's shadow; if I fail, or if I succeed at least I did as I believe.