Whitney Houston
1963 – 2012 · United States
Known for: The Voice, the most awarded female artist of all time
“I decided long ago never to walk in anyone's shadow.”
Biography
She had a voice that seemed to come from somewhere beyond the ordinary human range, power and control and feeling all at once. Whitney Houston sold over 200 million records, held the record for most consecutive number-one singles, and turned The Star-Spangled Banner and I Will Always Love You into definitive versions no one has matched.
Her 1991 Super Bowl anthem, sung during the Gulf War, became so beloved it was released as a single. Behind the triumph ran a long struggle that ended too soon, at 48. But the gift remains: put on her recording of I Will Always Love You and a room still falls silent, because nobody has ever done it better.