Top 10 Things You Never Knew About Whitney Houston

 
Whitney Houston has the unique distinction of being the “Most Awarded Female Artist of All Time” according to Guinness World Records. During her career, she took home 22 American Music Awards, 16 Billboard Music Awards, 8 Grammys, and 1 Emmy; and those are just the big ones. Houston won hundreds of awards throughout her illustrious career while also setting numerous chart records. In fact, she broke The Beatles’ record for the most consecutive singles to reach number one on the Billboard music charts and she remains the only artist – male or female - to ever produce seven straight number one songs. All told, she had 11 number one hits.   
 

 
A relationship can define a celebrity’s career. In the case of Whitney Houston, her defining romantic endeavor was with troubled R&B singer Bobby Brown. The two met backstage at the 1989 Soul Train Music Awards and "romantic sparks ignited immediately," as reported by Ebony magazine. Brown was later invited to Houston’s 26th birthday party and it didn’t take long for the two to become a couple. This must have upset Eddie Murphy, as he’d been seeing Houston up to that point! Houston and Brown’s relationship was tumultuous to say the least, with the latter standing accused of various crimes throughout their marriage. The union came to end in 2006, when Houston filed for divorce. 
 

 
The third single released off of her eponymous debut album, “How Will I Know” was a Top 10 hit around the world and became the second Houston track to land atop the Billboard Hot 100, holding onto the top spot for two weeks. However, it was not originally meant for her! Songwriters George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam had written it with Janet Jackson in mind; only after she passed was it was offered to Whitey Houston. The song wound up being quite the success, with the accompanying music video nominated for two MTV Video Music Awards, winning one. 



 
Long before she was a musical juggernaut, Whitney Houston was, like you, a baby, and a fussy one at that. This is how she was bestowed with the nickname Nippy. Apparently, she would kick off her winter blanket every night to the chagrin of her father John. He would then reapply the blanket and say to his young daughter “Nippy, seldom right." Whatever that’s supposed to mean. The name stuck, with Houston later deciding to call her management company Nippy Inc. Moral of the story: don’t be embarrassed by the nicknames your parents give you, they may come in handy later in life.  
 



 
In 1996, Whitney Houston visited Brunei and held a private concert at the wedding of Princess Rashidah, the eldest daughter of Hassanal Bolkiah, the Sultan of Brunei. The Sultan’s brother, Prince Jefri Bolkiah, was responsible for footing the bill and the story goes that when it came time to pay Houston for her services, he gave her a blank check and told her to fill in what she thought she deserved. It seems Houston put on a hell of a show because she was reportedly paid more than $7 million for the performance! 
 



 
When Whitey Houston sat down with Diane Sawyer in 2002 to discuss fame, her reported drug use, and her relationship with her bad boy husband Bobby Brown, the world was understandably excited. The conversation, which delved deep into Houston’s personal life and her various substance abuse problems, produced no shortage of entertaining moments, including one exchange in which she denied ever using crack, claiming, “I make too much money to ever smoke crack.” The special wound up being a ratings juggernaut, with the “Primetime” interview pulling in 21 million viewers, making it the 7th most watched television interview of all time.  
 


 
We all got to start somewhere! Before hitting the big time, Whitney Houston worked as a backup singer for Chaka Khan, providing backup vocals on Khan’s 1978 hit single “I’m Every Woman.” Houston would go on to cover the song herself in 1993 to widespread acclaim. Her version peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and scored a Grammy nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. Houston gave Chaka Khan a shout out near the end of the track and the even invited her to appear in the accompanying music video! Now that’s respect! 
 


 
Okay, let us explain. The year was 1987 and Michael Jackson was looking for someone to record the duet “I Just Can't Stop Loving You” with. Naturally, his first choice was Whitney Houston due to her incredible vocal range and the fact that she was on top of the music world at that very moment. The collaboration would have been nothing short of earth shattering! Unfortunately for music lovers everywhere, Houston’s label at the time, Arista, rejected the offer. They believed that due to the success of Houston’s debut album, the collaboration would cause her to be overexposed. Jackson would be denied his second choice, Barbra Streisand, as well. 
  

 
Before all the awards, critically acclaimed albums, and feature film roles, Whitney Houston was just another young model trying to make a name for herself. And thanks to her girl-next-door looks and confident personality, that wasn’t hard to do. She appeared on the cover Seventeen Magazine in the early ‘80s (one of the first black women to do so) and later popped up in issues of Cosmopolitan and Glamour.  Her modeling would soon be replaced by a burgeoning music career, but that would only cause her to appear on the cover of even more magazines! 
 

 
Whitney Houston auditioned for the role of Sondra Huxtable on “The Cosby Show” and guess what? She got it! There was just one problem, Houston had dreams of becoming a singer and feared the contract would restrict her ability to go on tour.  Keep in mind that this was before the release of her debut album. Director Jay Sandrich was understandably perplexed by Houston’s decision and asked the young music hopeful, “who told you you can sing?' To which she replied, “My mother, my aunt." Clearly Houston’s family knew what they were talking about because it wasn’t long before she was one of the biggest entertainers on the planet!