Whitney Houston
The autopsy report of Whitney Houston — 1963–2012.
The Voice
Whitney Elizabeth Houston was born August 9, 1963, in Newark, New Jersey, into gospel royalty — her mother was Grammy winner Cissy Houston, her cousin was Dionne Warwick, and her godmother was Aretha Franklin. She sang in church as a child and was a sought-after session vocalist as a teenager before Clive Davis signed her to Arista Records at 19.
Her debut album Whitney Houston (1985) became the best-selling debut album by a woman at the time, powered by “Saving All My Love for You,” “How Will I Know,” and “Greatest Love of All.” Whitney (1987) made her the first woman to debut at number one on the Billboard 200, and she set a record with seven consecutive number-one singles. “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” became an era-defining anthem, and her 1991 Super Bowl rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” is still considered the gold standard.
The Bodyguard
Houston conquered film with The Bodyguard (1992), opposite Kevin Costner. Her rendition of “I Will Always Love You” spent 14 weeks at number one and the soundtrack became the best-selling soundtrack album of all time, winning the Grammy for Album of the Year. She went on to star in Waiting to Exhale, The Preacher's Wife, and Cinderella. She remains one of the best-selling music artists ever, with over 200 million records sold and six Grammy Awards — a voice routinely called the greatest of her generation.
The Struggles
Her 1992 marriage to R&B singer Bobby Brown — with whom she had daughter Bobbi Kristina in 1993 — became a tabloid fixture, and Houston's struggles with substance abuse increasingly overshadowed her career through the 2000s, including a startling 2002 television interview and erratic performances. The couple divorced in 2007. A comeback album, I Look to You (2009), debuted at number one and suggested a return to form, and she completed the film Sparkle shortly before her death.
The Death
On February 11, 2012 — the eve of the Grammy Awards — Houston was found unresponsive in a bathtub in Suite 434 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, hours after attending Clive Davis's annual pre-Grammy party. She was 48. The Los Angeles County Coroner ruled the death an accidental drowning, with heart disease and cocaine use as contributing factors. Her funeral at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark — the church where she first sang as a child — was attended by music royalty. Her daughter Bobbi Kristina would die three years later in eerily similar circumstances. Houston is interred at Fairview Cemetery in Westfield, New Jersey.