Whitney Elizabeth Houston (born August 9, 1963) is a Grammy Award-winning American pop and R&B singer, actress, film producer, record producer, songwriter, and former fashion model. Her crossover success opened doors for other African American women, to find success in pop music and movies. She is frequently referred to as "The Voice", and is known for her "powerful, penetrating pop-gospel voice." She has been credited by various sources of having a five-octave vocal range, with published evidence to verify this claim. Her voice has also been praised for its virtuosic and melismatic ability and The New York Times called her voice a "technical marvel". In the 1980s, Houston was one the first black artists to receive regular rotation on MTV in the network's early years during a white male rock dominated time. Her debut album became the biggest selling debut album of all time for a solo artist (a record that has since been broken), her follow up album became the first album by a female artist to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200, and she had a record seven consecutive #1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Houston continued her success into Hollywood in the 1990s, starting with the box office hit The Bodyguard. The soundtrack became the best-selling soundtrack of all time, and the single "I Will Always Love You" the best-selling single by a female artist and 6th best-selling song in the history of music. She continued the decade with other successful and culturally significant projects before returning to the studio. Houston is the fourth best-selling female recording artist according to the Recording Industry Association of America, and is the "The Most Awarded Female Artist of All Time" according to the Guinness Book of World Records.   Wikipedia