Happy Birthday, Whitney Houston!

(8/9/00, 10 a.m. ET) - Whitney Houston celebrates her 37th birthday today (August 9). Born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1963, Houston grew up in a musical family--her mother, Cissy Houston, is a celebrated gospel artist, and singer Dionne Warwick is her cousin. Houston started out as a model, but ultimately decided to pursue her long-held dream of a music career. Her 1985 debut album, Whitney Houston, rocketed her to superstardom, and remains one of the best-selling debuts ever; her 1987 follow-up, Whitney, cemented her superstardom. After the release of her 1990 album I'm Your Baby Tonight, Houston decided to branch out into acting and was tremendously successful in her first film, The Bodyguard. The Bodyguard soundtrack was even more of a triumph, spawning the smash "I Will Always Love You" and earning Houston countless awards and accolades. Houston's second film, an adaptation of author Terry McMillan's best-selling novel Waiting To Exhale, established her as one of Hollywood's most powerful personalities. Subsequent films The Preacher's Wife with Denzel Washington and the TV musical Cinderella with Brandy further strengthened Houston as a major force in the film world.Her musical successes have continued as well--in late 1998, Houston released My Love Is Your Love, her first non-soundtrack album in eight years. Like its predecessors, it was a winner, spawning such hits as "It's Not Right But It's Okay," "Heartbreak Hotel," and "I Learned From The Best." Houston won her sixth Grammy Award earlier this year, in the category of best female R&B vocal performance for "It's Not Right But It's Okay."

In addition, she, along with Prince, received the artist of the decade award at the Soul Train Music Awards. She also recently released a double-disc collection of her greatest hits.

Houston once said that she doesn't let her success put pressure on her. "I suppose it could put a lot if I tried to outrun it, if I tried to outdo it," she confided. "Like, each time I did something and my next project, 'I gotta outdo this,' and then I did my next project and I gotta outdo that, and then I do my next project and I gotta outdo that. I don't think that way. I think about doing quality work."

Despite her triumphs, it hasn't been an easy year for Houston. In January she was allegedly caught with marijuana at a Hawaiian airport, and she was abruptly cut from a musical tribute at the Oscars after she reportedly was unable to perform at rehearsal, after which it has been widely rumored that she has a drug problem.

In addition, Houston's husband, Bobby Brown, recently spent several months in a Florida jail for violating probation restrictions stemming from a 1996 drunken-driving conviction. In July, he was released early for good behavior, and a widely published photograph showed an exuberant Houston leaping into her husband's arms as he exited the prison.

-- Lucy Tauss, New York

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