Throwback: Happy Black History Month: Whitney Houston

Today is the twenty-second day of Black History Month. Because the current administration is racist, fascist and wants to deny the existence and histories of anyone that isn’t cis-het and white, there are some important things everyone should remember during this month — and every single month: 

• You can’t love Black artists and their work, and not see them as people 
• Black lives — and Black art matters 
• Black culture is American culture 

As we go through the month, I’m going to talk about a collection of Black artists. It’ll be fairly comprehensive and eclectic list — although it won’t be a complete list. So far I’ve talked about the following: 

• Big Boi, who celebrated his 51st birthday on February 1
•  Rick James, who was born 78 years ago on February 1
• Sudan Archives, one of the most talented and dynamic artists performing out there today
• The Temptations‘ second and longest tenured lead vocalist Dennis Edwards who was born 83 years ago on February 3 
• Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter, bassist and JOVM mainstay Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner
• Bobby Brown, who celebrated his 57th birthday on February 5 
• The legendary Bob Marley, who was born 81 years ago on February 6 
• Natalie Cole, the daughter of the legendary jazz singer and pianist Nat King Cole, who was born 76 years ago on February 6
• J. Dilla, who was born 52 years ago on February 7
• The pioneering Sister Rosetta Tharpe
• The uncompromising and trailblazing Tracy Chapman
• The legendary Roberta Flack, who was born 89 years ago on February 10
• D’Angelo, who was born 52 years ago on February 
• Bad Brains‘ founder and frontman H.R., who celebrated his 70th birthday on February 11
• Brandy, who celebrated her 47th birthday on February 11 
• Grammy Award and Brit Award-nominated artist Billy Ocean 
•  Freedom Williams, whose sonorous baritone flow was part of C+C Music Factory‘s biggest hits of the early 1990s celebrated his 60th birthday on February 13
• Maceo Parker, who celebrated his 83rd birthday on February 14.
• Holland-Dozier-Holland‘s Brian Holland, who celebrated his 85th birthday on February 15
• Ice T, the controversial pioneer of West Coast gangsta rap and of rap metal with his equally controversial metal band Body Count, who celebrated his 68th birthday on February 16
• Kamasi Washington, who celebrated his 45th birthday on February 18
• Dr. Dre, who celebrated his 61st birthday on February 18
• Seal, who celebrated his 63rd birthday on February 19
• The great Smokey Robinson celebrated his 86th birthday on February 19
• Nina Simone, who was born 93 years ago on February 21  

Whitney Houston had arguably one of the best and most memorable voices ever recorded. Her influence on R&B and pop has been towering with countless contemporary artists citing her as one of their major influences — especially if you were born or came of age in the late 1980s-1990s.

Let’s not forget that Houston was also a trailblazer: She was one of the first Black women to appear on the cover of Seventeen as a teen model back in 1981. At 19, she signed to Arista Records, who released her first two albums, 1985’s self-fitted and 1987’s Whitney, both of which topped the Billboard 200 for 14 and 11 weeks respectively.

1985’s self-titled debut remains the best-selling debut album by a solo artist in history, while her sophomore album made her the first woman to debut at #1 on both the US and UK charts.

Her rendition of the “The Star-Spangled Banner” at 1991’s Super Bowl XXV was not only acclaimed but also commercially successful. Remember this was during the first Gulf War — and patriotism was at an all-time high.

Throughout the 1990s, Houston also started in a handful of hit movies, including 1992’s The Bodyguard, 1995’s Waiting to Exhale, 1996’s The Preacher’s Wife and 1997’s Cinderella. The soundtracks for The Bodyguard and The Preacher’s Wife were respectively the best-selling soundtrack album and gospel album of all time with the soundtrack for The Bodyguard winning an Album of the Year Grammy while topping the Billboard 200 for 20 weeks.

Unsurprisingly, Houston is one of the best-selling artist ever, selling over 220 million records globally And who doesn’t love “I Wanna Dance with Somebody”?

Black excellence, indeed.

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