Whitney Houston childhood was not like any other normal childhood. She had a dream and she succeeded that dream. She could’ve done many other things, but Whitney followed her dream. Her occupation was to be a singer, and a film actress (A&E Television Networks). She had a great impact on music and people around the world. Whitney Houston influenced the world and many others in the music industry. Whitney Houston was born in Newark, New Jersey, on August 9, 1963 (A&E Television Networks). Her father, John Russell Houston Jr., was an army serviceman and entertainment exec (Marquina). Her mother, Cissy Houston, her cousin Dionne Warrick and godmother Aretha Franklin were all legendary figures in American gospel and soul music (A&E Television Networks). At the age 14, Whitney became a backup singer on the Michael Zager Band’s single “Life’s A Party!” Zager offered Whitney a recording contract but her mother rejected the offer, wanting her to finish school first (Marquina). At the age 15, Whitney was performing often with her mother …show more content…
Whitney died at the age 48. (A&E Television Networks). After Whitney died her music was still popular and out! She inspired many other actresses, singers, rappers, and mostly people in the music industry (Time Inc.), people such as; Mariah Carey, Beyoncé, Christina Aguilera, Nicki Minaj, and many others (Stylist). Whitney Houston shared the stage and her light with many other artists throughout her career. Her voice was undeniable (Stylist). One of Whitney’s quotes was, “I decided long ago, never to walk in anyone’s shadow. If I fall, if I succeed, at least I’ll live as, I believe!” She also quoted, “Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all!” Whitney Houston influenced and inspired many people in the world. She was and always will be a
Diana Ross was born in 1944. Emerging from the housing projects in Detroit to become an international superstar, she gained prominence first as a member of the supremes, then as a solo artist. The mention of her name evokes the indelible image of the broadly smiling diva, the long hair, sequined gowns, etc.
Dr. Maya Angelou was born on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis Missouri. Angelou was raised in St. Louis and Stamps, Arkansas. In Stamps she was faced with the brutality of racial discrimination, and a very traumatic incident where she, she was raped by her mother's boyfriend when she was eight, but because of this she also developed an unshakable faith and values of traditional African-American family. (Angelou)This shaped her poetry and her involvement in the arts. Where she began to sing and dance and planned to audition in professional theater but that didn’t work out well because she began working as a nightclub waitress, tangled with drugs and prostitution and danced in a strip club. In 1959, she moved to New York, became friends with prominent Harlem writers, and got involved with the civil rights movement. In 1961, she moved to Egypt with a boyfriend and edited for the Arab Observer. When she returned to the U.S., she began publishing her multivolume autobiography, starting with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings as well as several books of poetry and the third being Still I Rise in published in 1978. (Maya Angelou is born) Because of this life of hardship shaped her to who she is and was the inspiration for a lot of her poetry.
She is also known to the world as the “Queen of Soul”. She went on tour with her father’s traveling revival and later released her very first recording under the album, Spirituals, when she was 14 years old. Similar to Bessie Smith, Aretha Franklin was signed by Columbia Records. There she released several classics such as, I’ll Keep on Smiling and I Still Can’t Forget. Years later (1966) she signed to Atlantic Records where she recorded I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You) and Respect which both sold millions. From the start of her career in 1961 she has had forty three top single and maybe more to come. Having won over eighteen Grammy awards in her career. In 1987, Ms. Franklin was the very first female artist to be inducted the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Grammys awarded her the Legend Award in 1991. In 1994 she was awarded the Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award and also received the Kennedy Center Honors. She has been nominated for nine American Music Award winning four out of her nine nominations. Aretha has performed at both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama presidential inaugurations. She has also been awarded different honorary degrees in music. There is no one who could manipulate the same sound that Aretha Franklin had into this new day
...ng to this day, she is one of few who could compete with the men of hip-hop, but she never pretended to be anything but a woman. She not only sang about female empowerment, but she wrote about being a woman from the insecurities that we as women sometimes feel to the nirvana of being in love. Sensuality and femininity were always as important to her which was her strength, and message to get out to women especially those of color.
Singer/actress Lena Horne's primary occupation was nightclub entertaining, a profession she pursued successfully around the world for more than 60 years, from the 1930s to the 1990s. In conjunction with her club work, she also maintained a recording career that stretched from 1936 to 2000 and brought her three Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1989; she appeared in 16 feature films and several shorts between 1938 and 1978; she performed occasionally on Broadway, including in her own Tony-winning one-woman show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music in 1981-1982; and she sang and acted on radio and television. Adding to the challenge of maintaining such a career was her position as an African-American facing discrimination personally and in her profession during a period of enormous social change in the U.S. Her first job in the 1930s was at the Cotton Club, where blacks could perform, but not be admitted as customers; by 1969, when she acted in the film Death of a Gunfighter, her character's marriage to a white man went unremarked in the script. Horne herself was a pivotal figure in the changing attitudes about race in the 20th century; her middle-class upbringing and musical training predisposed her to the popular music of her day, rather than the blues and jazz genres more commonly associated with African-Americans, and her photogenic looks were sufficiently close to Caucasian that frequently she was encouraged to try to "pass" for white, something she consistently refused to do. But her position in the middle of a social struggle enabled her to become a leader in that struggle, speaking out in favor of racial integration and raising money for civil rights causes. By the end of the century, she could look back at a life that was never short on conflict, but that could be seen ultimately as a triumph.
Her family ties to the south, her unique talent, her ability to travel and make money are similar to the Blues women movement that preceded her. It can be said that Nina Simone goes a step further the by directly attacking inequities pertaining to race and gender in her music. However, what distinguishes her is her unique musicianship and that is what ultimately garners her massive exposure and experiences than those of her past contemporaries. Like the Blues women Simone expands ideas pertaining to self-expression, identity and beauty as they relate to black women. She does this by embracing what is definitively African American and connecting that to a historical context. By doing so she is the embodiment of a political statement. Her journey which began like many entertaine...
...becoming the first Africa American to tour with an all white band and also the first African American women to sign a long-term contract with
To commerate Black History Month, I have decided to do reasearch on an exceptionally talented musician Ella Fitzgerald. She was essentially the Aretha Franklin of the Jazz Age. She was an incredibly talented jazz singer who was considered the best by almost everyone. The reason she’s been chosen as today’s Black History Month is because she holds the distinction of being the first Grammy Award Winner who was both Black and female. Ella Fitzgerald had an everlasting impact on, not only how jazz music sounded, but also who performed it. When looking at a compulsive life as Ella’s, I was inspired by the huge impact she brought throught out music; especially jazz.
Two, the story of development is the story of how to handle anti-social impulses in socially acceptable ways. The environment that Whitney was exposed to at a very young age on a regular basis helped Whitney identify with what she wanted to do with her life. Whitney enjoyed accompanying her mother to shows and singing back-up which also helped influence her decision to be in the music industry. Whitney’s musical intelligence and her daily observation of how her mother Cissy, Dionne and Aretha worked their way through their musical careers also played a major role in her career excelling because she was paying very close attention to everything. I also believe that Cissy’s Houston guidance and Whitney’s passion for music and determination helped Whitney’s career excel at an early age making her a dynamic singer and
Selena Quintanilla Perez was one of the most famous Mexican-American singers. At a young age she was taught how to sing and perform. Her Father was apart of a group when he was younger called Los Dinos. He thought that it would be a good idea to create a singing group involving his children. At first the kids weren't sure about doing it but once they started to perform in front of people they started to get more comfortable. Their group was called Selena en Los Dinos. As Selena and her siblings got older they started to become more and more famous ever show they did. Finally Selena won many awards and she was considered one of the most famous female Mexican-American singers ever.
Whitney Houston is considered as one of the greatest singers of our generation. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, she holds the record of being the most rewarded female artist of all time. I chose her as my topic, because she represents resiliency and tenacity, despite her troubled experiences with drugs and her personal life. Whitney Houston comes from a family with an amazing, musical pedigree; her mother, Cissy Houston, was a successful back-up singer for Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley. Dionne Warwick is her first cousin and Aretha Franklin is her godmother. In 1983, Houston was signed to Arista Records and music executive, Clive Davis, became her mentor and helped launch her successful career. Whitney Houston was known as the innocent, girl-next-door, who promoted positivity and love within her professional career. Houston's good-girl image was shattered, when she married R&B bad boy, Bobby Brown in 1992. Towards the late 90's, it was rumored that she was using drugs and she looked very thin. In 2006, Houston divorced Bobby Brown and entered into rehab, to end her addiction to cocaine and other drugs. The world was happy to see her healthy and singing again; everyone thought she had made a full recovery and was ready for her to appear back into the spotlight. Tragically, on February 11, 2012, Whitney Houston was found dead in her Beverly Hills hotel, she was 48 years old. Her mother, Cissy Houston, has written a book about her daughter's life, entitled: Remembering Whitney, which depicts the rise and fall of the tragic singer's life.
things that were going on in the world unlike rappers in this generation. He will forever be remembered. Whitney Houston was one of the biggest female pop stars of all time. She was born August 9, 1963 and she passed away February 11, 2012. Her most famous song is called “I Will Always Love You.” It’s also written on her grave. Her death was also tragic. She was...
Modern society has made a sub-culture that lives in a reality that is not real. It is so far from the truth that the inhabitants of this sub-culture so often cannot live in both realities and have become a spectacle for others to marvel at. This sub-culture is made up of entertainers, millionaires, and athletes. The people in this group can range from newborns to death and some live on well after. The specimens that I find an interest in are the young ones that enter into this society not knowing well that their lives will never be the same. Britney Spears was just another victim of the society that brings into their prison.
Known to fans and admires as the “Godfather of Soul”, “Mr. Dynamite”, “Soul Brother Number One”, and “the Hardest Working Man in Show Business”, James Brown was one of the most influential 20th century music figures, especially when it comes to soul, funk, rhythm & blues, and rap, awing and inspiring millions in a career that lasted some six decades. His energetic vocals and distinctive choreography propelled the popularity of Rhythm and Blues and influenced many artists and genres to come. But it was more than just his unique voice and style that made him stand out as he continually triumphed over adversity and was a beneficent advocate of social and civil rights as well as a proponent of the benefits of childhood education.
"Music is what I breathe, what I love to do. It keeps me alive, " Miley Cyrus once said. Her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, knew even as a baby, Miley could sing (Miley Cyrus Quotes). She has an extraordinary story. One day Miley was just a normal girl and what seemed like the next day, a pop star. She was introduced to fame at a very young age and is now still growing up in front of the world. She was born Destiny Hope Cyrus because her parents believed she would achieve greatness (Miley Cyrus Biography). They had a lot of hope and promise for their young daughter. Miley is one of the most successful kids from Disney and now she is rising to fame all on her own. It is hard having everyone watch your every move and being constantly photographed, but she deals with it because she loves what she does. Miley Cyrus has led a very unique life both through her childhood and teen life.