Didja know that Whitney is the cousin of famous singer, Dionne Warwick, and the daughter of Cissy Houston, a soul/R&B singer?

Whitney's Godmother is none other than Aretha Franklin.

Whitney had a minor roles on the sitcoms "Silver Spoons" and "Gimme A Break" before hitting it big in the music world.

Tell me what cha got! ;)

Whitney Houston was born in Newark, NJ, on August 9, 1963.

By age 11, Houston was performing as a soloist in the junior gospel choir at her Baptist church; as a teenager, she began accompanying her mother in concert (as well as on the 1978 album Think It Over), and went on to back artists like Lou Rawls and Chaka Khan.

Whitney is the cousin of former Physic Friends Network spokesperson Dionne Warwick.

Before launching her successful singing career, Whitney was a teen model, appearing on the cover of Seventeen magazine.

Whitney was the first female singer to score seven straight Number One hits on the US pop charts in the late-80s.

Let's not forget to mention that she's married to 'bad boy' Bobbie Brown. He was in the group New edition before going solo...now he's pretty much in and out of jail and known as Mr. Whitney Houston.

Whitney was caught with marijuana in her purse while boarding a flight in Hawaii bound for LA.

Her remake of Dolly Parton's signature torch song "I Will Always Love You" was one of the biggest selling songs of all time.

Whitney was scheduled to perform a medley of Oscar nominated songs at the 2000 Academy Awards, but when she failed to show up for scheduled rehearsals and was unable to remember the lyrics to the songs, musical producer Burt Bacharach replaced Whitney with Faith Hill at the last moment.