Editing Whitney Houston (section)

==Early life and family ==
[[File:NewHopeNewark 02.jpg|thumb|[[New Hope Baptist Church (Newark)|New Hope Baptist Church]], where Houston sang in the choir as a child|alt=]]
Whitney Elizabeth Houston was born on August 9, 1963, at Presbyterian Hospital in [[Newark, New Jersey]], to [[Cissy Houston|Emily "Cissy"]] (née Drinkard) and John Russell Houston Jr.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Houston |first1=Cissy |title=Remembering Whitney |date=2013 |page=10 |quote=My water broke. So it was right back out the door as John put me in the car and hurried to Presbyterian Hospital.}}</ref> Cissy was a [[Grammy Award|Grammy-winning]] gospel and soul singer who was a member of [[The Drinkard Singers]] and the founder of [[The Sweet Inspirations]] before becoming a solo artist.<ref>{{cite web |title=Emily 'Cissy' Houston 2019 Inductee - Performing Arts |url=https://njhalloffame.org/hall-of-famers/2019-2020-inductees/cissy-houston/ |website=New Jersey Hall of Fame |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240317074825/https://njhalloffame.org/hall-of-famers/2019-2020-inductees/cissy-houston/ |archive-date=March 17, 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Smith1996a">{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Jessie Carney|author-link=Jessie Carney Smith|title=Notable Black American women|year=1996|publisher=VNR AG|isbn=978-0-8103-9177-2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/notableblackamer00jess/page/304 304]–305|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/notableblackamer00jess}}</ref> John was a former [[United States Army|Army]] serviceman who later became an administrator under Newark mayor [[Kenneth A. Gibson]]. According to her mother, Houston was named after actress [[Whitney Blake]].<ref name="WHToronto">{{cite web |url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/whitney-houston-at-22-from-the-star-archives/article_1e90be37-fe6b-54ea-8717-9a0441cea7c8.html |title=Whitney Houston at 22: From the Star archives |work=[[The Toronto Star]] |date=August 21, 1986 |accessdate=March 16, 2025}}</ref> Houston was given the nickname "Nippy" by her father.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Crawford |first1=Robyn |title=A Song for You: My Life with Whitney Houston |date=2019 |page=16}}</ref>

Houston's parents were both African-American. Cissy Houston stated that she had partial Dutch and Native American ancestry.<ref>{{cite news|first=Cissy|last=Houston|title=Visionary Project Video – Cissy Houston: My Family|date=September 2, 2009|url=http://www.visionaryproject.org/houstoncissy/|access-date=February 11, 2012|archive-date=September 21, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180921111821/http://www.visionaryproject.org/houstoncissy/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Houston was a cousin of singers [[Dionne Warwick|Dionne]] and [[Dee Dee Warwick]] as well as a distant cousin of opera singer [[Leontyne Price]]. [[Aretha Franklin]] became an "honorary aunt" while [[Darlene Love]] was Houston's godmother.<ref name="godmother">{{cite news |title=Whitney's godmother: 'She was a light'|date=February 13, 2012 |url=http://nancygrace.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/13/she-was-a-light/?hpt=ng_bn3 |work=Nancy Grace spoke with Whitney Houston's and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer Darlene Love |access-date=February 17, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 2, 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130102115445/http://nancygrace.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/13/she-was-a-light/?hpt=ng_bn3}}</ref><ref name="honoraryaunt">{{cite web |last=Whitall |first=Susan |title=Aretha Franklin recalls meeting a young Whitney Houston |url=http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120217/ENT09/202170397/1361/Aretha-Franklin-recalls-meeting-a-young-Whitney-Houston |work=The Queen of Soul corrected one thing about her relationship to Houston. She says she wasn't Houston's Godmother, but a sort of honorary aunt.|publisher=The Detroit News|access-date=February 18, 2012}}{{dead link|date=May 2017|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref name="Company1985s">{{cite magazine |magazine=Jet |title=Whitney Houston Sings Her Way To Stardom With Hit Album, Road Tour |date=August 26, 1985 |page=59 |issn=0021-5996 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=prQDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA59}}</ref> Houston's paternal great-great-grandfather [[Jeremiah Burke Sanderson]] was an [[Abolitionism in the United States|American abolitionist]] and advocate for the civil and educational rights of black Americans during the mid-19th century.<ref name="Jeremiah1">{{Cite web|title=Jeremiah Burke Sanderson – New Bedford Historical Society|url=http://nbhistoricalsociety.org/Important-Figures/jeremiah-burke-sanderson/|access-date=2020-11-07|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="Jeremiah2">{{Cite journal|last=Lapp|first=Rudolph M.|date=1968|title=Jeremiah B. Sanderson: Early California Negro Leader |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2716356 |journal=The Journal of Negro History|volume=53|issue=4|pages=321–333|doi=10.2307/2716356|jstor=2716356|s2cid=150279633|issn=0022-2992}}</ref> Houston had three older brothers: paternal half-brother John III;<ref name="johnhoustonobit">{{cite news |url=https://obits.nj.com/us/obituaries/starledger/name/john-houston-obituary?id=8103622#:~:text=Retired%20founder%20and%20chairman%20of%20Houston%20Associates%2C%20Inc.&text=He%20attended%20Weequahic%20High%20School,Chairman%20of%20Houston%20Associates%2C%20Inc. |title=John Russell Houston III|date=January 17, 2021|newspaper=The Star-Ledger|via=Legacy.com |accessdate=December 4, 2022}}</ref> maternal half-brother [[Gary Garland|Gary]], a basketball player and singer;<ref>[https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/10-things-whitney-houston/story?id=15637223#5 "Top 10 Things You May Not Know About Whitney Houston"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119215437/https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/10-things-whitney-houston/story?id=15637223#5 |date=November 19, 2018 }}. ''ABC''. February 16, 2012. Retrieved November 4, 2012.</ref> and full brother Michael.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news/69412/Michael-Houston-Devastated-At-Death-Of-Sister |title=Michael Houston 'Devastated' At Death Of Sister |work=Entertainment Wise|date=February 12, 2012 |access-date=November 4, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120215191826/http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news/69412/Michael-Houston-Devastated-At-Death-Of-Sister|archive-date=February 15, 2012 |last1=Merriman |first1=Rebecca }}</ref>

At three, Houston witnessed the [[1967 Newark riots|Newark race riots of 1967]].<ref name="CissyBook"/><ref name="Addicted"/> Three years later, in 1970, the Houston family relocated to a suburban area of [[East Orange, New Jersey]]. Houston's parents married in the spring of 1964, just months before Houston's first birthday.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Houston |first1=Cissy |title=Remembering Whitney |date=2013 |page=45 |quote=In the spring of 1964, almost a year after Nippy's birth, John's divorce was at last finalized, and he and I were able to get married.}}</ref> Initially a happy union, the marriage dissolved by Houston's teen years after Houston's father suffered a near-fatal heart attack. By 17, Houston's parents separated; divorcing over a decade later.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2013/01/28/cissy-houston-whitney-memoir/1862249/|title=Cissy Houston remembers Whitney, with love and candor|last=Gardner, Elysa|date=January 28, 2013|accessdate=December 19, 2017|newspaper=USA Today}}</ref>

Houston was raised in the [[Baptists|Baptist]] faith. She joined the church choir at [[New Hope Baptist Church (Newark)|New Hope Baptist Church]] in Newark at the age of five, and she also learned to play piano at New Hope.<ref name="CissyBook">{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2013/01/28/cissy-houston-whitney-memoir/1862249/|title=Cissy Houston remembers Whitney, with love and candor|last=Gardner|first= Elysa|date=January 28, 2013|access-date=December 19, 2017|newspaper=USA Today}}</ref><ref name="Addicted">{{cite magazine |title=Whitney & Bobby – Addicted to Love |date=September 2005 |magazine=Vibe |page=204 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9iYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA204 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220323134655/https://books.google.com/books?id=9iYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA204 |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 23, 2022 |first=Rob |last=Kenner }}</ref> She later recalled being exposed to the [[Pentecostalism|Pentecostal]] church nearby as well. Houston made her solo performance debut at New Hope singing the hymn "[[Cwm Rhondda|Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah]]" at the age of 12.<ref name="Bowman">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/divatotallyunaut0000bowm/page/n19/mode/2up?view=theater |title=Diva: the totally unauthorized biography of Whitney Houston |last=Bowman|first= Jeffrey |page=XII-XIII |date=1994 |publisher=Harper |isbn=9780061008535 |access-date=April 30, 2023}}</ref> When Houston became a teenager, she told her mother that she wanted to pursue a career in music. Throughout her teenage years, she was trained how to sing by Cissy.<ref name="auto">{{Cite magazine |last1=Corliss |first1=Richard |date=July 13, 1987 |title=The Prom Queen of Soul |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,964980-5,00.html |magazine=Time}}</ref> Along with her mother, her cousins and Franklin, Houston was influenced by singers such as [[Chaka Khan]], [[Gladys Knight]], and [[Roberta Flack]].<ref name=RS93>{{cite magazine |last=DeCurtis |first=Anthony |title=Whitney Houston: Down and Dirty |date=June 10, 1993 |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/whitney-houston-gets-down-and-dirty-192198/ |access-date=September 7, 2021}}</ref>

Houston attended Franklin Elementary School (now Whitney E. Houston Academy of Creative and Performing Arts) before transferring to [[Mount Saint Dominic Academy]], a Catholic girls' high school in [[Caldwell, New Jersey|Caldwell]], New Jersey, by sixth grade.<ref name="Bowman" /> She graduated from Mount Saint Dominic in 1981.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://patch.com/new-jersey/caldwells/mount-classmate-remembers-whitney-houston|title=Mount Saint Dominic Classmate Remembers Whitney Houston|work=Patch.com|last=Waldman|first=Tyler|date=February 13, 2012|accessdate=June 18, 2018}}</ref>