[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 27 (Friday, February 17, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S906]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 REMEMBERING WHITNEY ELIZABETH HOUSTON

  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, today I wish to honor the life of 
Whitney Elizabeth Houston who passed away on Saturday, February 11, 
2012. Whitney Houston was a shining star born in the great city of 
Newark, NJ, whose life will be celebrated locally and globally by her 
family and friends.
  Whitney followed in the footsteps of her mother and began performing 
as a soloist in the junior gospel choir at the New Hope Baptist Church 
in Newark, where her first solo performance was ``Guide Me, O Thou 
Great Jehovah.'' Later she became the first woman of color to grace the 
cover of Seventeen Magazine and was also featured in layouts in the 
pages of Glamour, Cosmopolitan, and Young Miss.
  In 1983, Clive Davis, head of Arista Records, helped start Whitney's 
recording career, and she went on to begin her meteoric rise to fame, 
with Rolling Stone praising her as ``one of the most exciting new 
voices in years,'' while the New York Times called her debut, self-
titled album ``an impressive, musically conservative showcase for an 
exceptional vocal talent.''
  In 1986, a year after the initial release of her debut album, Whitney 
topped the Billboard 200 albums chart and stayed there for 14 weeks 
with the final single, ``Greatest Love of All,'' which became one of 
her biggest hits. The album became the first album by a female to yield 
three No. 1 hits.
  Whitney Houston is recognized as the most awarded female musical 
artist of all time, having received 2 Emmy Awards, 6 Grammy Awards, 22 
American Music Awards, and 30 Billboard Music Awards. She also holds 
numerous other distinctions, including the best selling single by a 
female artist in music history, first solo act to sell more than 
1,000,000 copies of an album within a 1-week period, the only artist to 
chart 7 consecutive No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hits. She also had the best 
selling movie soundtrack of all time, ``The Bodyguard.''
  Beyond her professional career, Whitney Houston demonstrated her 
commitment to humanitarianism as a supporter of Nelson Mandela and the 
antiapartheid movement, refusing to do business with agencies that did 
business with the then-apartheid South Africa. She also founded the 
Whitney Houston Foundation for Children, an organization that cared for 
the homeless and children with cancer and AIDS. And during the 2009 
2010 academic school year, the Whitney E. Houston Academy of Creative 
and Performing Arts became a thriving, arts-focused institution that 
provides expanded educational opportunities for the student body and 
surrounding community.
  There are many reasons why America will never forget Whitney Houston, 
but one of the most memorable was her performance of ``The Star 
Spangled Banner'' at Super Bowl XXV on January 27, 1991. That 
performance was so powerful that it was later released as a commercial 
single and the video of her performance reached the top 20 on the 
Billboard Hot 100, making her the only person to turn the national 
anthem into a pop hit of that magnitude.
  Mr. President, it is with immense sadness but great honor that I 
recognize, commend, and celebrate the life and legacy of Whitney E. 
Houston, a star of New Jersey who went on to shine bright across the 
globe. I extend my deepest condolences to Whitney's mother Cissy 
Houston, daughter Bobbi Kristina, her other family members and friends, 
and to her millions of fans.

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