The Music Industry : Whitney Houston

He first saw her singing at the National Finals Rodeo. She then signed with Mercury Records. Her song, “You Lift Me Up (To Heaven)”, made the Billboard country Top 10, in 1980. This had ultimately launched her amazing career. Throughout her career she has stuck close to her country roots.

From wearing cupcake bra outfits to performing in a lavish swimsuit, Katy Perry has demonstrated how women in the music industry use sex appeal to captivate their audience. In today’s society, it isn’t uncommon to see female artists in revealing, flashy outfits surrounded by flashing lights and steam. Artists such as Miley Cyrus and Nicki Minaj have certainly made news headlines for their audacious performances. In many cases, artists are presenting false images to their fans as an investment for future sales. Female artists continue to be sexually objectified by their audience, which increase their viewership, which leads to record labels pressuring artists to keep a sexy image.

When Selena’s career started it was a life commitment. Selena recorded her first LP record in 1984. The record was Tejano

Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston were two of the biggest music acts in the world, selling hundreds upon thousands of records between them. Both acts rose to fame at an early age eventually earning the titles ‘The King of Pop’ (The Guardian, 2009) and ‘The Voice’ (IMDB, 2012) as well as earning plentiful awards in their careers; It is claimed that Whitney Houston is the most awarded female artist of all time. As well as preforming at some of the biggest and most prestigious venues around the world we can only dream about visiting and gaining world-wide fame they ended up meeting an untimely death due to addiction.

She is a 10 time Grammy award winner, and among the five artists to ever win a Grammy for album of the year she is the only female to ever win more than once. Her hit song “You Belong with Me” resonated with millions of young girls many of which connected with the lines “If you could see/ That I’m the one /Who understands you/ Been here all along/ So why can’t you see/ You belong with me”. She turns ordinary teenage girl experiences into fresh country and pop songs. She grew up fascinated by music which led to her success as a Country/Pop artist. She constantly strives to make sure that her fame does not get in the way of her truly being herself. Taylor does not read into any of the articles about her in magazines to avoid getting caught up in all the gossip that publicity spreads about her. Taylor has made a huge impact on music industry, from selling out Madison Square Garden, to record breaking songs and albums. Award winning singer and song writer Taylor Swift, is still forming her legacy as she continues to make history in the music industry, while garnering a large fan base worldwide.

Aaliyah was my best friend, we told eachother everything, I was there with her when she first recorded her first song, we sang together, we even wrote a song together, i thought of her like a little sister, little did I know of the short time I had with her. I remember when I first heard of her, she was performing in Las Vegas with the famous singer Gladys Knight. You should have seen my face full of shock and awe as I heard this eleven year old’s voice, the way she hit all the right notes, and how her voice blended perfectly with Gladys was amazing. From that point on I knew she was going to be a superstar, and that I wanted her, no needed to have her in one of my albums. Three years later, yet again she surprises me by her debut album with

In 2001, she was featured on the remix of "Lady Marmalade". The single sold over 5 million copies. It got to #1 on the Billboard 100. The single also won 2 MTV Video Music Awards and a Grammy.

She began singing solo’s at New Bethel Church. At the age of fourteen Aretha’s talent for singing was recognized by her father, and he started managing her shortly after, so he could get her a recording deal. She started off by going on the road with her father and singing at various churches while he preached. This resulted in Aretha Franklin getting signed to her first record deal with J.V.B. Records Label. Her first studio album was titled “Songs Of Faith”. Although this did not put her on the map as the Queen of Soul. Aretha decided at the age of 18 that she wanted to go in the direction of Sam Cooke and sing Pop music. It was not until she signed with the Columbia Records in 1960, that she had her first single chart the Billboard on the Hot 100 with her song “Won’t Be Long” off her first pop studio album Aretha: With the Ray Bryant Combo. With her talent Franklin was able to record in diverse genres such as vocal jazz, blues, standards, rhythm and blues and doo-wop. In 1962, she released two more studio albums: ‘The Electrifying Aretha Franklin’ and ‘The Tender,The Moving,Swinging Aretha Franklin’. Her number-one R&B singles are “Respect” in 1967, “Chain Of Fools” in 1967, “Think” in 1967, and “Share Your Love With Me” also in 1967. In 1968 Aretha performed at Dr. Martin Luther King’s Funeral. She also performed at the presidential inauguration of Jimmy Carter. Doing her music is the reason why Franklin is where she is now and why she is known as the queen of

Cooke's RCA sides were an amazing body of work, at least for the first two years. He broke new ground in pop and soul with the single "Chain Gang," a strange mix of sweet melodies and gritty, sweaty sensibilities that also introduced something of a social conscience to his work -- a number two hit on both the pop and R&B charts, it was his biggest hit since "You Send Me" and heralded a bolder phase in his career. Singles like bluesy, romantic "Sad Mood," the romantic soul of "Cupid," and the straight-ahead dance tune "Twistin' the Night Away", and "Bring It on Home to Me" all lived up to this promise, and also sold in huge numbers. But the first two albums that RCA had him do, Hits of the Fifties and Cooke's Tour, were among the lamest LPs ever recorded by any soul or R&B singer, comprised of washed-out pop tunes in arrangements that showed almost none of Cooke's gifts to their advantage.

Her rise to fame and privileged life also identify her as a tragic hero, the famous family that she was surrounded with helped her to develop her love for music and aided the jumpstart of her career. Finally, Whitney had personal and decisive flaws, including a lack of self esteem concerning her personal character and a poor spouse choice, which ultimately lead Whitney to experience a downfall that included alcoholism, drug abuse, and, eventually, death. America was left void of their hero, once a mere young girl with stunning talent, beauty, and

The woman who has influenced so many and has become an icon in the music industry. Whitney was born in a musical family who was the daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston, cousin of singing star Dionne Warwick and the goddaughter of soul legend Aretha Franklin. By the age of 22, Whitney became one the greatest female voices of her generation. Whitney was an artists who came alive and was able to express herself in full confidence when she was singing. When she performed she always look as though she was understood, at peace, and full of joy when she would sing. Houston was a beautiful woman with a powerhouse voice within her petite body, she had a way of making the audience respond in awe and pay

However, her second album, Tapestry, charted at #1 and won Album of the Year in 1971 [1]. Tapestry stayed at #1 on the charts for a record-setting 15 weeks and stayed in the top-100 albums for the next 6 years [1]. King’s next 4 albums all went gold (500,000+ copies sold) with a couple #1 hits from them [1]. As her albums received less attention, King began to shift her focus from music for a while until she wrote “The Reason” for Celine Dion in 1997 [1]. Since then, King has expanded her audience by touring in Japan with Mary J. Blige and Fergie in 2007 and doing the Troubadour Reunion Tour with James Taylor in 2010

The Queen of Neo-Soul released a second album the same year of “Baduizm”. This was her first LP album titled “Live” and it also went double platinum. The same release day of the album Badu gave birth to her first child, Seven Sirius. The hit song “Tyrone” became no. 1 for six weeks straight. The song was freestyled and loved by so many. Check out her live performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY2-mrsXgMM

Crowned as "The Queen of Soul", Aretha Franklin is one of the most honored female vocal artists of the last 50 years. She is an American soul singer, songwriter as well as a pianist. Her soulful, soaring voice has earned her mythic status over the years. It has been said that Aretha was a child prodigy of the golden age of gospel and was the anointed successor to gospel singers Clara Ward and Mahalia Jackson. Many idolize her and her musical intelligence to this day. She is said to be one of the most quintessential sounds of America alongside The Beetles, The Stones, and Louis Armstrong.

Following her arrest in early 2000, Whitney began having accountability issue with her career. She was consistently late or would miss interviews, photo shoots and rehearsals altogether. In one incident, she was suppose to perform at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but pulled out