Two Emmy Awards, Six Grammy Awards, 22 American Music Awards and 30 Billboard Music Awards: Whitney Houston's career as a recording artist, model and actress has been celebrated, to say the least.
After growing up in New Jersey singing in the church choir alongside family members and mentors such as Cissy Houston, Dionne Warwick and Aretha Franklin, Houston made it big on her own after record producer Clive Davis signed her in 1983.
Since then, Houston has gone on to become one of the top-selling artists in pop music history, with more than 55 million records sold in the United States alone and movies such as "The Bodyguard" on her resumé.
But after worldwide success came erratic behavior and self-confessed drug use.
"The biggest devil is me. I'm either my best friend or my worst enemy," Houston told Diane Sawyer in a now infamous 2002 interview where she coined her catchphrase, "crack is wack."
Just this week, Houston was spotted out with her 18-year-old daughter, Bobbi Kristina, at a party in Hollywood and was expected to attend Saturday night's Clive Davis pre-Grammy party.
But on the eve of the Grammy Awards, Houston was found dead in a bathtub in her hotel room at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. The superstar was just 48-years-old.
Let's take a look back at Whitney Houston's "so emotional" journey through the years.
1963: Whitney is born in New Jersey to gospel singer Cissy Houston and entertainment exec John Russell Houston, Jr. At the urging of her cousin, singer Dionne Warwick, and godmother, Aretha Franklin, Whitney joins the church choir.
1978: At age 15, Whitney sang background vocals on Chaka Khan's hit single "I'm Every Woman," a song she would later turn into a huge hit for herself on "The Bodyguard" soundtrack.
1981: At age 18 before she was a famous singer, Whitney appeared as a model (and first African American person ever) on the cover of Seventeen Magazine.
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