Whitney Elizabeth Houston was born August 9, 1963 and is one of the biggest R&B/pop singers and actresses in the world. The starlett is celebrating her 47 birthday today. Whitney’s soulful roots came from her mother Cissy Houston, cousins Dee Dee and Dionne Warwick, and godmother Aretha Franklin. Houston began singing at her New Jersey church as a member of a junior gospel choir at age eleven. After she began performing alongside her mother at night clubs in the New York City area, she was discovered by Arista Records label head Clive Davis… and the rest is history. Whitney we love you, get off that stuff, put them cigarettes down, and come back to us.