b. 7 May 1946, Leland, Mississippi, USA. Houston left her home town of Leland, Mississippi, in the late 60s to tour with the gospel group the Art Reynolds Singers. Her impassioned vocal style and innate mastery of phrasing, most notably on the 1966 single ‘Glory Glory Hallelujah’, brought her to the attention of the prodigal songwriter/arranger Jimmy Webb in 1969. He composed and produced Sunshower, a remarkable song cycle that also included an adaptation of the Rolling Stones’ ‘Jumping Jack Flash’. The album transcended musical barriers, mixing the fluency of jazz with the passion of soul, and offering Houston the chance to bite into a sophisticated, witty set of lyrics.
The critical acclaim afforded Sunshower helped Houston to secure a recording contract with Motown Records. Initially, the company made inadequate use of her talents, failing to provide material that would stretch her vocal capacities to the full. The stasis was broken in 1976 when Houston reworked ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’, previously a hit for Harold Melvin And The Bluenotes. Her disco interpretation brought a refreshing touch of class to the genre, achieving impressive sales on both sides of the Atlantic and topping the US pop charts. Ever enthusiastic to repeat a winning formula, Motown made several attempts to reproduce the verve of the hit single. Houston issued a series of interesting, if slightly predictable, albums in the late 70s, and also collaborated on two efforts with Jerry Butler, in an attempt to echo Motown’s great duets of the 60s. The results were consistent sellers among the black audience, without ever threatening to rival Houston’s earlier pop success.
A switch to RCA Records failed to alter Houston’s fortunes. She enjoyed wider exposure in the late 70s with film roles in the television movie Death Scream and Game Show Models, and for a while it seemed as if acting would become her main source of employment. She retired from recording during the mid-80s, re-emerging in 1987 on MCA with a critically acclaimed but commercially disappointing album. An album for Reprise Records in 1990 suffered the same fate. Houston’s inconsistent chart record belies the impressive calibre of her vocal talents.
