History of American Pop Music
Through the past two decades in American history music has led the way in its influence of pop culture. The major types that have paved the way for other forms of music have been Rap or Hip-Hop, Rock, as well as Pop. These three have certainly left their mark on today’s culture, spawning television shows, magazines, and even whole networks. Music’s staple left in the side of America cannot be ignored, and will be forever felt in society. Each of the three major types of music leaves its stamp on today’s society in a different way. All have their own following and all have their own style.
In a historical context, American popular music has risen to the cultural heights of today out of a rich tradition combining musical expressions of other peoples. Fundamentally American popular music is the combination of mostly European and African musical traditions. If it hadn’t been for some of the social conditions evident since America’s beginnings, such as slavery, politics and racism, American pop music wouldn’t have developed into what we know today. When discussing American pop music it’s easy to imagine starting with the advent of rock and roll in the 1950's however, in order to truly understand how pop music developed it is essential to investigate musical history in America since America’s beginnings.
I'd like to introduce you american great, wonderful pop singer Whitney Houston.
Whitney Houston Biography is inarguably one of the of the biggest female pop stars of all time. Her accomplishments as a hitmaker are extraordinary; just to scratch the surface, she became the first artist ever to have seven consecutive singles hit number one, and her 1993 Dolly Parton cover "I Will Always Love You" became nothing less than the biggest hit single in rock history. Whitney Houston was able to handle big adult contemporary ballads, effervescent, stylish dance-pop, and slick urban contemporary with equal dexterity; the result was an across-the-board appeal that was matched by scant few artists of her era, and helped her become one of the first black artists to find success on MTV in Michael Jackson's wake. Like many of the original soul singers,Whitney Houston was trained in gospel before moving into secular music; over time, she developed a virtuosic singing style given over to swooping, flashy melodic embellishments. The shadow of Houston's prodigious technique still looms large over nearly every pop diva and smooth urban soul singer -- male or female -- in her wake, and spawned a legion of imitators (despite some critics' complaints about over-singing). Always more of a singles artist, Houston largely shied away from albums during the '90s, releasing the bulk of her most popular material on the soundtracks of films in which she appeared. By the end of the decade, she'd gone several years without a true blockbuster, yet her status as an icon was hardly diminished.
Whitney Elizabeth Houston was born in Newark, NJ, on August 9, 1963; her mother was singer Cissy Houston, and her cousin was Dionne Warwick. By age 11, Whitney Houston was performing as a soloist in the junior gospel choir at her Baptist church; as a teenager, she began accompanying her mother in concert (as well as on the 1978 album Think It Over), and went on to back artists like Lou Rawls and Chaka Khan Somewhat bizarrely, Houston's first recording as a featured vocalist was with Bill Laswell's experimental jazz-funk ensemble Material; their 1982 album One Down placed Whitney Houston alongside such unlikely avant-gardists as Archie Shepp and Fred Frith. The following year, Arista president Clive Davis heard Whitney Houston singing at a nightclub and offered her a record contract. Her first single appearance was a duet with Teddy Pendergrass, "Hold Me," which missed the Top 40 in 1984.
