Whitney Houston Trivia
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49 free Whitney Houston trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
51 free Whitney Houston trivia questions with answers. Whitney Houston sold more than 220 million records, put seven consecutive singles at number one and turned a Dolly Parton song into the best-selling single ever by a woman. This quiz covers her whole story: the Newark church choir and her mother Cissy, the Seventeen cover, the night Clive Davis saw her at Sweetwaters, the debut album that spent 14 weeks at number one, the MTV breakthrough, the Super Bowl XXV anthem, The Bodyguard and its soundtrack, the Waiting to Exhale and Preacher's Wife years, Cinderella, The Princess Diaries, the $100 million Arista deal, the marriage to Bobby Brown, the 'crack is whack' interview, the comeback with I Look to You, and the Beverly Hilton in February 2012. Easy questions cover the hits and films everyone knows. Medium ones ask about chart records, awards and collaborators. Hard ones want the name of her production company, the song she sang at her first solo church performance, the airport where the marijuana was found, and which cousin sang opera. Every answer has been checked against a reference biography, and each question shows its explanation and citation once you have answered.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which New Jersey city was Whitney Houston born in 1963?
Newark
Newark is home to New Hope Baptist Church, where she first sang in the choir her mother directed, and where her 2012 funeral was held.
Q 02Which Grammy-winning singer, founder of The Sweet Inspirations, was Whitney Houston's mother?
Cissy Houston
Cissy Houston; as a teenager Whitney sang backup, then solos, in her mother's nightclub act, which brought her first record offers.
Q 03Which of these famous singers was Houston's cousin?
Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick; Whitney's mother and her group, The Sweet Inspirations, sang backup on Warwick's early records.
Q 04What nickname did Whitney Houston's family and friends use for her as a child?
Nippy
Nippy; her parents turned down her first record offers, insisting she finish high school before signing anything.
Q 05Which vocal technique is Whitney Houston widely credited with popularising in mainstream pop?
Melisma
Melisma; the early 'I' in her 'I Will Always Love You' stretches across notes for nearly six seconds, and talent-show hopefuls copied the style for years.
Q 06Before Halle Berry played her for HBO, Houston had hoped to film which actress's life story?
Dorothy Dandridge
Dorothy Dandridge; Houston held the rights to a biography of the star and spent years trying to persuade studios to make the film.
Q 07As a model in 1981, Houston became one of the first Black women on the cover of which magazine?
Seventeen
Seventeen; she had been scouted in New York, and a modelling agency signed her.
Q 08Which record executive signed Houston to Arista in 1983 after seeing her perform in a New York nightclub?
Clive Davis
Clive Davis; he then spent two years finding producers and songwriters for her debut album before releasing it in 1985.
Q 09In 1984, Houston's duet 'Hold Me' paired her with which soul star, back after a 1982 car crash?
Teddy Pendergrass
Teddy Pendergrass; the crash had left him paralysed, and in 1985 he returned to the stage at Live Aid in a wheelchair.
Q 10Whose manager demanded half the publishing for a cover of 'I Will Always Love You'?
Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley; the songwriter refused Colonel Tom Parker's terms, and nearly two decades later Houston's version became a worldwide number one.
Q 11Which advice columnist cited Houston's first single, 'You Give Good Love', among songs with suggestive titles?
Ann Landers
Ann Landers; Houston answered in the Chicago Tribune that the columnist had judged the title without listening to the song.
Q 12Houston's first Grammy came for which song, in the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance category?
Saving All My Love for You
Saving All My Love for You; in its video she plays a woman in love with a married man, a role she said did not mirror her own life.
Q 13Which Houston video became her first in heavy rotation on MTV, helping break the channel's color barrier for Black women?
How Will I Know
Q 21Who played the title role opposite Houston in her 1992 film debut, The Bodyguard?
Kevin Costner
Kevin Costner; he pushed for the unaccompanied opening of 'I Will Always Love You', an idea producer David Foster first called ridiculous.
Q 22'I Will Always Love You' was written and originally recorded by which country star?
Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton; the film's big ballad was meant to be 'What Becomes of the Brokenhearted' until that song went to Fried Green Tomatoes.
Q 23Houston's 1993 hit 'I'm Every Woman', from The Bodyguard, covered which singer's 1978 original?
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan; as a teenager Houston had done studio work singing backup for Khan.
How Will I Know; the video's exposure on MTV brought her a new teenage audience.
Q 14Whitney (1987) made Houston the first woman to do what?
Debut at number one on the Billboard 200
Debut at number one on the Billboard 200; yet Rolling Stone's review called the album 'smug, repressive and ridiculously safe'.
Q 15Houston's seven straight number ones broke a record shared by the Bee Gees and which band?
The Beatles
The Beatles; her record-breaking seventh, 'Where Do Broken Hearts Go', was a ballad she at first doubted had enough depth.
Q 16'One Moment in Time', a UK number one for Houston, was recorded as a theme for which event?
The 1988 Seoul Olympics
It won her a Sports Emmy and was a top five hit in the US.
Q 17Houston performed at a 1988 Wembley tribute concert marking the 70th birthday of which anti-apartheid leader?
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela; after his election as president, she played three concerts in South Africa in 1994.
Q 18Which production duo gave Houston's 1990 third album its more urban sound?
L.A. Reid and Babyface
L.A. Reid and Babyface; they set out to give her a new direction, amid talk that her pop hits had lost touch with Black listeners.
Q 19At which event did Houston sing 'The Star-Spangled Banner' in 1991?
Super Bowl
Super Bowl; the single of that performance was reissued after the September 11 attacks and climbed to number six on the Hot 100.
Q 20Houston donated her proceeds from the 1991 national anthem single to which organisation?
The American Red Cross
The American Red Cross; that spring she also staged Welcome Home Heroes, an HBO concert for returning Gulf War troops and their families in Virginia.
Q 24Which instrument takes the solo on Houston's recording of 'I Will Always Love You'?
Saxophone
Saxophone; Kirk Whalum played it, and for the film scene Houston sang the song live rather than lip-syncing.
Q 25Houston's 1996 Christmas comedy with Denzel Washington updated which 1948 movie?
The Bishop's Wife
She earned $10 million, then the most for a Black actress, and its soundtrack is the best-selling gospel album ever.
Q 26In the 1997 TV film Cinderella, which she also co-produced, Houston played which role?
The Fairy Godmother
The Fairy Godmother; Houston also hand-picked Brandy to play Cinderella in the film.
Q 27Houston's sixth and final competitive Grammy, in 2000, was for which song?
It's Not Right but It's Okay
It's Not Right but It's Okay; in June 1999 she made a surprise appearance at New York's Pride dance to sing it.
Q 28Houston's production company co-produced which 2001 Disney teen comedy?
The Princess Diaries
The Princess Diaries; its success led Houston and Debra Martin Chase to produce the 2004 sequel as well.
Q 29Houston's 2000 duet 'If I Told You That' paired her with which British star?
George Michael
George Michael; producer Rodney Jerkins had first planned the duet with the King of Pop, and George Michael was the next pick.
Q 30Houston married which R&B singer in 1992?
Bobby Brown
Bobby Brown; when they divorced in 2007, Houston won custody of their daughter, Bobbi Kristina.