<P> On February 11, 2012, Houston was found dead in her guest room at the Beverly Hilton, in Beverly Hills, California . The official coroner's report showed that she had accidentally drowned in the bathtub, with heart disease and cocaine use listed as contributing factors . News of her death coincided with the 2012 Grammy Awards and featured prominently in American and international media . </P> <P> Whitney Houston was born on August 9, 1963, in what was then a middle - income neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey . She was the daughter of Army serviceman and entertainment executive John Russell Houston, Jr . (September 13, 1920--February 2, 2003), and gospel singer Emily "Cissy" (Drinkard) Houston . Her elder brother Michael is a singer, and her elder half - brother is former basketball player Gary Garland . Her parents were both African American . Through her mother, Houston was a first cousin of singers Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick . Her godmother was Darlene Love and her honorary aunt was Aretha Franklin, whom she met at age 8 or 9 when her mother took her to a recording studio . Houston was raised a Baptist, but was also exposed to the Pentecostal church . After the 1967 Newark riots, the family moved to a middle - class area in East Orange, New Jersey, when she was four . Her parents' marriage later ended in divorce . </P> <P> At the age of 11, Houston started performing as a soloist in the junior gospel choir at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, where she also learned to play the piano . Her first solo performance in the church was "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah". When Houston was a teenager, she attended Mount Saint Dominic Academy, a Catholic girls' high school in Caldwell, New Jersey, where she met her best friend Robyn Crawford, whom she described as the "sister she never had". While Houston was still in school, her mother continued to teach her how to sing . Houston was also exposed to the music of Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, and Roberta Flack, most of whom would have an influence on her as a singer and performer . </P> <P> Houston spent some of her teenage years touring nightclubs where her mother, Cissy, was performing, and she would occasionally get on stage and perform with her . In 1977, at age 14, she became a backup singer on the Michael Zager Band's single "Life's a Party". In 1978, at age 15, Houston sang background vocals for Chaka Khan and Lou Rawls . </P>

What inspired whitney houston to become a singer
find me the text answering this question