Whitney Houston Essentials

The daughter of gospel icon Cissy Houston transformed R&B in the mid-'80s. An unbroken string of emotion-drenched ballads and upbeat, flirty dance-pop tunes set the standard for a generation of female singers trying to match her vocal firepower. Her fame peaked with 1992's The Bodyguard, her first film, which introduced her signature song, a spellbinding cover of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You." A troubled marriage to R&B star Bobby Brown and much-publicized personal problems overtook her later in life; she was on the path to a comeback at the time of her death in February 2012.