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The year 2000, and the long-awaited release of WHITNEY ¡X THE GREATEST HITS commemorates the 15th anniversary year of Arista Records' all-time best-selling artist, Whitney Houston. Her status was reaffirmed when the "Soul Train" Music Awards named her the Female Artist Of the Decade at their annual ceremonies in March. It was 15 years ago when "You Give Good Love" entered the Billboard Hot Black Singles chart on March 9, 1985, eventually going to #1 and hitting RIAA Gold. The self-titled Whitney Houston album entered the Top 200 (pop) album chart on March 30th, went to #1 for 14 weeks, and now stands at 13-times Platinum. Today, with combined sales in the U.S. of 75 million records and home videos, and total worldwide sales of nearly 140 million units, Whitney's position as one of pop music's most successful figures is unchallenged.

The timing couldn't be better for the release of WHITNEY ¡X THE GREATEST HITS, a definitive collection that boasts newly-recorded material with Enrique Iglesias, George Michael, fellow Arista artist Deborah Cox, and Q-Tip. This multimedia series comprises three separate releases that encompass Whitney's success as a mainstay on the pop and R&B singles front (with two CDs/cassettes), in the clubs as a remixer's delight (with a limited edition four-record vinyl box-set), and as a screen presence since she began her career at the label (on VHS home-video and interactive DVD).

The double-CD/cassette version of WHITNEY ¡X THE GREATEST HITS is a 36-track collection that comprises one volume of single hits (Cool Down) and another volume of memorable club mixes (Throw Down), both spanning her entire career to date. Newly-recorded for the occasion are duets with Enrique Iglesias (the Diane Warren composition, "Could I Have This Kiss Forever") and Arista label-mate Deborah Cox ("Same Script, Different Cast"), plus a new version of "If I Told You That" (from My Love Is Your Love) that was reconfigured by producer Rodney Jerkins as a duet with George Michael.

Spanning 1985 to 2000, WHITNEY ¡X THE GREATEST HITS also includes hard-to-find rarities such as "One Moment In Time," the 1988 Summer Olympics theme; 1991's Super Bowl XXV version of "The Star Spangled Banner"; and a 1986 duet with Jermaine Jackson ("If You Say My Eyes Are Beautiful") that was only released on his second Arista album, Precious Moments, never as a single.

The two CDs (and cassettes) are programmed so that each volume displays the full range of Whitney's career. Disc 1 (Cool Down), for example, builds from her first hits of 1985, "You Give Good Love," "Saving All My Love For You," and "Greatest Love Of All," all the way to the year 2000. Disc 2 (Throw Down) recaps the hits from My Love Is Your Love ¡X with club remixes of "It¡¦s Not Right But It's Okay," "My Love Is Your Love," "Heartbreak Hotel" (featuring Faith Evans & Kelly Price), and "I Learned From The Best" ¡X then presents remixes of ten more hits from Whitney's repertoire. The remixes show off the talents of such masters as Junior Vasquez, David Morales, Jellybean, Hex Hector, C+C Music Factory's Clivilles and Cole, and others.

These remixers are showcased on WHITNEY ¡X THE UNRELEASED MIXES, a special limited-edition four-record vinyl box-set that acknowledges the importance of her music in clubs around the world. There are seven songs, eight mixes, one track on each side of four 12-inch vinyl discs ¡X comprising "How Will I Know," "Greatest Love Of All," "I¡¦m Every Woman," "Love Will Save the Day," "I Will Always Love You," "So Emotional," and "I'm Your Baby Tonight."

WHITNEY ¡X THE GREATEST HITS is also the title of Whitney¡¦s first DVD and VHS home-video collection. Each version reprises the lion¡¦s share of Whitney¡¦s hits in the course of its 19 titles, a combination of video clips (with such noted directors as Wayne Isham, Peter Israelson, Julien Temple, Randee St. Nicholas, Brian Grant, and Kevin Bray), and live performances. On the digital side, the DVD (with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Audio) utilizes interactive technology to provide song lyrics and cutting-edge multi-media content. The main menu provides links to such rarities as the star's premiere television performance (on "The Merv Griffin Show" in 1985), appearances on several awards shows, a tune from Disney¡¦s Rogers & Hammerstein¡¦s Cinderella (1997), interview segments featuring Whitney and her co-producer, Arista president Clive Davis, and much more.

The audio volumes of GREATEST HITS draw from Whitney¡¦s first three studio albums, Whitney Houston (1985, now certified 13-times RIAA Platinum), Whitney (1987, 4x-Platinum), and I¡¦m Your Baby Tonight (1990, 4x-Platinum); then Whitney's three original soundtrack albums, The Bodyguard (1992, 17x-Platinum), Waiting To Exhale (1995, 7x-Platinum), and The Preacher's Wife (1996, 3x-Platinum), and her most recent My Love Is Your Love (1998, 3x-Platinum). Whitney's U.S. album sales currently total nearly 60 million copies. Add to this figure: 12 RIAA Gold and 5 Platinum singles, the 4-times Platinum "I Will Always Love You" single, one Gold home video and two Platinum home videos ¡X and the total is 75 million units sold in the U.S. alone. In territories outside the U.S., Whitney has sold more than 50 million albums and more than 10 million singles.

As the millennium begins, GREATEST HITS pays homage to a gifted artist whose musical breadth knows no boundaries. Singing to audiences on every continent, Whitney Houston has won her worldwide following the old-fashioned way, digging deep down into her soul and finding common threads with her millions of fans.

Whitney Houston Biography - More To Come :  The Biography will keep on updating as Whitney's life goes on....

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