fans heard a little churchiness in her, they were right. the bell clear voice of little whitney houston had filled the churches around newark, new jersey, since she was a child. a soloist at a choir. she was the youngest of three of the great gospel singer, cessi houston. her god mother, aretha franklin. there is no greater gospel, soul, r & b singer to learn from, and whitney wasn t learning from her records the way that other people do, she was learning from her god mother. with a pedigree like that and the gift of a voice like few others, by her late teens, she was in recording studios singing back-up vocals for chaka khan.