Whitney Houston was born in Newark, New Jersey, on August 9, 1963. She was born to gospel singer Cissy Houston and John Houston, who split up when Whitney was in high school. The singer was surrounded by soul and gospel musicians as a child, especially her cousin Dionne Warwick and her godmother Aretha Franklin. The family lived in a middle class neighborhood in East Orange, New Jersey, and Houston initially attended public school, where she was often teased for her privileged background. She thrived after transferring to a private school in sixth grade and recalled the experience to Ebony Magazine saying: “I didn’t have to fight anybody and I didn’t have anybody who wanted to fight me. I hated hiding.”Her first professional music experience was touring in clubs with her mother as a teenager. By the age of 15 she had already contributed backing vocals in Chaka Khan’s original recording of “I’m Every Woman” as well as tracks with Lou Rawls and Jermaine Jackson. After a number of offers, she signed her first record deal with Arista in 1983.