Confirmed - Whitney Houston to Star in 'Sparkle' With Jordin Sparks

With over 170 million combined album, singles and videos sold worldwide during her career with Arista Records, Whitney Houston has established a benchmark for superstardom. It had been speculated that Houston would star opposite IN THE HEIGHTS alum Jordin Sparks in an upcoming remake of 1976's 'Sparkle,' and today Showbiz411 confirmed the rumor.

Houston will play Sparks's mother in the film, which will feature the original score from composer Curtis Mayfield. Salim Akil and Mara Brock Akil will serve as writer and director.

Jordin Sparks won FOX's American Idol at just 17 years old, and followed up with over 9 million singles sold to date. In 2010 she made her Broadway debut as Nina in IN THE HEIGHTS. 'Sparkle' will mark her silver screen debut.

Houston's career has consisted of record-setting achievements in music: the only artist to chart seven consecutive #1 Billboard Hot 100 hits ("Saving All My Love For You," "How Will I Know," "Greatest Love Of All," "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)," "Didn't We Almost Have It All," "So Emotional," and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go"); the first female artist to enter the Billboard 200 album chart at #1 (her second album, Whitney, 1987); and the only artist with seven consecutive multi-platinum albums (Whitney Houston, Whitney, I'm Your Baby Tonight, The Bodyguard, Waiting To Exhale, and The Preacher's Wife soundtracks, and My Love Is Your Love).

In fact, The Bodyguard soundtrack is one of the top 10 biggest-selling albums of all-time (at 17x-platinum in the U.S. alone), and Whitney's career-defining version of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" is the biggest-selling U.S. single of all-time (at 4x-platinum).

 

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