Whitney Houston on Her Childhood, Her Voice

Dec. 9 -- Whitney Houston — a singer who sells out concert arenas — first found her destiny when she began holding secret concerts at the bottom of an empty swimming pool as a little girl.

She was about 7 years old, growing up in Newark, N.J.

"In our back yard we had this massive pool, and I would go to the bottom of the pool and I would sing, 'cause it had great acoustics," Houston said in an interview with ABCNEWS' Diane Sawyer. "And at about seven or eight I knew I could … I could really sing, but I wouldn't tell anybody."

But her secret wasn't as secret as she hoped.

"My mother knew it, and she'd go, 'I know you can sing,'" Houston recalled. "I said, 'No, I can't.' She says, 'yes, you can.' And then, she made me do a solo in church. And, there it is.'"

Houston, who became a pop sensation at age 19, is coming back with a new album called Just Whitney. She is not that concerned about how it does on the charts.

"I'm not looking for hit records anymore," Houston said. "Don't get me wrong. I want hit records. And it's cool to have them. But what I'm looking for mostly are songs that inspire people, that really give people hope, and that they truly hear someone who's singing from their soul, from their heart."

A Perfectionist Mom

Whitney's mother, Cissy Houston, was a gospel and blues great who not only had daughter Whitney singing solos in church, but also on her breakthrough appearance on the Merv Griffin Show.

"I'll never forget, I sang "Home," the song 'Home,'" Houston said. But during that performance, her mother was behind the curtains, frustrated at how slow the band was playing. So, she took over herself.

"She directed the whole band, and she's doing the whole thing," Houston said. "It's the funniest thing ever. It's the funniest thing ever."

Her mother went to those lengths because she wanted the performance to be the best it could be.

"She just wanted it to be right for me," Houston said. "Perfect. The best."