Whitney Houston, an amazing singer and beauty, dies in Beverly Hills hotel room, United States, aged 48

She shot up like a meteor and burned out still in her prime. Those words describe the life of Whitney Houston, 48, the iconic singer, who died Saturday, February 11, 2012. Houston died on the eve of the Grammy Awards, which she was billed to attend. She had earlier attended a series of pre-Grammy parties, performed briefly at one of the parties and stayed up nearly all night at the hotel bar on the eve of her death.

Houston was found slumped in the bathtub of her room by a member of her entourage shortly before the start of a party thrown by Clive Davis, a legendary producer, at the hotel. Though preliminary police investigation has ruled out criminal intent in her death, her corpse had been moved to the coroner’s office for an autopsy to determine the cause of death.  The coroner later ruled out foul play in her death even though prescription tranquilisers were reportedly found in her Beverly Hills hotel room. Her body was later fiown to Newark, New Jersey, for funeral rites.

Houston’s death has left many of her fans and loved ones heartbroken. Bobby Brown, Whitney’s ex-husband broke down in tears on stage after he got the news but went on with his performance in a concert with New Edition, his band mates. At the end of the song, a teary eyed Brown shouted “I love you Whitney” and blew a kiss to the sky. During another song with the group, Brown broke down in tears and said “missed you!”

David Foster, producer, said: “There is not a word that can describe my reaction. It does not exist in English language. This was the voice that the producers dreamt to work with. I got butterflies. She was pure magic, an icon.”

Celine Dion, a popular pop artiste, simply said: “I’m in shock. Whitney was such an amazing artiste when I started my career; I wanted to be like her, I loved her so much.”

George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam, who wrote two of Houston’s biggest hits: How Will I Know and l Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who loves Me), paid tributes to her “matchless” voice. “I am grateful to her and always for the gifts she brought to my life by recording - by so thoroughly rocking-our two songs,”they said.

P. Diddy, a hip hop singer, recalled the time he spent with the late star, saying: “She always hit you with that beautiful smile, she gave you that hug that you know.” He described the deceased as “simple and humble, “ l really can’t believe this . This is one of the saddest days  ever.” 

Berry Gordy, financier of Motown Records said: “Whitney Houston was not only an amazing artiste but a beautiful person. Her knowledge and appreciation for the musical art form was remarkable. We always had wonderful conversations about life and the business, I will miss her.” She sang many  songs  including How Will I Know, All My Love For You; The Greatest  Love Of All; I Wanna  Dance With Somebody  (Who Love Me ) and You Give Good Love.

Houston won six Grammy Awards including three For Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, 30 billboard awards and 22 American Music Awards and  I Will Always Love You, her famous song, remains the best selling single so far by a female artiste.

Until her death, Houston, who started life with an impressive promise, later had her career dotted with series of controversies. The daughter of Cissy Houston, a gospel singer, she hit the music scene at the age of five with gospel songs in the New Hope Baptist Church in New Jersey. She spent her youthful career as back-up to such artistes as Chaka Khan, Lou Rawls and her mother.  Houston was born with unusually good musical genes.

At the age of 19, she was almost signed up on the spot in Manhattan night club due to her impressive performance by Clive Davis, head of Arista Records. Davis bankrolled Houston’s first epic album which was released in 1985. It became the biggest selling album by a debut artiste and she was later acclaimed as the soul singer of all time.

In 1992, she delved into acting and starred in the Bodyguard whose sound track was rated one of the top 10 biggest selling albums. Another hit, I Will Always Love You, was the Grammy Record of the Year and remained at the top of the chart for weeks.

But her career started to sink into controversy when Houston married Bobby Brown, a Hip Hop singer, with whom she got Bobbi Kristina, her only daughter. The relationship between the two became a public spectacle. Brown, known for his “bad boy “lifestyle, later infected Houston with the same habit. Both of them became heavily addicted to heroine and other hard substances. While their drug habit lasted, the two were also having troubled times with their marriage. After 15 years in wedlock, Brown and Houston finally went their separate ways in a divorce suit in April 2007.

The legendary singer later blamed her jealous ex-husband for many of her problems including why she went into substance abuse. This affected her voice which was once acknowledged as one of the finest in pop music. Her behaviour became more and more erratic. Houston’s once flawless voice became raspy and shattered by drug use in her later career. She was unable to hit the high notes for which she had become famous. Rumours later surfaced that Houston had developed an inconsistent mentality; that she was difficult to work with and increasingly unpunctual.    

Houston checked into rehab clinics twice before declaring herself drug free in 2010, but in the interim, she missed concert dates and was stopped at an airport due to drugs. Houston famously told ABC’s  Diane Sawyer in 2002:  “The biggest devil is me.  I’m either my best friend or my worst enemy”,

Houston tried to stage a comeback with the 2009 album “I Look To You,” but things fell apart when she could not perform well in a series of concerts scheduled to promote the album. The rest of the shows were later cancelled.