Whitney Houston, who ruled as pop music's queen until her majestic voice and regal image were ravaged by drug use, has died at the age of 48.Whitney Houston, the multimillion-selling singer who emerged in the 1980s as one of her generation’s greatest R & B voices, only to deteriorate through years of cocaine use and an abusive marriage, died on Saturday in Los Angeles. Her death was confirmed by her publicist, Kristen Foster.
She was 48, and had been in Los Angeles on Saturday to sing for the annual pre-Grammy party held at the Beverly Hilton hotel by Clive Davis, the founder of Arista Records, who had been her pop mentor.
Ms. Houston was declared dead in her room at the hotel about 4 p.m. after paramedics from the Beverly Hills Fire Department spent close to 30 minutes trying to revive her, the authorities said. There was no immediate word on the cause of her death.
The streets in front of the Beverly Hilton, already crowded because of the Grammy Awards party taking place there, were swarmed with reporters and fans, drawn by the news of this latest high-profile pop star dying in Los Angeles.
Partygoers and celebrities continued to arrive for Mr. Davis’s party while fans stood behind a rope trying to take pictures. Dressed in evening gowns and tuxedos, people stepped out of limousines at the curbside and streamed into the party.
From the first, Ms. Houston had the talent, looks and pedigree of a pop superstar. She was the daughter of Cissy Houston, a gospel and pop singer who had backed up Aretha Franklin, and the cousin of Dionne Warwick. (Ms. Franklin is Ms. Houston’s godmother.)
Ms. Houston’s range spanned five octaves, and her voice was plush, vibrant and often spectacular. She could pour on the exuberant flourishes of gospel or peal a simple pop chorus; she could sing sweetly or unleash a sultry rasp.
Dressed in everything from formal gowns to T-shirts, she cultivated the image of a fun-loving but ardent good girl, the voice behind songs as perky as “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” and as torchy as what became her signature song, a version of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You.”
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