Whitney Houston, whose soaring voice lifted her to the top of the pop music world but whose personal decline was fuelled by years of drug use, died Saturday afternoon in a Beverly Hills hotel room. She was 48.
The pop superstar died on the eve of the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles at the same hotel where her mentor, record mogul Clive Davis, was holding an annual pre-event party featuring scores of celebrities.
A dramatic scene unfolded at the Beverly Hilton hotel
as guests arriving for the party expressed shock at her death, while reporters swarmed the hotel, fans gathered outside to light candles and helicopters hovered overhead.
The Beverly Hills police said they were called to the Beverly Hilton at around 3.43 pm PST, and fire department personnel responded immediately. Houston was in her fourth-floor room but was unresponsive to CPR, and she was pronounced dead at 3.55 pm.
“She has been positively identified by friends and family, and next of kin notified,” the police said, adding there were no obvious signs of criminal intent.