Whitney Houston 1963-2012

Whitney Houston has died at 48.

The R’n’B singer’s press officer Kristen Foster confirmed the news to AP on 11th February. Gossip site TMZ is reporting that Houston died at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles. No details on the cause of her death have been released. According to the LA Times, she was due to attend record producer Clive Davis’ pre-Grammys party at the hotel, alongside the likes of Quincy Jones, Tony Bennett, Akon, Cee Lo Green, Miley Cyrus, Jennifer Hudson, Jackson Browne and Elvis Costello. Houston herself had won six Grammy Awards. Her death is likely to make a huge impact on this year’s ceremony, which takes place tonight (February 12). Davis was the man who ‘discovered’ Houston when she was singing in New York nightclubs as a teenager.

Whitney Houston, who sold 200 million albums worldwide, famously battled drug addiction throughout her career. She leaves behind one child, Bobbi Kristina, whose father is her ex-husband, singer Bobby Brown. The pair were married from 1992 until 2007.

Born in 1963 in Newark, New Jersey, she went on to release her debut, self-titled album in 1985. She released seven albums in all, her last being 2009’s ‘I Look To You’. Bought up in a musical family, her mother Cissy Houston is a soul and gospel singer and her cousin is Dionne Warwick. Houston’s godmother is Aretha Franklin. Producer Quincy Jones said of Houston’s death:

“I am absolutely heartbroken at the news of Whitney’s passing. I always regretted not having had the opportunity to work with her. She was a true original and a talent beyond compare. I will miss her terribly.”