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Vale: Whitney Houston

Singer, actress and Emmy Award winner Whitney Houston has died at the age of 48, on the eve of the Grammy Awards.

Singer and actress Whitney Houston has died at the age of 48, on the eve of the Grammy Awards.

A 911 call was made at 3:23am from the Beverly Hills Hilton hotel. Police arrived within 2 minutes but there were already hotel staff and emergency workers at the scene trying to a revive a person, later confirmed as Houston.

Houston was in LA ahead of the Grammy Awards tomorrow.

The cause of her death remains unknown but LA Police have ruled out criminal intent.

Houston’s career has been dogged by years of drug addiction, rehab, domestic abuse and marriage woes to singer Bobby Brown.

From the middle 1980s to the late 1990s, she was one of the world’s best-selling artists with iconic songs including The Greatest Love of AllSaving All My Love for You and a cover of I Will Always Love You. With her soaring voice she influenced a generation of younger singers, from Christina Aguilera to Mariah Carey.

She accrued more than 170 million records and won 2 Emmy Awards, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, and 22 American Music Awards.

But by the end of her career, Houston became a stunning cautionary tale of the toll of drug use. Her album sales plummeted and the hits stopped coming; her once serene image was shattered by a wild demeanor and bizarre public appearances. She confessed to abusing cocaine, marijuana and pills, and her once pristine voice became raspy and hoarse, unable to hit the high notes as she had during her prime.

During a recent tour of Australia she was slammed by critics and audiences for being unable to match her earlier reputation.

Houston also appeared as an actress in feature films including The Bodyguard and Waiting to Exhale.

In television she appeared as the Fairy Godmother in 1997’s telemovie Cinderella and even had an acting role in 1984’s Gimme a Break!

Last year a comeback appearance on Good Morning America went awry as Houston’s voice sounded ragged and off-key. She blamed an interview with Oprah Winfrey for straining her voice.

As recently as last week she was believed to have been approached as becoming a judge on The X Factor USA. She was also spotted at a pre-Grammy party on Thursday, hosted by singer Kelly Price at TRU Hollywood.

The Grammy Awards, which will undoubtedly now include a major tribute, can be seen Live on FOX8 from 12pm on Monday.

This post updates.

LifeLine: 13 11 14
Beyond Blue

Source: LA Times

8 Responses

  1. Whitney, as horrible as this is, maybe it’s better this way. Her ‘comeback’ was a bust. Her voice was lost forever from the drugs and smoking. Her rehab attempts didn’t work for long. The report above is she had been at least drinking the days before this happened. She may have made a fool of herself again at Clive’s party. The News said she was found in the bathtub of her Hotel Suite, so likely died peacefully and painlessly. Now she can be remembered fondly as she was at her height.

  2. I’d like to see how Today treat this news. They were really digging into her this morning, I felt sorry for her without knowing this news. Probably the exact time she was being rushed to hospital.

  3. @JM: The Bodyguard was last on GEM a few weeks ago. I’d expect that Nine may play it on the main channel maybe next Saturday night as a tribute. One of the only times I think it is acceptable to air a movie for the second run in such a short space of time.

    Sad news though, 48 is still very young.

  4. Rest In Peace, Whitney. 🙁
    Thank you for sharing your amazing talent with us.
    My deepest condolences go to your family, friends & fans.
    Gone Too Soon … 🙁

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