Los Angeles (Antara Bali) - Whitney Houston, whose soaring voice lifted her to the top of the pop music world but whose personal decline was fueled by years of drug use, died on Saturday afternoon in a Beverly Hills hotel room. She was 48.
The cause of her death was under investigation Saturday night, the eve of the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. Houston died at the same hotel where her mentor, record mogul Clive Davis, was holding an annual pre-event party featuring scores of music industry 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 in her memory and helicopters hovered overhead.
Beverly Hills police said they were called to the Beverly Hilton at around 3:43 p.m. PST, and fire department personnel who were already at the location responded immediately. Houston was in her fourth-floor room but was unresponsive to CPR, and she was pronounced dead at 3:55 p.m.
"She has been positively identified by friends and family (who) were with her at the hotel, and next of kin have already been notified," Lieutenant Mark Rosen told reporters. Police said there were no obvious signs of criminal intent.
Tributes poured in from around the world for a singer whose remarkable vocal power and range produced some of the most memorable music of her generation, including her signature hit, "I Will Always Love You."
"I don't have to mask my emotion in front of a room full of so many dear friends," Davis told a somber crowd at his gala dinner and party just hours after Houston's death. "I am personally devastated by the loss of someone who has meant so much to me for so many years."
Neil Portnow, president of the Recording Academy, which runs the Grammys, told Reuters that producers for the music industry's top honors were working on ways to pay tribute to the singer in front of the many fans and friends who will be in attendance or watching on television.(IGT)
