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Posted: 1:22 AM - Feb 12, 2012
tah71
Whitney Houston, Superstar of Records, Films, Dies

By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY AP Music Writer

LOS ANGELES February 12, 2012 (AP)

Whitney Houston, who reigned as pop music's queen until her majestic voice and regal image were ravaged by drug use, erratic behavior and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, has died. She was 48.

Publicist Kristen Foster said Saturday that the singer had died, but the cause and the location of her death were unknown.

At her peak, Houston the golden girl of the music industry. From the middle 1980s to the late 1990s, she was one of the world's best-selling artists. She wowed audiences with effortless, powerful, and peerless vocals that were rooted in the black church but made palatable to the masses with a pop sheen.

Her success carried her beyond music to movies, where she starred in hits like "The Bodyguard" and "Waiting to Exhale."

She had the he perfect voice, and the perfect image: a gorgeous singer who had sex appeal but was never overtly sexual, who maintained perfect poise.

She influenced a generation of younger singers, from Christina Aguilera to Mariah Carey, who when she first came out sounded so much like Houston that many thought it was Houston.

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.


"The biggest devil is me. I'm either my best friend or my worst enemy," Houston told ABC's Diane Sawyer in an infamous 2002 interview with then-husband Brown by her side.

It was a tragic fall for a superstar who was one of the top-selling artists in pop music history, with more than 55 million records sold in the United States alone.

She seemed to be born into greatness. She was the daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston, the cousin of 1960s pop diva Dionne Warwick and the goddaughter of Aretha Franklin.

Houston first started singing in the church as a child. In her teens, she sang backup for Chaka Khan, Jermaine Jackson and others, in addition to modeling. It was around that time when music mogul Clive Davis first heard Houston perform.

"The time that I first saw her singing in her mother's act in a club ... it was such a stunning impact," Davis told "Good Morning America."

"To hear this young girl breathe such fire into this song. I mean, it really sent the proverbial tingles up my spine," he added.

Before long, the rest of the country would feel it, too. Houston made her album debut in 1985 with "Whitney Houston," which sold millions and spawned hit after hit. "Saving All My Love for You" brought her her first Grammy, for best female pop vocal. "How Will I Know," ''You Give Good Love" and "The Greatest Love of All" also became hit singles.

Another multiplatinum album, "Whitney," came out in 1987 and included hits like "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" and "I Wanna Dance With Somebody."


The New York Times wrote that Houston "possesses one of her generation's most powerful gospel-trained voices, but she eschews many of the churchier mannerisms of her forerunners. She uses ornamental gospel phrasing only sparingly, and instead of projecting an earthy, tearful vulnerability, communicates cool self-assurance and strength, building pop ballads to majestic, sustained peaks
of intensity."

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wir ... zcUCVHRelI

Posted: 1:26 AM - Feb 12, 2012
emilin
(put the other one in here T! You WON! lol )


I Can´t Believe it!, seriusly

Posted: 1:26 AM - Feb 12, 2012
tah71
So sad, I can't believe it. One of my all time favorite singers. :(

Posted: 1:35 AM - Feb 12, 2012
tah71
emilin wrote:(put the other one in here T! You WON! lol )


I Can´t Believe it!, seriusly

Put your post in here.. I'm still figuring out the merge in this new forum. lol

Posted: 1:37 AM - Feb 12, 2012
_J_
WTF??????????????

Earlier today I saw some photos of her leaving a party and now she's dead. :(

She didn't look good and there were rumors that she was in a fight with an X Factor contestant.

WTF happened?

Damn. This is so sad.

R.I.P. Whitney.

Posted: 1:46 AM - Feb 12, 2012
emilin
Whitney Houston has died. She was 48.

The singing superstar's publicist Kristen Foster said Saturday that Houston died, but did not reveal the cause of death.

Earlier this week, the singer, a six-time Grammy winner, was spotted having a night out on the town in L.A. at "Kelly Price & Friends Unplugged: For The Love Of R&B Grammy Party" at Tru Hollywood. (From People.com)


http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos- ... 3832_n.jpg[/img] ( From E)

Posted: 1:52 AM - Feb 12, 2012
Go JLo
puffffff very very sad :(

I always loved whitney and her music, one of my big favourites...

Posted: 1:52 AM - Feb 12, 2012
RuRuLoVesJLO
So sad. It annoys me more that people are going to rush out and finally buy her music now that she's dead.

Posted: 1:58 AM - Feb 12, 2012
Rach Jenny Always Lo
How sad. R.I.P.

Posted: 2:08 AM - Feb 12, 2012
J.LO fan
Cant believe it!!! Wasted life and talent by taking drugs,so sad! R.I.P

Posted: 2:11 AM - Feb 12, 2012
JLOz1FaNaTiC
Whaaatttt!? Tell me this is just a sick rumor or a mistake?

I'm so shocked! I can't believe it! :(

Posted: 2:19 AM - Feb 12, 2012
danikaheartsjlo
so sad. May she RIP.... :'(

Posted: 2:26 AM - Feb 12, 2012
Jlonewbie
This is a joke right??I cant believe it!!so sad

I was listening to Jen singing One Moment In Time yesterday!!! Unbelievable!

Posted: 2:37 AM - Feb 12, 2012
JLOz1FaNaTiC
Guys I can't!



"The Voice" is gone! No other bitch could compare to the legendary Miss Whitney Houston, not today, and not ever!

R.I.P. Mama :(

Posted: 2:50 AM - Feb 12, 2012
danikaheartsjlo
Jennifer Lopez @JLo
Such a loss. One of the greatest voices of our time. Sending out prayers to her family... #R.I.P.Whitney.

Posted: 3:24 AM - Feb 12, 2012
_J_
Is anyone watching CNN?

When did Simon Cowell become a Whitney expert?

Piers Morgan has been interviewing Simon Cowell for almost an hour now. Simon annoys me.

Posted: 3:28 AM - Feb 12, 2012
danikaheartsjlo
I am! But its kinda interesting!

Posted: 3:50 AM - Feb 12, 2012
ijloveyou
Apparently, Whitney is not dead??

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/sto ... zc2cMX9N09

Whitney Houston's rep issued a shocked denial today to counter reports that the singer/actress has died

In a statement, her publicist, Nancy Seltzer, said, "I've just spoken to Whitney. She is perfectly fine and does not understand why, with everything going on in the world right now, they have to find new rumors to dig up. She is home in New Jersey with her family." Seltzer said people were calling the singer at home and sobbing, after apparently having heard reports of her death over the radio. According to the rumors, Houston had died of a drug overdose.


Fans and the media have speculated about Houston's health after her performance at Friday's Michael Jackson tribute concert at Madison Square Garden, where she appeared shockingly thin, even skeletal. The singer then bowed out of the second night of the concert without explanation, prompting heightened speculation about her health. Houston has long been rumored to have drug problems, and in Tuesday's edition of the New York Daily News — which was evidently published before horrific terrorist attacks brought the city to a standstill — Seltzer denied fresh reports that her celebrity client was on drugs.

"Whitney has been under stress due to family matters, and when she is under stress, she doesn't eat," Seltzer told the New York tab at the time.

Houston and her husband, singer Bobby Brown, have had a history of drug- and alcohol-related issues, including possession of marijuana charges for Houston in January 2000, which were later dismissed, and a 75-day stint in jail for Brown in 2000, after he violated his probation (stemming from 1996 drunken driving charges).

ABCNEWS.com's Buck Wolf contributed to this story.

Posted: 3:55 AM - Feb 12, 2012
tah71
^^ That article is old....Sept. 13!


She is deceased.

Posted: 4:20 AM - Feb 12, 2012
JLOz1FaNaTiC
You guys are fucking with me!


Posted: 4:58 AM - Feb 12, 2012
Yuya
No no nowaaaay!!! i can't believe this :twitcher

RIP Whitney, lost one of my idols!!!

:sorry:

Posted: 5:03 AM - Feb 12, 2012
sexyjlo
THEY ONLY CARE WHEN YOU DIED RIP WHITNEY

Posted: 5:41 AM - Feb 12, 2012
JLOz1FaNaTiC
Grammys 2012: Whitney's Tribute To Be Sung By J.Hud

Whitney Houston, who found fame as one of pop’s biggest voices, has died. She was 48.

Grammy executive producer Ken Erhlich and his team were scrambling Saturday night to find a poignant and proper way to mark the passing of Whitney Houston and their plan was to have Jennifer Hudson perform a "respectful musical tribute" on the CBS broadcast on Sunday night.

"It's too fresh in everyone's memory to do more at this time, but we would be remiss if we didn't recognize Whitney's remarkable contribution to music fans in general, and in particular her close ties with the Grammy telecast and her Grammy wins and nominations over the years," said Ehrlich, a key figure in the Grammys since the early 1980s.

Erhlich said it was difficult for him to watch the decline of Houston through the years as addiction and chaos took away too much of her golden success story and her singular voice.

"It's hard to think of an artist who had such an incredible instrument, not to mention beauty, which made her difficulties in recent years even harder to accept," Erhlich said.

Erhlich recalled one shaky night in New York when word of Houston's behavior leading up to the award show spurred him to visit her dressing room at Madison Square Garden to gauge her ability to perform -- he marveled to find that she had already pulled herself together.

A fonder memory was, in the 1980s, watching Grammy director Walter Miller show the young singer how to walk down a set of "TV stairs" -- they were the first ones she had ever navigated.

"She was like a young filly about to head out on the track for her first race, a race you knew she was not only going to win, but would set any number of records," Erhlich said.

Posted: 5:46 AM - Feb 12, 2012
Hypnotico
This is so sad
RIP Whitney :(

Posted: 7:02 AM - Feb 12, 2012
JLopez
So sad :(