Whitney Elizabeth Houston, age 48, has died in her room at the Beverly Hilton. According to her publicist, Kristen Foster, the cause of death has not been determined at this point. Foster said that Houston had been expected to attend the pre-Grammy party held by Clive Davis that evening. Officials have ruled out foul play at this point.

Whitney had been born into musical royalty, the daughter of gospel great, Cissy Houston, goddaughter of Aretha Franklin and the cousin of Dionne Warwick. She had already started a successful modeling career when she was discovered and signed to the Arista record label in 1983. Clive Davis said that he knew she would be a mega star and worked with her to find the right sound, songs and more before her first album, a self titled debut was released in 1985. The song, " You Give Good Love" went to the Top Five, the follow up single, " Saving All My Love for You" went to Number One. Two other songs from that album also charted. That debut album would also give Houston three nominations for the Grammy awards, including one for Best Album. She walked away with the Top Female Pop Vocal award and would win a later award for her performance on the show.

In 1987, her second album would spawn four number one hits and sell nine million copies. But, of all of her singing successes before and after that point, it is her performance of the Star Spangled Banner to kick off the 1991 Super Bowl that would become the standard not only for her own vocals but for all other performers of the nation's anthem ever since with few ever even coming close to that glorious, almost chilling moment.

The following year, Houston would make a move to acting with her performance in the Body Guard, starring alongside Kevin Costner. The movie would gross over $121 million dollars. Houston's amazing cover of Dolly Parton's song, " I will Always Love You" became a major hit and two more top five hits came from the film's soundtrack. It also won three Grammy awards. That year, Houston married Bobby Brown, a marriage that would last fourteen years before falling apart amidst drug and emotional abuse allegations, run ins with the police and at least one stint in rehab. The Bravo network had filmed a reality show Being Bobby Brown in 2005, but the show was cancelled after Whitney stopped participating.

In 2009, Whitney had returned to the studio for her first album in nearly seven years. She also spoke to Oprah about the emotional abuse that she had endured during her marriage and her hopes to get her life back on track.