R.I.P. Whitney Houston

The Associated Press reports that Whitney Houston has died. The singer's representatives confirmed her passing to the A.P. today and said the cause of death was not known; she was 48.

 

Beverly Hills Police Lieutenant Mark Rosen told the AP that Houston had died in her room earlier today on the fourth floor of the Beverly Hilton hotel. Two days ago, she performed at a pre-Grammys party with Kelly Price; according to the AP, a source connected with tomorrow night's Grammys ceremony said she was at the show's rehearsals on Thursday, coaching singers Brandy and Monica, and that she was sweating profusely, with her breath smelling like liquor and cigarettes.

 

Houston released her self-titled debut in 1985, which featured the singles  "Saving All My Love for You" (which won Houston her first Grammy, for Best Female Pop Vocal), "How Will I Know", "The Greatest Love of All", and "You Give Good Love". Whitney followed in 1987 and included the singles "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" and "I Wanna Dance With Somebody". Houston notably performed "The Star Spangled Banner" at the Super Bowl in 1991, during the first Gulf War.

 

In 1992, Houston starred alongside Kevin Costner in the film The Bodyguard; the movie's soundtrack featured Houston's famed rendition of Dolly Parton's, "I Will Always Love You". That year, Houston also married singer Bobby Brown and the couple had a child, Bobbi Kristina, in 1993. Houston appeared in two more films in the 1990s: 1995's Waiting to Exhale and the following year's The Preacher's Wife. The studio album My Love Is Your Love from 1998 featured the single "It's Not Right, But It's Okay", which netted her the Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal in that year.

 

For much of the past decade, Houston weathered drug addiction, erratic behavior, and her troubled marriage to Bobby Brown, whom she divorced in 2007. Houston went to rehab twice before declaring herself drug-free to Oprah Winfrey in 2010, a year after releasing what would be her final studio album, I Look to You. During her career, Houston sold more than 55 million records in the U.S. alone.

Watch highlights from Whitney Houston's career below.