Associated Press (and Twitter) are reporting that Whitney Houston, one of music’s biggest multi-platinum R&B/Pop divas, has passed away from an as yet unknown cause at the age of 48.
UPDATE: CNN reports that Houston was pronounced dead at 3:55 p.m. L.A. time at the Beverly Hilton despite resuscitation efforts from policemen. Beverly Hills Police Lt. Mark Rosen states there were “no obvious signs of criminal intent” and that the cause of her death is being investigated. Courtney Barnes, a publicist for hip-hop artist Ray J, whom Houston was dating, said that Houston’s bodyguard found her body. This can only give rise to so many ‘bodyguard’ jokes. Brace yourselves.
Houston’s passing comes on the eve of the Grammy’s, and she goes as one of the most awarded female acts of all time with two Emmy awards, six Grammys, thirty Billboard Music Awards and twenty-two American Music Awards having sold over 170 million albums and singles worldwide. Success at the top of the charts in the late 80s and well into the 90s propelled Houston onto the silver screen in ‘The Bodyguard’ and ‘Waiting To Exhale,’ with the former proving undoubtedly iconic in both sound and on screen.
Her later career was tarnished by excessive drug use, erratic behavior, and a tempestuous relationship with ex-husband of 14 years Bobby Brown, with whom she had a daughter, Bobbi Kristina, in 1993.
But before battling addiction (“Crack is whack”), a flagging career and failed career resurgences, there was this:
Title Image- Still from “The Bodyguard (1992)”
