Whitney Houston found dead in Calif. hotel, age 48
* Cause of death unknown; police investigating
* Brilliant career, troubled personal life
* Hits include "I Will Always Love You"
* Starred in movie "The Bodyguard"
By Bob Tourtellotte
Reuters
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 4:33am EST
Los Angeles, Feb 11 (Reuters) – 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 pop superstar died on the eve of the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles
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.
Los Angeles County coroners removed Houston’s body from the hotel
after midnight through a backdoor to avoid the crush of media set up
to cover her shocking death.
Typically, coroners conduct an autopsy within a day or two, at which
point they might release some preliminary information about the
death. If drugs or alcohol are involved, however, an official cause
of death would not be released until after toxicology tests, which
could take six to eight weeks.
BRILLIANT CAREER
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 the audience at Davis’s party that Jennifer Hudson
would sing a tribute to Houston at Sunday night’s Grammy Awards.
"We will do something appropriate tomorrow, and nothing could be more
appropriate than having Jennifer Hudson sing on stage for Whitney,"
Portnow said. "In our community, we celebrate things … let’s
celebrate Whitney Houston."
Outside the hotel in the wealthy enclave of Beverly Hills, a phalanx
of hotel security personnel guarded the perimeter to prevent
reporters and fans from entering. Some of Houston’s admirers gathered
on the sidewalk, lighting candles and singing her songs.
Over the course of a 30-year career in which she established herself
as one of the most-admired and influential singers of her time,
Houston won six Grammys, 30 Billboard awards and 22 American Music
Awards. She released seven studio albums and sold some 170 million
CDs, singles and videos. The soundtrack for a hit movie in which she
starred, "The Boydguard," was among the best-selling soundtracks in
movie history.
Her 1985 debut, "Whitney Houston," became the best-selling debut
album by a female act at that time, and spawned several hits
including "How Will I Know." Her second studio CD, 1987′s "Whitney,"
became the first album by a female artist to debut at No. 1 on the
Billboard 200 albums chart.
She crossed over from music success to TV and movies, appearing in
"The Bodyguard" (1992), as well as "Waiting to Exhale" (1995) and
"The Preacher’s Wife" (1996).
Born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1963, Houston was inspired to perform
as a child by soul singers in her family, including mother Cissy
Houston and cousins Dionne Warwick and the late Dee Dee Warwick. Her
godmother was Aretha Franklin.
"I just can’t talk about it now," Franklin said in a statement. "It’s
so stunning and unbelievable. I couldn’t believe what I was reading
coming across the TV screen. My heart goes out to Cissy, her daughter
Bobbi Kris, her family and Bobby (Brown)."
PERSONAL TURMOIL
By the early 1990s, Houston reigned as the queen of pop, but her
critical and commercial success on stage was accompanied by an
increasingly troubled personal life. In 1992 she married singer Bobby
Brown, who had a bad-boy reputation, and their tumultuous 14 years
together were marred by drug abuse and domestic violence.
In 2000, she and Brown were stopped at an airport in Hawaii and
security guards discovered marijuana in their luggage. In a 2002 TV
interview, she admitted using marijuana, cocaine, alcohol and
prescription drugs.
The pair also starred in a reality TV series, "Being Bobby Brown,"
which painted an often unflattering portrait of the couple.
The last 10 years of Houston’s life were dominated by drug use,
rumors of relapses and trips to rehab.
She launched a comeback tour in 2009, and in April 2010 she called
media reports she was using drugs again "ridiculous." In May 2011,
Houston enrolled in a drug and alcohol rehab program.
Despite her personal troubles, Houston commanded great affection
among her music industry colleagues, and emotional tributes flooded
the media in the hours after news broke of her death.
"I am absolutely heartbroken at the news of Whitney’s passing,"
legendary music producer Quincy Jones said in a statement. "… I
always regretted not having had the opportunity to work with her. She
was a true original and a talent beyond compare. I will miss her
terribly."
Barbra Streisand said in a statement: "She had everything, beauty, a
magnificent voice. How sad her gifts could not bring her the same
happiness they brought us."
Pop star Rihanna posted on Twitter "No words, just tears."
(Additional reporting by Mary Slosson, Jill Serjeant, Dan Whitcomb,
Piya Sinha-Roy and R.T. Watson; Editing by Jonathan Weber and Eric
Beech)
More at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/12/usa-whitneyhouston-idUSL2E8…
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
—–
About the terrorist Goon Squad:
———————————————————————
As everyone knows, a goon is a bully or thug who terrorizes or tries
to do away with opposition.
"Myself, Mallu. Yourself?" (V. Bhattathiri) <KalluMallu…@gmail.com>
tries his best to be a bully — telling others what and when to post,
where to post and where not to post, deliberately publishing lies
about others, stalking and abusing them with hate speech — but fails
miserably. He is really stressed out, and like his lap dog Prem
Thomas (who currently posts as "P. Rajah" <u…@this.com>, and issues
*death threats* to people), is priming himself for conditions such as
stroke and heart disease. Others in the Goon Squad include
Dayashankar M. Joshi "DMJoshi" <josh…@gmail.com> who displays
unquestioning obedience to Goon Squad thugs, and the instigator who
posts as "Bholu" <bh…@hotmail.com>
The Goon Squad currently post most of their abuse through eternal-
september.org and by writing someone elses name or handle in the
"From:" header — their favorite now is "fanab…@gmail.com" (note
the extra "b" and "gmail.com") to make it appear as if the posts are
from "fana…@aol.com", who has been a regular poster for many years.
-Updated on February 2, 2012-
———————————————————————
o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the educational
purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post may not
have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the
poster. The contents are protected by copyright law and the exemption for
fair use of copyrighted works.
o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely not be read,
considered or answered if it does not contain your full legal name, current
e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
o Posted for information and discussion. Views expressed by others are
not necessarily those of the poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted material the use of
which may or may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright
owner. This material is being made available in efforts to advance the
understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,
democratic, scientific, social, and cultural, etc., issues. It is believed
that this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title
17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included
information for research, comment, discussion and educational purposes by
subscribing to USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more information
go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article for purposes of
your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the
copyright owner.
Since newsgroup posts are being removed
by forgery by one or more net terrorists,
this post may be reposted several times.