R.I.P. Whitney Houston (1963-2012)

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Legendary R&B singer/ actress Whitney Houston died February 11, 2012 @ 3:55 pm in the afternoon at the Beverly Hilton hotel from prescription medication and alcohol.

Houston won two Emmy Awards, six Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards during her record-breaking career. Her album “Whitney” was the first female album to ever debut at #1 on the Billboard Charts. She has sold over 200 million albums world wide.

Houston holds an Honorary Doctorate in Humanities from Grambling State University in Louisiana.

Houston had one child, Bobbi Kristina, with husband Bobby Brown. Houston and Brown were married from 1992-2007.

Our sources tell us a member of Whitney’s entourage found her in her room at the Beverly Hilton hotel … and called hotel security — who then dialed 911. When paramedics arrived Houston was found unresponsive.

We’re told police arrived to the scene within minutes and fire was already there on an unrelated call. According to our sources, paramedics performed CPR but it did not work and she was pronounced dead at 3:55 PM.

Our sources say there were no obvious signs of foul play, but BH PD detectives have begun a full investigation. We’re told she was ID’ed by family and friends.

The singer famously battled drug addiction for years.

Houston was seen out in Hollywood Thursday night for a Grammy party … and she did not look well. She even briefly took the mic and performed a song while she was there — what would become her last performance.

According to her official website, Houston, who struggled with addiction problems over the years, sold more than 170 million albums, singles and videos over her career.
Houston was set to appear in this year’s “Sparkle,” a remake of the 1976 hit, which was loosely based on the story of The Supremes. It was her first movie role since 1996′s “The Preacher’s Wife.”
Her body of work includes seven straight Billboard No. 1 hits in the 1980s, including “Saving All My Love for You,” “Greatest Love of All” and “Where Do Broken Hearts Go.” Billboard puts her soundtrack to the movie “The Bodyguard” as one of the top 10 biggest-selling albums of all time. She also starred in the film.
The daughter of singer Cissy Houston, Whitney was born on August 9, 1963, in Newark, New Jersey. Famed music producer Clive Davis reportedly spotted Houston 20 years later in a New York nightclub, signing her on the spot, according to her website.
The singer’s rendition of the national anthem at the 1991 Super Bowl, days into the first Persian Gulf War, earned raves and cemented her place in the American musical landscape.
After “The Bodyguard,” Houston went on to appear in several more films in the 1990s, including “Waiting to Exhale.”
In 2000, Houston earned her sixth Grammy for best female R&B performance and, a month later, she was named female artist of the decade at the “Soul Train” Music Awards.
Her career stalled, however, in subsequent years as she entered rehab for addiction problems.
In May 2011, Houston got help for her much-publicized struggle with drugs and alcohol, her representative said at the time.
In a 2009 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Houston recalled how her mother arrived one day at her doorstep at her daughter’s house with sheriff’s officers and a court order in a drug intervention. She talked about doing cocaine and smoking marijuana.
“(My mother) says, ‘I have a court (injunction) here,” Houston said. “Either you do it my way, or we’re just not going to do this at all. We are both going to go on TV, and you’re going to retire.’”
Houston had a high-profile and tumultuous marriage to Bobby Brown, a former “New Edition” star who has had multiple brushes with the law. The couple appeared together in the mid-2000s on the reality show “Being Bobby Brown.”
Producer Clive Davis steered Houston’s career for more than 25 years, also serving as a mentor.