NEWSWhitney Houston is Dead at 48 — UPDATE
Feb. 12 2012, Published 12:45 p.m. ET
Whitney Houston is dead at 48.
The superstar singer rose to stardom in the 1980s, but lost the spotlight in recent years with tumultous marriage to Bobby Brown and serious drug problems.
OK! NEWS: WHITNEY HOUSTON ASKED TO JOIN X FACTOR PANEL
Her publicist Kristen Foster said Saturday that the singer had died, reports the AP.
Whitney was pronounced dead at 3:55 p.m. PT at the Beverly Hilton despite resuscitation efforts, a police spokesman said per CNN. Clive Davis' Pre-Grammy party was being held there that night and the singer was supposed to attend.
Whitney's body was taken out of the Beverly Hilton by the L.A. County Coroner at 12:50 a.m. "They wheeled her out on foot on a stretcher," a source tells OK!. "Sirens were everywhere and paparazzi was going wild. Odd that they opted to remove her right when the Clive Davis party ended. They took her out through the visitor garage exit and stopped all traffic to do so."
The star not only stormed the music charts, but also found success as an actress in movies like The Bodyguard and Waiting to Exhale.
Want OK! each day? Sign up here!
Born into music royalty, Whitney was the daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston, the cousin of Dionne Warwick and the goddaughter of Aretha Franklin.
OK! NEWS: LADY GAGA THANKS WHITNEY HOUSTON DURING SPEECH
Whitney just attended Kelly Price's Grammy event on Thursday night and it was reported that she was in talks to join The X Factor so her death has shocked the world and just the night before the anticipated Grammy Awards.
The singer has one daughter with Bobby Brown, Bobbi Christina.
Our thoughts are with Whitney's family.
