Whitney Houston Dead

Whitney Houston, who reigned as pop music's queen until her majestic voice and regal image were ravaged by drug use, died on Saturday afternoon. She was 48.

It also gave her perhaps her most memorable hit: a stunning rendition of Dolly Parton's I Will Always Love You, which sat atop the charts for weeks. It was Grammy's record of the year and best female pop vocal, and the Bodyguard soundtrack was named album of the year.

Publicist Kristen Foster confirmed that the singer had died, but the cause and the location of her death were unclear.

She died at the Beverly Hilton hotel. She was apparently found by her bodyguard in her hotel room.

An unconfirmed report later emerged which said that Houston had been found in her bathtub.

A spokesman for the local police department said that emergency services had been called to the hotel at 3.43pm on Saturday, arriving minutes later.

Officials rushed to the room on the fourth floor where she was staying as a guest, where they found security staff and firemen attempting to revive her using CPR.

Life-saving attempts proved unsuccessful after 20 minutes, and she was pronounced dead at 3.55pm.

Authorities are currently trying to determine a cause of death, according to the spokesman. He said there were 'no obvious signs of foul play and no obvious signs of a cause of death'.

It was initially unclear whether or not her death was drug-related, as has been speculated by some.

Some reports said that Houston had been found by her on-off boyfriend Ray J, but that turned out to be mistaken.

The star 'partied heavily' with friends in the hotel bar on Friday night, according to TMZ.

Her ex-husband Bobby Brown was said to be 'in and out of crying fits' upon hearing the news - but still appeared on stage on Saturday with his band New Edition, and cried out 'I love you, Whitney!' in the middle of the concert.

A relative of Brown said Houston’s former husband is struggling to cope with the news.

‘He was sobbing, and by the end of the call, I was sobbing, too,’ the family member told People magazine. ‘He's beside himself right now.’

Singer Johnny Gill, one of Brown's New Edition bandmates, is on tour in Memphis with the star. ‘Bobby is struggling and he's devastated,’ he told CNN.

~ Hotel: Houston was found dead at the Beverly Hilton hotel in California