Whitney Houston, the pop s🅷inger whose towering voice helped her ascend to the top of the 🌟entertainment world before drug abuse brought her crashing back down, died yesterday. She was 48.
Houston — wꦐho sold 200 million albums and singles worldwide and rose to fame in the middle of the 1980s with such hits as “Saving All My Love For You” and “How Will I Know” — was found dead in her fourth-floor room in the Beverly Hilton Hotღel, sources told The Post.
Police said emergency responders were on the scene in less than three minutes and administered CPR, but were unable to revive her. She was pron❀ounced dead at 6:55 p.m. New York time.
No cause of death was revealed but authorities said there🌌 were no signs of foul play.
She was found by her bodyguard, a public♛ist for rapper Ray-J, who had been dating Houston, told CNN. Several reports said she was found in a bathtub.
She was in California for music moguꦅl Clive Davis’ celebrity-packed party last night — one day before the Grammy Awards.
Sources told The Post that Davis, Houston’s mentor who launched her career more than two🐻 decades ago, “is devastated.”
The party went ahead in the same hotel — even as Ho🌞uston’s body was still upstairs in her room as it had not been removed by the coroner.
Davis began with a moment of silence to honor Houston and told the crowd, “Whitney would have wanted the music to go on and her family 🎃asked that we carry on,” People maga💦zine reported.
Producers for tonight’s Grammys were scrambling to set up a tribute. One R&B record exec told The Post that the whole show was being rewritten.
Jennifer Hudson and Chaka Khan will per🤪form a tribut꧅e, E! Online reported.
A haggard-looking Houston showed signs of trouble on Thursday, as she sweated profusely and reeked of booze and ⛄cigarettes while coaching other singers such as Monica and Brandy.
Later that night, she sang with Kelly Price at a pre-Grammy party in what would 𓆉become her𒀰 final live performance.
That same day, the troubled Houston had also gotten into a shouting match wi𓆉th Stacy Francis, a finalist on 🍨X Factor, the Hollywood Reporter said.
On Friday, Houston appeared disoriented as🌟 she left the LA 🀅club Tru Hollywood, The Sun of London reported.
Houston, who was born in Newark, NJ, on Aug. 9 1963, seemed desౠtined for success.
H𝓡er mother was a gospel singer, her cousin was pop l🗹egend Dionne Warwick and Houston was the goddaughter of Aretha Franklin.
“It’s so🧜 stunning and unbelievable. I couldn’t believe what I was reading coming across the TV screen,” Franklin said last night.
After starting her singing career as a child at church, Houston would sing backup for music heavyweights such as Chaka Khan and Jermaine Jackson in he🌸r teens.
Her tale💟nt soon caught the eye of Davis, who offered her her first record contract in 1983.
“The time that I first saw her singing in her mother’s act in a club . . . it was such a stu🐠nning impac𒁃t,” Davis told “Good Morning America.”
Houston burst onto the scene when she was just 21 with her debut eponymous aꦓlbum in 1985. It featured several hit singles and quickly sold millions while her videos became a staple on the new MTV.
She released her second ☂album, simply 🌊called, “Whitney,” two years later.
That included such hits as “I W♈anna Dance With Somebody” and “Where Do Broken Hearts Go.”
She was firmly established as America’s Sweetheart in 1991 when she sang a heart-stopping rendition of the na🔯tional an𓆏them at the Super Bowl as the first Persian Gulf War had just begun.
The following year was her greatest success.
While starring in the movie, “Th꧙e Bodyguard,” the film’s soundtrack included her biggest hit: her haunting version of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You.”
It was on the top of the charts for weeks♏ and won her Grammys for record of the year, album of th♐e year and best female pop vocal.
That w꧃as the same year sh꧟e married Brown, a member of New Edition.
Some saw it as an odd pairing as Brown had a reputati▨on as a bad boy and Houston was percei🧜ved as being pristine.
After ♕nearly 15 years of marriage, and numerous arrests and appearances on reality television, they divorced.
After a decade of nearly continuous successes, Houston’s career and image began a downward spir😼al because of drugs.
“The biggest devil is me. I’m either my best friend or my worst enemy,” Houston told ABC’s Diane Sawyer in a꧃ 2002 inteꦬrview where Brown sat by her side.
There were moments where her career seemed to come close to recapturing her pꦓrevious glory.
She had popular movies in 1995 and 1996 🎃with, “Waiting to Exhale” and “The Preacher’s Wife.”
She won another Grammy in 1998 for best female R&B vocal for “It’s Not Right But It’s Okay.”
But the drug abuse — she admitted to using marijuana, cocaine and pills — had rendered her once ✨perfect voice nearly unre꧑cognizable and unable to hit her signature high notes.
She took a stab at numerous comebacks, and will even be seen in the film “Sparkle,” which com🉐es out in August. But she never regained her place atop the music world.
Her l🐬ast album, “I Look to You,” was released in 2009.
Houston tour♎ed but 𝓀the disappointing performances caused many to walk out and numerous cancellations raised doubts about her sobriety.
She claimed in 2010 that she was off drugs, but the Los Ange𒉰les Times said she checked into rehab again last Ma𝄹y and a final comeback never happened.
Producers for Fox’s “The X Factor” had🍌 approached Houston last week to be one of its judges, sources told The Post.
Her re𒐪ps said she was interested and a me🐷eting was set up for tomorrow.
‘‘Ever since I’ve been doing this job, the No. 1 singer anyone ever wanted to emulate, if they really wanted to be a superstar, it was always Whitney,” the show’s host, Simon Cowell🐲, told CNN last night.
“She was the benchmark, she truly was.”
Additional reporting by Helen Kumari and Michael Shain