LOS ANGELES (AP) — Whitney Houston, who ruled as pop music's queen until her majestic voice and regal image were ravaged by drug use, erratic behavior and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, has died. She was 48.

Houston's publicist, Kristen Foster, said Saturday that the singer had died, but the cause and the location of her death were unknown.

News of Houston's death came on the eve of music's biggest night — the Grammy Awards. It's a showcase where she once reigned, and her death was sure to case a heavy pall on Sunday's ceremony. Houston's longtime mentor Clive Davis was to hold his annual concert and dinner Saturday; it was unclear if it was going to go forward.

At her peak, Houston the golden girl of the music industry. From the middle 1980s to the late 1990s, she was one of the world's best-selling artists. She wowed audiences with effortless, powerful, and peerless vocals that were rooted in the black church but made palatable to the masses with a pop sheen.

Her success carried her beyond music to movies, where she starred in hits like "The Bodyguard" and "Waiting to Exhale."

She had the he perfect voice, and the perfect image: a gorgeous singer who had sex appeal but was never overtly sexual, who maintained perfect poise.

She influenced a generation of younger singers, from Christina Aguilera to Mariah Carey, who when she first came out sounded so much like Houston that many thought it was Houston.

But by the end of her career, Houston became a stunning cautionary tale of the toll of drug use. Her album sales plummeted and the hits stopped coming; her once serene image was shattered by a wild demeanor and bizarre public appearances. She confessed to abusing cocaine, marijuana and pills, and her once pristine voice became raspy and hoarse, unable to hit the high notes as she had during her prime.

"The biggest devil is me. I'm either my best friend or my worst enemy," Houston told ABC's Diane Sawyer in an infamous 2002 interview with then-husband Brown by her side.

It was a tragic fall for a superstar who was one of the top-selling artists in pop music history, with more than 55 million records sold in the United States alone.

She seemed to be born into greatness. She was the daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston, the cousin of 1960s pop diva Dionne Warwick and the goddaughter of Aretha Franklin.

Houston first started singing in the church as a child. In her teens, she sang backup for Chaka Khan, Jermaine Jackson and others, in addition to modeling. It was around that time when music mogul Clive Davis first heard Houston perform.

"The time that I first saw her singing in her mother's act in a club ... it was such a stunning impact," Davis told "Good Morning America."

"To hear this young girl breathe such fire into this song. I mean, it really sent the proverbial tingles up my spine," he added.

Before long, the rest of the country would feel it, too. Houston made her album debut in 1985 with "Whitney Houston," which sold millions and spawned hit after hit. "Saving All My Love for You" brought her her first Grammy, for best female pop vocal. "How Will I Know," ''You Give Good Love" and "The Greatest Love of All" also became hit singles.

Another multiplatinum album, "Whitney," came out in 1987 and included hits like "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" and "I Wanna Dance With Somebody."

The New York Times wrote that Houston "possesses one of her generation's most powerful gospel-trained voices, but she eschews many of the churchier mannerisms of her forerunners. She uses ornamental gospel phrasing only sparingly, and instead of projecting an earthy, tearful vulnerability, communicates cool self-assurance and strength, building pop ballads to majestic, sustained peaks of intensity."

Her decision not to follow the more soulful inflections of singers like Franklin drew criticism by some who saw her as playing down her black roots to go pop and reach white audiences. The criticism would become a constant refrain through much of her career. She was even booed during the "Soul Train Awards" in 1989.

"Sometimes it gets down to that, you know?" she told Katie Couric in 1996. "You're not black enough for them. I don't know. You're not R&B enough. You're very pop. The white audience has taken you away from them."

Some saw her 1992 marriage to former New Edition member and soul crooner Bobby Brown as an attempt to refute those critics. It seemed to be an odd union; she was seen as pop's pure princess while he had a bad-boy image, and already had children of his own. (The couple had a daughter, Bobbi Kristina, in 1993.) Over the years, he would be arrested several times, on charges ranging from DUI to failure to pay child support.

But Houston said their true personalities were not as far apart as people may have believed.

"When you love, you love. I mean, do you stop loving somebody because you have different images? You know, Bobby and I basically come from the same place," she told Rolling Stone in 1993. "You see somebody, and you deal with their image, that's their image. It's part of them, it's not the whole picture. I am not always in a sequined gown. I am nobody's angel. I can get down and dirty. I can get raunchy."

It would take several years, however, for the public to see that side of Houston. Her moving 1991 rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" at the Super Bowl, amid the first Gulf War, set a new standard and once again reaffirmed her as America's sweetheart.

In 1992, she became a star in the acting world with "The Bodyguard." Despite mixed reviews, the story of a singer (Houston) guarded by a former Secret Service agent (Kevin Costner) was an international success.

It also gave her perhaps her most memorable hit: a searing, 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.

She returned to the big screen in 1995-96 with "Waiting to Exhale" and "The Preacher's Wife." Both spawned soundtrack albums, and another hit studio album, "My Love Is Your Love," in 1998, brought her a Grammy for best female R&B vocal for the cut "It's Not Right But It's Okay."

But during these career and personal highs, Houston was using drugs. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2010, she said by the time "The Preacher's Wife" was released, "(doing drugs) was an everyday thing. ... I would do my work, but after I did my work, for a whole year or two, it was every day. ... I wasn't happy by that point in time. I was losing myself."

In the interview, Houston blamed her rocky marriage to Brown, which included a charge of domestic abuse against Brown in 1993. They divorced in 2007.

Houston would go to rehab twice before she would declare herself drug-free to Winfrey in 2010. But in the interim, there were missed concert dates, a stop at an airport due to drugs, and public meltdowns.

She was so startlingly thin during a 2001 Michael Jackson tribute concert that rumors spread she had died the next day. Her crude behavior and jittery appearance on Brown's reality show, "Being Bobby Brown," was an example of her sad decline. Her Sawyer interview, where she declared "crack is whack," was often parodied. She dropped out of the spotlight for a few years.

Houston staged what seemed to be a successful comeback with the 2009 album "I Look To You." The album debuted on the top of the charts, and would eventually go platinum.

Things soon fell apart. A concert to promote the album on "Good Morning America" went awry as Houston's voice sounded ragged and off-key. She blamed an interview with Winfrey for straining her voice.

A world tour launched overseas, however, only confirmed suspicions that Houston had lost her treasured gift, as she failed to hit notes and left many fans unimpressed; some walked out. Canceled concert dates raised speculation that she may have been abusing drugs, but she denied those claims and said she was in great shape, blaming illness for cancellations.

put a shirt on please

im going to the out patient at the hospitol tomorrow
im getting finally the colonostopy done

GAG!!!!

i have been on a dang liquid diet for 2 days
and i had to go into the doc to get my b12 shot
and i went into the deli to get my icetea and she said you want anything else
and i looked at her and said yea food, but im on a liquid diet

so right after i will be heading to dialyis

what a day that will be

i think it would be time for drink after all this.....

she was seeking a penpal
and she deletes her account


wonder if she knew what she was doing

lol
i had her when i was 19
she had her first child at 14 she now has 4kids
the oldest is 14 and the youngest is 4months

MY BABY just turned 29yrs old today

my son will be 25 next month..


wow time goes by fast

i have family members that are gay
they have there reasons
and i have a friend that i have known for over 30yrs
didnt know untill about 28yrs ago she was.... that didnt bother me

i can understand why she is. but that doesnt change my friendship with her

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=9xwCG0Ey2Mg

my daughter was in a lesbien relationship for awhile
the person she was with was not a good influence
on her or my grandkids
my daughter didnt see that
but we did
it took her awhile
but she learned her lesson
and they broke up
her ex partner even treaten to kill her


we think that my daughter was going trough a faze.. who knows
she now with a man and they have a child together... and hes great with the baby and my other grandkids

as long as my daughter is happy
thats all what counts

but she still has the gay pride in her heart
nothing is wrong with that

before my youngest grandchild was born she had me make
a baby blanket of the colors of the gay pride

my cousin julie was diagnosed with chin cancer
this is very hard. for her mother had died over 30yrs ago with lukemia
and her dad just died back in september with 3 differnt kinds of cancer


please send prayers

this pic is a friend of mine who is a psychic reader
this pic is actually her son gf
but if you look close
there is 3 things that will shock you

look close and tell me what you see










but i guess if your into the paranormal you get suprised anywhere you go

prayers

i just thought i would mention
you should change your age
for the heading states your 32
but your profile states your 22


oh by the way welcome

i was with my e hubby on and off for 2yrs
and we got married i feel for the wrong reason
we got married shortly after our son was born
we stil fought
and i kicked him out of the house 4 differnt times
reason.... he cheated before during and after
we didnt even celebrate our first annerversary together

he got married again but i dont have any plans to
he in fact text me tonite wanted to play around.........NOTTTTTTTTTT!!!
we have been divorced for 22yrs and hes been married about 20
he has a total of 6 kids... and get this our son is the oldest and his youngest is 20yrs old....... he only thinks about his man hood....(ha ha ha)

if i would had bet.... before on the ducks
i would had made a killing

looking back
of what was yesterday
as a new year is approaching
we often wonder is this year
going to be better from the time
before
of course there could be same things
that shall remain the same
such as broken friendships/relationships
but as you all know life continues
as we grow and find our path
but dont feel you have to go all out
to please others when the new year
comes.
as drinking and driving is not
a good thing... as im sure you all know
keep the memories that you have cherish
deep within your soul
and greet more that is yet to come
and keep those dream alive
for there future is there wide open
in a greatful positive way

funny
a old bf of mine still eats that.....LOL

i read your profile
and if you had lived closer to oregon
it would had been so awsome
to listen to your fiddle
i used to play the violin when i was in grade school
and older sister taught himself to play many instruments
in fact my mom had one when she was younger and she gave it to my sister old bf and he fixed it up and taught himself to play it.

i know how you feel
i practicly live at the dialyis center