LOS ANGELES – Legendary pop singer Whitney Houston has died at age 48, representative Kristen Foster said Saturday night.
The entertainer was pronounced dead at 3:55 p.m. (6:55 p.m. ET) at the Beverly Hilton Hotel despite resuscitation efforts, a police spokesman said.
The cause and location of her death was not immediately known.
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.
Whitney Houston seemed ‘in good spirits’
Music producer Russell Simmons wrote he was “deeply saddened by the death of Whitney Houston,” while singer Gloria Estefan said she was “shocked we’ve lost the immensely talented” entertainer.
Houston’s body of work includes seven straight Billboard No. 1 hits in the 1980s, including “Saving All My Love for You,” “How Will I Know,” “Greatest Love of All” and “Where Do Broken Hearts Go.”
Billboard put 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 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.
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. Houston died on the eve of this year’s Grammy Awards.
Her career stalled, however, in subsequent years as she entered rehab for addiction problems.