Just saw the sad, breaking news a minute ago...

"Whitney Houston is dead at 48-years-old, according to the Associated Press.

The superstar singer and actress's publicist, Kristin Foster, broke the news of Houston's passing to the AP, but thus far, no cause of death has been revealed. In recent years, she struggled with drug abuse.

Her self-titled debut album, released in 1985, sold 25 million copies worldwide. In total, she released seven albums and three film soundtracks; a winner of six Grammys, Houston sold over 170 million albums and singles worldwide. She earned 30 Billboard Awards, 22 American Music Awards and 2 Emmy Awards. She starred in three films, beginning with 1992's Waiting to Exhale, and was due to star in her big screen comeback later this year, a remake of the film Sparkle."

She had the 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.

--The Associated Press, February 11, 2012

Added detail from the AP via The New York Times. Click on the image for the full article:

 Numero uno among all of her hits: I Will Always Love You

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A feeling of déjà vu this evening as I was thinking of my first breaking news story back in 2008, which also happened to involve a superstar in the music world and the sad event happened on a weekend. In that situation it was Isaac Hayes who had just passed on and my post garnered a comment from the very classy Joan Walsh who happened to be online at the time...