Houston held in high esteem

During a 30-year career in which she established herself as one of the most-admired and influential singers of her time, Houston won six Grammys, 30 Billboard awards and 22 American Music Awards.

She released seven studio albums and sold 170 million CDs, singles and videos. The soundtrack for a hit movie in which she starred, The Bodyguard, was among the best-selling soundtracks in movie history.

Her 1985 debut, Whitney Houston, became the best-selling debut album by a female act at that time, and spawned several hits including How Will I Know. Her second studio CD, 1987’s Whitney, became the first album by a female singer to debut at No 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.

She crossed over from music success to TV and movies, appearing in The Bodyguard (1992), as well as Waiting to Exhale (1995) and The Preacher’s Wife (1996).

Born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1963, Houston was inspired to perform as a child by soul singers in her family, including mother Cissy Houston and cousins Dionne Warwick and the late Dee Dee Warwick. Her godmother was Aretha Franklin.

By the early 1990s, Houston reigned as the queen of pop, but her critical and commercial success on stage was accompanied by an increasingly troubled personal life. In 1992 she married singer Bobby Brown, who had a bad-boy reputation, and their tumultuous 14 years together were marred by drug abuse and domestic violence.

In 2000, she and Brown were stopped at an airport in Hawaii and security guards discovered marijuana in their luggage. In a 2002 TV interview, she admitted using marijuana, cocaine, alcohol and prescription drugs.

The pair also starred in a reality TV series, Being Bobby Brown, which painted an often unflattering portrait of the couple. The last 10 years of Houston’s life were dominated by drug use, rumours of relapses and trips to rehab.

She launched a comeback tour in 2009, and in April 2010 she called media reports she was using drugs again “ridiculous”. In May 2011, Houston enrolled in a drug and alcohol rehab program. Despite her personal troubles, Houston commanded great affection among her music industry colleagues, and emotional tributes flooded the media in the hours after news broke of her death.

Barbra Streisand said in a statement: “She had everything, beauty, a magnificent voice. How sad her gifts could not bring her the same happiness they brought us.” Singer and actress Christina Aguilera wrote: “We have lost another legend. Love and prayers to Whitney’s family. She will be missed.”