She had battled substance abuse for years
(AP) - Whitney Houston, who reigned 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. Publicist Kristen Foster said today that the singer had died, but the cause and the location of her death were unknown. At her peak, Houston was 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. She died on the eve of the Grammys. More»