Whitney Houston is dead.
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.
Houston was set to appear in this year’s “Sparkle,” a remake of the 1976 hit, which was loosely based on the story of The Supremes. It was her first movie role since 1996’s “The Preacher’s Wife.”
Her body of work includes seven straight Billboard No. 1 hits in the 1980s, including “Saving All My Love for You,” “Greatest Love of All” and “Where Do Broken Hearts Go.” Billboard puts 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 daughter of singer Cissy Houston, Whitney was born on August 9, 1963, in Newark, New Jersey. Famed music producer Clive Davis reportedly spotted Houston 20 years later in a New York nightclub, signing her on the spot, according to her website.