LOS ANGELES, Feb 12: Whitney Houston, whose soaring voice lifted her to the top of the pop music world but whose personal decline was fuelled by years of drug use, died on Saturday in a Beverly Hills hotel room.

She was 48.

The superstar died on the eve of the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles at the same hotel where her mentor, record mogul Clive Davis, was holding an annual pre-event party featuring scores of music industry celebrities.

A dramatic scene unfolded at the Beverly Hilton hotel as guests arriving for the party expressed shock at her death, while reporters swarmed the hotel, fans gathered outside to light candles in her memory and helicopters hovered overhead.

Police said they were called to the Beverly Hilton at around 3:43pm. Houston was in her fourth-floor room but was unresponsive to CPR. She was pronounced dead at 3:55pm.

`She has been positively identified by friends and fam11y (who) were with her at the hotel, and next of kin have already been notified, Lieutenant Mark Rosen told reporters.-Reuters