This photo taken on Feb. 2 , 2012 shows the U.S. singer and actress Whitney Houston waves her hand. Houston looked gaunt in her last presence in this photo. Houston died at age 48, media outlets reported Saturday. [Photo: CRIonline]

Celebrities at a pre-Grammy Awards party were shocked and saddened on Saturday (February 11) by the news that singer Whitney Houston had died.

The pop 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.
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Beverly Hills police said they were called to the Beverly Hilton at around 3:43 p.m. PST (2343 GMT), and fire department personnel who were already at the location responded immediately. Houston was in her fourth-floor room but was unresponsive to CPR, and she was pronounced dead at 3:55 p.m. (2355 GMT).

One of the attendees of the Davis party was Virgin founder Richard Branson, who said the nights events were "Completely dwarfed the sad death of Whitney."

"Clive decided that the show should go on and we'll try to make sure that we celebrate her life and we also have a good evening as well," added Branson.

Also at the party were singer Tony Bennett, Tom Hanks and fellow actor Jon Voight.

Over the course of 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 some 170 million CDs, singles and videos. The soundtrack for a hit movie in which she starred, "The Boydguard," was among the best-selling soundtracks in movie history.

"'I will always love you'.... it's going to be, that's the night, I mean that's what's going to happen. Everyone's going to be thinking of that song and that sentiment," said Voight to reporters.

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, rumors of relapses and trips to rehab.