Whitney Houston Found Unresponsive in Hotel Bathtub

Singing sensation Whitney Houston, 48, was found unresponsive in a bathtub of a fourth-floor room at the Beverly Hilton and  by police at 3:55 p.m. Saturday.

Some prescription pill bottles were discovered in the hotel room, TMZ.com reported, but sources told the website there was no evidence the six-time Grammy winner had been drinking alcohol. It is unclear if the singer—who famously battled cocaine addiction—had drowned, overdosed or died of other causes. Her body has been turned over to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.

Beverly Hills police Lt. Mark Rosen said a member of Houston’s entourage made an emergency call at 3:43 p.m. Houston’s body remained at the scene for several hours until it was turned over to coroner’s investigators for an autopsy. The media and fans  Saturday evening upon hearing of the singer’s death, hoping to catch a glimpse of her body being removed from the hotel. 

Houston’s body arrived at the Los Angeles County coroner’s office about 11 hours after she was declared dead at the Beverly Hilton, a coroner’s lieutenant said.

The gross autopsy—examination of the body and the organs—could be done as early as Sunday, but toxicology tests, which would implicate any drugs—legal or illegal—in her death, could take nearly a month to complete.

“The body is at the coroner’s pending an examination within 24 hours,
although the exact time has not been determined,” Capt. Brian Elias of the Los Angeles County coroner's office said.

Coroner’s officials are expected to make a public statement—the proximate cause of death may be announced before toxicology results are available—when the gross autopsy is finished.

Houston had been treated at least twice for addictions. She used cocaine for several years during her marriage to R&B singer Bobby Brown, she told Oprah Winfrey in 2009.

Houston was in the area for Sunday’s Grammy Awards at the Staples Center. She was slated to perform at the pre-Grammy party of music mogul Clive Davis, who discovered Houston in the 1980s.

Some observers said she was sweating profusely during a rehearsal for a song she was set to sing at Davis' party last night. Others said she was acting a little unusual around the hotel, doing handstands by the pool at one point.

Grammy Awards producers are working to put together a tribute at Sunday’s ceremony in honor of Houston. Big names in the music industry paid homage to the iconic singer and successful actress through official statements and Twitter. 

Dolly Parton penned Houston’s 1992 hit I Will Always Love You, which was featured as the lead single in the latter's film debut The Bodyguard. 

“I will always be grateful and in awe of the wonderful performance she did on my song and I can truly say from the bottom of my heart, ‘Whitney, I will always love you. You will be missed,’ ” Parton said.

Aretha Franklin, Houston’s godmother, was shocked by the news of the singer’s death. 

“It’s so stunning and unbelievable,” the music legend said. “I couldn’t believe what I was reading coming across the TV screen.”

Four-time Grammy winner Rihanna, who is scheduled to perform at Sunday’s Grammys, tweeted, "No words! Just tears #DearWhitney." 

Born Whitney Elizabeth Houston in Newark, N.J. on Aug. 9, 1963, she was the third and youngest child of Army serviceman and entertainment executive John Russell Houston, Jr. and gospel singer Cissy Houston. 

Cissy Houston talked with her daughter about 30 minutes before she died, according to TMZ, and said nothing seemed out of the ordinary. 

While performing in Mississippi, Houston’s ex-husband Brown blew kisses to the sky and tearfully said, “I love you, Whitney.”

Houston met Brown, of the boy band New Edition, at the 1989 Soul Train awards. The two married in 1992 and a year later their daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown was born. She is Houston’s only child.

In 2000, Houston and Brown were caught with pot at a Hawaii airport but the charges were later dropped. Still, Houston’s increasingly erratic behavior and disheveled appearance gave rise to rumors she was using drugs. Two months later she failed to show up to a scheduled performance for Davis’ introduction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. She was later to perform at the Academy Awards but was fired by musical director Burt Bacharach. 

In a 2002 interview by Diane Sawyer, Houston was frank about her drug use.

“First of all, let’s get one thing straight. Crack is cheap,” Houston said. “I make too much money to ever smoke crack. Let’s get that straight. OK?” 

The 2005 reality TV series Being Bobby Brown aired for one season and gave America a glimpse into Houston and Brown's troubled relationship. They divorced in 2007. 

By the spring of 2011, Houston had entered an addiction treatment center for the second time.

Houston's mother, singer Cissy Houston, and her cousin, vocalist Dionne Warwick, reportedly both talked with Houston Saturday by telephone and nothing seemed unusual. Cissy Houston talked with her daughter about 30 minutes before she died, according to TMZ.

This report was compiled with information from City News Service.

For more detailed coverage, check out Beverly Hills Patch.