Whitney Houston: Tragic pop diva

Even at 20, Whitney Houston was styled as a glittering goddess, decked out in elegant evening gowns and jewelry to showcase her exceptional voice. An icon with a seemingly irrepressible aura, her human side was also revealed when she succumbed to pressure in her personal life.

Whitney Houston was the daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston (center) and cousin of soul singer Dionne Warwick (pictured left). She grew up with gospel music and sang with her mother in church for many years, learning the craft of soul and gospel from scratch. And she firmly believed that her voice was a gift from God.

In 1983, Houston was signed to Arista Records by founder and producer Clive Davis. In no time, the singer's skills were polished and presented as part of her new pop star persona. The plan worked, except that the Black community was disappointed. Houston was no longer one of them, but a finished glossy product for the masses.

With powerful voices and chart-topping pop songs, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey (pictured left) and Celine Dion (center) became the vocal trinity of the 1990s. They were masters of "melisma" — a singing technique in which many notes are sung on one vowel. The three performers expertly sang over several octaves.

Friend and creative director Robyn Crawford was always there for Houston, and the two shared a secret relationship that often caused suspicion and discord in Houston's environment. In the strictly religious Houston family, homosexuality was frowned upon. Crawford was repeatedly threatened by family members, but Houston stood by her for years.

And so Crawford remained Houston's closest confidante and as her assistant — even after the singer married rapper Bobby Brown in 1992. Crawford and Brown hated each other and vied for Houston's attention. It was anything but peaceful when they were all together. Punches were sometimes thrown.

In the 1992 film, Houston played herself, so to speak: a superstar. Pop singer Rachel falls in love with her bodyguard, played by Kevin Costner, and ends up being saved by him from an assassin. The film's highlight was the ballad "I Will Always Love You," originally written and sung by Dolly Parton in 1974. This song, featuring vocal acrobatics by Houston, was her biggest hit

Houston's marriage progressively contributed to her undoing. Taking drugs became almost normal for the singer, as she'd been doing it since her youth. But with Bobby Brown, the parties became more excessive, the drugs more hardcore. Houston's image crumbled as the paparazzi increasingly captured her getting high, amid swirling rumors of domestic violence.

Despite her tumultuous private life, Houston succeeded once again in 1999. Eight years after her last record, she released the platinum album "My Love Is Your Love" that featured less pop and more Black music. With it, she went on a celebrated world tour. She clinched her sixth Grammy for best female R&B vocals for the single "It's Not Right But It's Okay."

Houston put up with Brown's cheating and abuse, staying for the sake of their daughter, Bobbi Kristina. Onstage they were a family and even little Bobbi had her performances; backstage is where the true story unraveled. Houston reported her husband several times for assault, and the couple finally divorced in 2007.

Houston was hardly recognizable on her last tour: with a wrecked voice, she hollered the words "I Will Always Love You" to the audience. Marked by drug excesses, overweight and bloated, she ruined her biggest hit at every concert on this tour. Many fans left early in a huff, though others gave her appreciative applause for still trying.

On February 11, 2012, the 48-year-old was found lifeless in the bathtub of a hotel room. The autopsy revealed that she had a cocktail of drugs and various pills in her blood and had drowned. The exact circumstances of her death have not been clarified to this day. Houston once said, "My biggest devil is myself." In fighting it, she failed.