Singer and actress Whitney Houston, winner of six Grammy Awards including record of the year for "I Will Always Love You" and album of the year for "The Bodyguard," has died at age 48.
A Beverly Hills police officer told reporters at a briefing that emergency assistance received a call from the Beverly Hilton at around 3.20pm PST (11.20pm Irish time), and the singer was pronounced dead at 3.55pm (11.55pm Irish time).
"She has been positively identified by friends and family that were with her at the hotel, and next of kin have already been notified," Lieutenant Mark Rosen said.
Meanwhile, the singer’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina, was rushed to hospital suffering from stress, a day after the death, police and a family friend said.
"She was taken to hospital and treated for stress," the friend told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity after media reports that the 18-year-old was taken to the Cedars Sinai hospital in Beverly Hills.
Ms Houston was found dead in the bathtub of her hotel room, ABC news reported citing paramedics who had rushed to the singer's aid but found her "lifeless".
When asked if there were drugs in the pop star's room, Ed Winter, from the Los Angeles County Coroner's office, said he could not comment.
Ms Houston was in Los Angeles for the Grammy Awards, the music industry's biggest honours that will take place tonight.
She died hours before she was expected to perform at record producer Clive Davis's annual pre-Grammy party, which is held at the Beverly Hilton.
Ms Houston became one of the most celebrated female singers of all time, taking multiple Emmy, Grammy and Billboard Music awards.
Her popularity soared in the 1980s and 1990s with hits including the smash single "I Will Always Love You," from the soundtrack of the "The Bodyguard," in which she starred.
Ms Houston was inspired to sing as a child by soul singers in her New Jersey family, including mother Cissy Houston and cousins Dionne Warwick and the late Dee Dee Warwick.
By the early 1990s, Ms 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.
The had one daughter, Bobbi Kristina.
In 2000, the couple 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 ten years of Ms Houston's life were dominated by drug use, rumours of relapses and trips to rehab.
She launched a comeback tour in 2009, and in April 2010 she called media reports she was using drugs again "ridiculous".
In May 2011, Ms Houston enrolled in a drug and alcohol rehab programme.
Despite her personal troubles she commanded great affection among her music industry colleagues, and emotional tributes flooded the media in the hours after news broke of her death.
