Whitney Houston reigned as pop music's queen until her majestic voice and regal image were ravaged by drug use, erratic behaviour and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown.

Whitney Houston. Pic/AFP

The 48-year-old singer was found dead in her hotel room at the Beverly Hilton on Saturday, but the cause of death still remains unknown. At her peak, Houston was the golden girl of the music industry. From the middle 1980s to the late 1990s, she was one of the world's best-selling artists. She wowed audiences with effortless, powerful, and peerless vocals that were rooted in the black church but made palatable to the masses with a pop sheen.