It’s all about music today, as the world noted with sadness the passing of a great diva – Whitney Houston. One of the highest selling artists of all time, Whitney died aged 48, her body and mind ravaged by years of drug abuse and tumultuous years with her volatile ex-husband Bobby Brown. The cause of death is, as yet, unknown. But one can assume that if it is not drugs that killed her, her weakened state did her no favours.

Whitney Houston died on the eve of the Grammy’s – awards she used to win in droves. She was even supposed to perform at the gala – sad indeed.

Whitney has been described by people in the recording industry as: “one of the world’s greatest pop singers of all time who leaves behind a robust musical soundtrack spanning the past three decades.”

When she first burst onto the scene, Whitney was a stunning looking girl with a stunning voice. The way she could hit high notes without even making an effort baffled fans and artists alike.

Her success carried her beyond music to movies, where she starred in hits like The Bodyguard and Waiting to Exhale. She had the perfect voice and the perfect image: a gorgeous singer who had sex appeal but was never overtly sexual, who maintained perfect poise. But by the end of her career, Whitney became the typical example of one who has fallen from grace. Her drug use was out of control, album sales plummeted and the hits stopped coming; her once serene image was shattered by a wild demeanor and bizarre public appearances. She confessed to abusing cocaine, marijuana and pills.

“The biggest devil is me. I’m either my best friend or my worst enemy,” Houston told ABC’s Diane Sawyer in an infamous 2002 interview with then-husband Brown by her side.

It was a tragic fall for a superstar who was one of the top-selling artists in pop music history, with more than 55 million records sold in the United States alone.

Houston would go to rehab twice before she would declare herself drug-free to Oprah Winfrey in 2009. But in the interim, there were missed concert dates, a stop at an airport due to drugs, and public meltdowns. Despite their divorce, both Whitney Houston and ex-husband Bobby Brown maintained that they still loved each other despite their split in 2007. At news of her passing, he showed that it was true. Whitney, beautiful, talented and yet so heartbreakingly tragic. She truly was a diva.