Whitney Houston is dead at 48. Houston — the supremely-gifted, record-breaking singer who ruined one of the most beautiful voices of our times with heavy drug use and questionable decisions (see marrying Bobby Brown) — died at the Beverly Hilton Hotel Saturday afternoon, according to TMZ.

Houston's publicist Kristen Foster says that the pop star has died, but will not confirm a location or any other details.

It's a sad end for Houston, who reigned in the 1980s and early 1990s as one of the biggest stars on the planet, a crossover sensation who wowed audiences in concerts and in hit movies like The Bodyguard, which was in many ways carried by Houston's endlessly-replayed rendition of "I Will Always Love You." Houston sold more than 55 million records in the United States alone and the vocal power she brought from a black church choir background revolutionized the industry in many ways.

She wasn't as big a star as Michael Jackson, who died at age 50 in 2009. But for many years, she was in the same ballpark.

In the latter years of her short life, Whitney Houston turned into an almost ridiculed parody of herself who staggered off the stage before concerts were complete, found herself in heavy tabloid rotation for incidents with Bobby Brown and drew concern for how skinny she looked in public appearances.

The news of Houston's death hit my house when ABC News broke into the Charlie Brown Valentine special that my kids were watching to report the death. The anchor seemed almost apologetic for interrupting the children's show with such heavy news, but it's just another sad, little twist in Whitney Houston's life.

She didn't go out in another blaze of glory. Just a sad finish in the middle of a Saturday.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Whitney Houston was supposed to attend a pre-Grammy Awards Saturday night at the hotel where she reportedly perished. The award show will likely scramble to come up with an appropriate Houston tribute in time for Sunday night's telecast.