Whitney Houston Drowned with Cocaine in Her System, Autopsy Reveals

Whitney Houston performs in Milan.Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images

Whitney Houston's official cause of death was accidental drowning, according to an initial report from the L.A. County Coroner released Thursday, but a heart condition and cocaine use were also contributing factors.

The autopsy report reveals that Houston suffered from atherosclerotic heart disease, or a hardening of the arteries. The amount of cocaine found in her system will not be made public until the coroner's final report is released in two weeks.

Marijuana, Xanax, Benadryl and the muscle relaxant Flexeril were also found in Houston's system, but those drugs did not contribute to her death, the report says.

Houston's family has issued a public statement in reponse to the autopsy findings through Patricia Houston, the singer's sister-in-law and former manager. "We are saddened to learn of the toxicology results, although we are glad to now have closure," reads the statement.

Houston died at the Beverly Hills Hotel on February 11th, one day prior to the Grammy Awards.

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Whitney Houston Drowned with Cocaine in Her System, Autopsy Reveals

Whitney Houston performs in Milan.Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images

Whitney Houston's official cause of death was accidental drowning, according to an initial report from the L.A. County Coroner released Thursday, but a heart condition and cocaine use were also contributing factors.

The autopsy report reveals that Houston suffered from atherosclerotic heart disease, or a hardening of the arteries. The amount of cocaine found in her system will not be made public until the coroner's final report is released in two weeks.

Marijuana, Xanax, Benadryl and the muscle relaxant Flexeril were also found in Houston's system, but those drugs did not contribute to her death, the report says.

Houston's family has issued a public statement in reponse to the autopsy findings through Patricia Houston, the singer's sister-in-law and former manager. "We are saddened to learn of the toxicology results, although we are glad to now have closure," reads the statement.

Houston died at the Beverly Hills Hotel on February 11th, one day prior to the Grammy Awards.

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Darlene Love Remembers Whitney Houston

I met Whitney when she was eight years old. Her mother Cissy, Dee Dee Warwick and myself sang background for Dionne Warwick for 10 years, almost. When we'd work around the area in New York or Connecticut doing shows, instead of staying in a hotel, I'd stay with Cissy. And it was, "Well, where am I going to sleep?" Nippy – that's what we called her – would chime up, "Oh, you can sleep in my room, auntie!" She was always that little girl that wanted to help. I was pregnant at the time, and eating fruit was my passion. She'd go, "What do you want, what do you want?" There was a store on the corner where she'd run down the street and buy fruit for me – "OK, you all right? You want something else?" So charming from Day One.

I heard her a few years before she became famous because she sang background with her mother. She was around fifteen, maybe a little younger. It was Cissy's show – she was performing there and she had Nippy on stage. And I never will forget hearing her solo for the first time. She sang "Tomorrow," from West Side Story. She was so good. The audience loved her so much. It was, "OK, now, all right, go on back in the background – this is Mommy's show. OK, go sit down now. Don't be trying to take over." But it was her moment. It was her time.

She was always a quiet child, and she was insecure about her talent. I think that most great singers have that little inhibition thing – you know, Elvis Presley was the same way, very introverted except for when he got on that stage. She'd go, "Was that good? Was that okay?" I said, "Girl, I'll tell you!" Every time I heard her sing, I felt she was singing to me. Say you have four or five thousand people in the audience – they're saying the same thing. There's a lot of great singers, but there was something within her that they just don't have.

I got to see her grow up into a fantastic, unbelievable entertainer. But I have no idea what it feels like to be that big a star. Not only do you have the world pulling on you, you have your family pulling on you, you have your friends pulling on you, people telling you what to do. There were times when I don't think she wanted to sing anymore. But come on, you can't! Do you know who you are? You can't stop singing. And every time she went on stage, she gave her audience everything she had. That's hard when your voice isn't in the best shape. If you stay home, they're mad at you, and if you try to come out and do it, they're mad at you too. You're damned if you do, damned if you don't.

As told to Patrick Doyle

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Darlene Love Remembers Whitney Houston

I met Whitney when she was eight years old. Her mother Cissy, Dee Dee Warwick and myself sang background for Dionne Warwick for 10 years, almost. When we'd work around the area in New York or Connecticut doing shows, instead of staying in a hotel, I'd stay with Cissy. And it was, "Well, where am I going to sleep?" Nippy – that's what we called her – would chime up, "Oh, you can sleep in my room, auntie!" She was always that little girl that wanted to help. I was pregnant at the time, and eating fruit was my passion. She'd go, "What do you want, what do you want?" There was a store on the corner where she'd run down the street and buy fruit for me – "OK, you all right? You want something else?" So charming from Day One.

I heard her a few years before she became famous because she sang background with her mother. She was around fifteen, maybe a little younger. It was Cissy's show – she was performing there and she had Nippy on stage. And I never will forget hearing her solo for the first time. She sang "Tomorrow," from West Side Story. She was so good. The audience loved her so much. It was, "OK, now, all right, go on back in the background – this is Mommy's show. OK, go sit down now. Don't be trying to take over." But it was her moment. It was her time.

She was always a quiet child, and she was insecure about her talent. I think that most great singers have that little inhibition thing – you know, Elvis Presley was the same way, very introverted except for when he got on that stage. She'd go, "Was that good? Was that okay?" I said, "Girl, I'll tell you!" Every time I heard her sing, I felt she was singing to me. Say you have four or five thousand people in the audience – they're saying the same thing. There's a lot of great singers, but there was something within her that they just don't have.

I got to see her grow up into a fantastic, unbelievable entertainer. But I have no idea what it feels like to be that big a star. Not only do you have the world pulling on you, you have your family pulling on you, you have your friends pulling on you, people telling you what to do. There were times when I don't think she wanted to sing anymore. But come on, you can't! Do you know who you are? You can't stop singing. And every time she went on stage, she gave her audience everything she had. That's hard when your voice isn't in the best shape. If you stay home, they're mad at you, and if you try to come out and do it, they're mad at you too. You're damned if you do, damned if you don't.

As told to Patrick Doyle

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Aretha Franklin Remembers Whitney Houston

Aretha Franklin performs a tribute to Whitney Houston at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.REUTERS /SHANNON STAPLETON /LANDOV

I met Whitney when her mother, Cissy, who was singing with me, brought her to one of my recording sessions. She was around nine or 10, with little red pigtails and her hair parted in the middle. I think Cissy had instructed her to be very quiet, because she didn't say too much after that. She was just very quiet and very attentive, a pretty little girl.

By the time she was a young lady, Luther Vandross and I were talking about her. She knew how to be glamorous and graceful. She had class. She knew where she was going. It was clear her and her mother both had a similar quality to their voices – the genetics were just unbelievable. Just like her mom, she was one of the great sopranos.

I especially loved the high note on "I Will Always Love You." "The Greatest Love" was another great one. She really put those two away. In 1989, we recorded the duet "It Isn't, It Wasn't, It Ain't Never Gonna Be." We had a lot of fun that day. I was delighted to see her come along the way that she did. Like a lot of artists, Whitney lost her way. But she found it again.

I would like to take this moment to caution young artists the same way that my dad cautioned me when I reached my peak. He said, "No matter how good you are, and no matter how successful you are, one day, the applause is going to die down. One day the hallelujahs and the amens are going to stop. One day, the fans might not be there. So know what you're going to do when that day comes."

But Whitney's mother taught her how to be a fighter. On her last tour, she had lost the top range of her voice, and some of the audiences were not very kind. But night after night, she stood there like a champion and gave her very best. She seemed to be getting it back – I saw some of the previews for Sparkle, and she really looked great, fresh and healthy. So when the news came out she had passed, I was stunned. I just couldn't believe it.

Gospel was Whitney's foundation and background. She was raised on the Word and she certainly praised the Lord. The rest of it just wasn't that important. One of Whitney's favorite songs was "Yes, Jesus Loves Me." And if Jesus loves you, what is more important than that?

As told to Patrick Doyle

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Wyclef Jean Remembers Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston and Wyclef Jean perform during an AmFar Benefit Concert in New York City.

When Whitney was coming to the studio to make "My Love is Your Love," of course I was very nervous – like, "Man, is she going to feel this song?" But when she walked in, I gotta tell you, she lit up the room to the point where we forgot that she was a diva. We just thought she was a friend from back in the day in Newark. Everyone will tell you that Whitney was witty, she loved to have fun, she loved to make people laugh. I was having so much fun with Whitney – the Whitney from Newark, New Jersey – that I don't really know when we got the song done.

Beyond the music, we shared the same background. We talked about the church, because that's where it started. Once you can stand up and rock the church congregation, everything else is easy. But the church comes with a lot of pressure, too. When you're a church person, people expect you to be a certain way.

The greatest memory for me was, as hard as she was working, she had her daughter in the studio. She was five or six. Do you know how hard it is to be recording and your kid's there? But when it came to her daughter, the rest of the world didn't exist. She was recording one of her biggest comeback records ever – and it really wasn't about the comeback record. It was about making sure that her daughter was there with her, experiencing what she was experiencing. This is the Whitney that I know.

As told to Simon Vozick-Levinson

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David Foster Remembers Whitney Houston

David Foster with Whitney Houston in the press room at the 1994 Grammy Awards.

I met Kevin Costner by chance up in Vancouver. He said, "I'm doing this new project – would you be interested in doing the music for it?" And of course, I said yes. When we started working on The Bodyguard, Quincy Jones took me to lunch and said to me, "This is the most important project of your career." I don't know how he knew, but he was right.

The song was originally supposed to be "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted." I tried to demo it twice, and I played it for Whitney both times, but my heart wasn't in it. She was like, "Uh, I don't know." I called Kevin and said, "I think we should find another song." The next day, he said, "What about 'I Will Always Love You?'"

We recorded it live in Miami, because they wanted to film her singing. Whitney absolutely owned it. She'd always twist what I asked her to do, and most of the time she made it something I couldn't have imagined. That was her magic. Her mom was there – I was standing out front, she had no idea who I was, and she leaned over and said, "You're witnessing greatness right now. I hope you know that." I said, "Yeah, I know."

When we worked on "I Didn't Know My Own Strength" for her last album, it was kind of difficult. Every singer loses that high end at some point, and for Whitney it came early. It would be impossible for me to comment on whether her lifestyle contributed to that, but I know that when she would come in and rip her coat off and step up to the mic like a race horse, it's very possible that she didn't take care of her voice the way she should have. The voice is a muscle, and you're always taught to go to the gym and warm up and stretch first before you lift hundred-pound weights. She was lifting hundred-pound weights right out of the gate, and probably did some damage to her voice. But Whitney really, really felt that lyric. You know, would it have been a better record if I had the Whitney from 1992? Yes, for sure. But like everything else she touched, she felt every single note of that song.

As told to Patrick Doyle

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Aretha Franklin Remembers Whitney Houston

Aretha Franklin performs a tribute to Whitney Houston at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.REUTERS /SHANNON STAPLETON /LANDOV

I met Whitney when her mother, Cissy, who was singing with me, brought her to one of my recording sessions. She was around nine or 10, with little red pigtails and her hair parted in the middle. I think Cissy had instructed her to be very quiet, because she didn't say too much after that. She was just very quiet and very attentive, a pretty little girl.

By the time she was a young lady, Luther Vandross and I were talking about her. She knew how to be glamorous and graceful. She had class. She knew where she was going. It was clear her and her mother both had a similar quality to their voices – the genetics were just unbelievable. Just like her mom, she was one of the great sopranos.

I especially loved the high note on "I Will Always Love You." "The Greatest Love" was another great one. She really put those two away. In 1989, we recorded the duet "It Isn't, It Wasn't, It Ain't Never Gonna Be." We had a lot of fun that day. I was delighted to see her come along the way that she did. Like a lot of artists, Whitney lost her way. But she found it again.

I would like to take this moment to caution young artists the same way that my dad cautioned me when I reached my peak. He said, "No matter how good you are, and no matter how successful you are, one day, the applause is going to die down. One day the hallelujahs and the amens are going to stop. One day, the fans might not be there. So know what you're going to do when that day comes."

But Whitney's mother taught her how to be a fighter. On her last tour, she had lost the top range of her voice, and some of the audiences were not very kind. But night after night, she stood there like a champion and gave her very best. She seemed to be getting it back – I saw some of the previews for Sparkle, and she really looked great, fresh and healthy. So when the news came out she had passed, I was stunned. I just couldn't believe it.

Gospel was Whitney's foundation and background. She was raised on the Word and she certainly praised the Lord. The rest of it just wasn't that important. One of Whitney's favorite songs was "Yes, Jesus Loves Me." And if Jesus loves you, what is more important than that?

As told to Patrick Doyle

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Alicia Keys Remembers Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston and Alicia Keys attend Whitney Houston 'I Look To You' album listening party at the Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Sony Music

I remember getting to know Whitney at one of Clive Davis' pre-Grammy parties, around 2007. She came right over to my table, pulled up a chair next to me and said, "I want us to work together!" She was very bold and extremely direct – she did not pull any punches. From then on, it was like we were reunited sisters. We got each other.

People were always shocked at how funny she was. But she was a woman from the streets of Newark – she had that energy and brashness, that laughter and silliness. She'd crack a joke at anything. When we made "Million Dollar Bill" in 2009, she was doing a hundred thousand jokes. I had to reel the session in, like, "Okay, if we keep joking like this we are never going to get anything done!"

After that, we called each other all the time. We'd talk about what she was about to do, or how she was tired – I know what it is to have to gear up and get your tour together and do, like, fifty million TV shows. And she'd play me these amazing gospel records – "You gotta hear this!" I guess something in my spirit recognized something in her spirit and we connected. We were just instant sisters.

as told to Simon Vozick-Levinson

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Swizz Beatz Remembers Whitney Houston

Swizz Beats and Whitney Houston attend Whitney Houston 'I Look To You' album listening party at the Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Sony Music/Getty

We came together through an Arista exec and great friend of mine, Larry Jackson. He said, "We're gonna put together this Whitney album. You should work on some tracks." We were like, getting my wife [Alicia Keys] to write and to do the tracks could be legendary. When was the last time that we'd have the chance to do something so epic and amazing with the person that we both love?

We worked on a couple of records. We even had a duet in mind, but the schedule started clashing and the deadlines started coming in. "Million Dollar Bill" was the last record that we cut. I think after her recording all the songs on her album, she wanted to have some fun with something that wasn't so depressed-sounding. She wanted to feel young. She'd always say, "'Million Dollar Bill' makes me smile. I can't stop playing it. It just makes me want to have fun." Her and Alicia became like soul mates. It was just amazing watching them feed off of each other. Whitney would call at like four in the morning, and she would get up and speak to her.

The vibe in the studio was more like we was chillin' with family members. She had this one tendency of imitating Michael Jackson that just had us on the floor. Her spirit was definitely way better than what the media used to always try to portray. It was like, "Where's the headache? Where's the problem?" A lot of people can't take real, you know? And Whitney was just real. Whatever went on behind closed doors, you know, I don't know about that. But from what I saw, she wasn't sweatin' no bullshit.

As told to Monica Herrera

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Alicia Keys Remembers Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston and Alicia Keys attend Whitney Houston 'I Look To You' album listening party at the Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Sony Music

I remember getting to know Whitney at one of Clive Davis' pre-Grammy parties, around 2007. She came right over to my table, pulled up a chair next to me and said, "I want us to work together!" She was very bold and extremely direct – she did not pull any punches. From then on, it was like we were reunited sisters. We got each other.

People were always shocked at how funny she was. But she was a woman from the streets of Newark – she had that energy and brashness, that laughter and silliness. She'd crack a joke at anything. When we made "Million Dollar Bill" in 2009, she was doing a hundred thousand jokes. I had to reel the session in, like, "Okay, if we keep joking like this we are never going to get anything done!"

After that, we called each other all the time. We'd talk about what she was about to do, or how she was tired – I know what it is to have to gear up and get your tour together and do, like, fifty million TV shows. And she'd play me these amazing gospel records – "You gotta hear this!" I guess something in my spirit recognized something in her spirit and we connected. We were just instant sisters.

as told to Simon Vozick-Levinson

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Swizz Beatz Remembers Whitney Houston

Swizz Beats and Whitney Houston attend Whitney Houston 'I Look To You' album listening party at the Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Sony Music/Getty

We came together through an Arista exec and great friend of mine, Larry Jackson. He said, "We're gonna put together this Whitney album. You should work on some tracks." We were like, getting my wife [Alicia Keys] to write and to do the tracks could be legendary. When was the last time that we'd have the chance to do something so epic and amazing with the person that we both love?

We worked on a couple of records. We even had a duet in mind, but the schedule started clashing and the deadlines started coming in. "Million Dollar Bill" was the last record that we cut. I think after her recording all the songs on her album, she wanted to have some fun with something that wasn't so depressed-sounding. She wanted to feel young. She'd always say, "'Million Dollar Bill' makes me smile. I can't stop playing it. It just makes me want to have fun." Her and Alicia became like soul mates. It was just amazing watching them feed off of each other. Whitney would call at like four in the morning, and she would get up and speak to her.

The vibe in the studio was more like we was chillin' with family members. She had this one tendency of imitating Michael Jackson that just had us on the floor. Her spirit was definitely way better than what the media used to always try to portray. It was like, "Where's the headache? Where's the problem?" A lot of people can't take real, you know? And Whitney was just real. Whatever went on behind closed doors, you know, I don't know about that. But from what I saw, she wasn't sweatin' no bullshit.

As told to Monica Herrera

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David Foster Remembers Whitney Houston

David Foster with Whitney Houston in the press room at the 1994 Grammy Awards.

I met Kevin Costner by chance up in Vancouver. He said, "I'm doing this new project – would you be interested in doing the music for it?" And of course, I said yes. When we started working on The Bodyguard, Quincy Jones took me to lunch and said to me, "This is the most important project of your career." I don't know how he knew, but he was right.

The song was originally supposed to be "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted." I tried to demo it twice, and I played it for Whitney both times, but my heart wasn't in it. She was like, "Uh, I don't know." I called Kevin and said, "I think we should find another song." The next day, he said, "What about 'I Will Always Love You?'"

We recorded it live in Miami, because they wanted to film her singing. Whitney absolutely owned it. She'd always twist what I asked her to do, and most of the time she made it something I couldn't have imagined. That was her magic. Her mom was there – I was standing out front, she had no idea who I was, and she leaned over and said, "You're witnessing greatness right now. I hope you know that." I said, "Yeah, I know."

When we worked on "I Didn't Know My Own Strength" for her last album, it was kind of difficult. Every singer loses that high end at some point, and for Whitney it came early. It would be impossible for me to comment on whether her lifestyle contributed to that, but I know that when she would come in and rip her coat off and step up to the mic like a race horse, it's very possible that she didn't take care of her voice the way she should have. The voice is a muscle, and you're always taught to go to the gym and warm up and stretch first before you lift hundred-pound weights. She was lifting hundred-pound weights right out of the gate, and probably did some damage to her voice. But Whitney really, really felt that lyric. You know, would it have been a better record if I had the Whitney from 1992? Yes, for sure. But like everything else she touched, she felt every single note of that song.

As told to Patrick Doyle

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Wyclef Jean Remembers Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston and Wyclef Jean perform during an AmFar Benefit Concert in New York City.

When Whitney was coming to the studio to make "My Love is Your Love," of course I was very nervous – like, "Man, is she going to feel this song?" But when she walked in, I gotta tell you, she lit up the room to the point where we forgot that she was a diva. We just thought she was a friend from back in the day in Newark. Everyone will tell you that Whitney was witty, she loved to have fun, she loved to make people laugh. I was having so much fun with Whitney – the Whitney from Newark, New Jersey – that I don't really know when we got the song done.

Beyond the music, we shared the same background. We talked about the church, because that's where it started. Once you can stand up and rock the church congregation, everything else is easy. But the church comes with a lot of pressure, too. When you're a church person, people expect you to be a certain way.

The greatest memory for me was, as hard as she was working, she had her daughter in the studio. She was five or six. Do you know how hard it is to be recording and your kid's there? But when it came to her daughter, the rest of the world didn't exist. She was recording one of her biggest comeback records ever – and it really wasn't about the comeback record. It was about making sure that her daughter was there with her, experiencing what she was experiencing. This is the Whitney that I know.

As told to Simon Vozick-Levinson

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Target Pulls Whitney Houston Greeting Card

Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown

Target is pulling a greeting card that mocked Whitney Houston's questionable taste in men. The discount retailer announced yesterday that the card, which reads "Next time you think of dating the bad boy, consider Whitney Houston," was sold in its stores prior to Houston's death on February 11th, but they began the process of removing it from their nationwide stock shortly after it was flagged as inappropriate and insensitive.

"It is never our intent to offend guests with the products we offer, and we take feedback from guests very seriously," a representative for Target told the Associated Press in a statement.

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Target Pulls Whitney Houston Greeting Card

Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown

Target is pulling a greeting card that mocked Whitney Houston's questionable taste in men. The discount retailer announced yesterday that the card, which reads "Next time you think of dating the bad boy, consider Whitney Houston," was sold in its stores prior to Houston's death on February 11th, but they began the process of removing it from their nationwide stock shortly after it was flagged as inappropriate and insensitive.

"It is never our intent to offend guests with the products we offer, and we take feedback from guests very seriously," a representative for Target told the Associated Press in a statement.

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Whitney Houston Death Likely to Be Ruled Accidental

Whitney Houston accepts the International Favorite Artist Award at the 2009 American Music Awards.Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Whitney Houston's death on February 11th is expected to be ruled an accident. Sources close to the ongoing investigation of the singer's death have told E! News that "nothing suspicious" has been found to connect the circumstances of her death to any physicians or people of interest.

"She had no marks on her body whatsoever to indicate a struggle, and she was the furthest thing from trying to kill herself," the source told E! News. Full toxicology results will not be ready until next week, and until then, police will not officially comment on the case.

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Whitney Houston Death Likely to Be Ruled Accidental

Whitney Houston accepts the International Favorite Artist Award at the 2009 American Music Awards.Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Whitney Houston's death on February 11th is expected to be ruled an accident. Sources close to the ongoing investigation of the singer's death have told E! News that "nothing suspicious" has been found to connect the circumstances of her death to any physicians or people of interest.

"She had no marks on her body whatsoever to indicate a struggle, and she was the furthest thing from trying to kill herself," the source told E! News. Full toxicology results will not be ready until next week, and until then, police will not officially comment on the case.

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Cover Story Excerpt: Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston on the cover of Rolling Stone, Issue 1152

The following is an excerpt of the Whitney Houston cover story in the March 15th, 2012 issue of Rolling Stone, on stands March 2nd.

Diligent professional one moment, wild child the next: Those were the opposing sides of Houston in her last days – and, it turns out, much of her life. Blessed with a peerless combination of bravura lung power, model-perfect looks, and an image that was both warm and regal, Houston was that pop rarity: a genuine crossover star, juggling music and film, ­audiences young and old, black and white. "Because of her cousin Dionne [Warwick], she understood all those pretty-ass melodies from Burt Bacharach," says Narada Michael Walden, one of Houston's many producers. "But because she was young and from the era of Michael Jackson, Prince and Madonna, she had soul in her too – those rhythms. She had both sides. Plus, she was so damn gorgeous. You couldn't say no to her."

But after she peaked with her 1991 version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and 1992's The Bodyguard, her fans watched as, year by year, Houston's demons were revealed to the world: Her voice grew huskier, her looks hardened. Her records, when they appeared, didn't sell as well as they once had; her live performances revealed a performer physically and vocally rusty.

Photos: Whitney Houston Through The Years

People who worked with her still find it hard to comprehend her dark side. "A lot of us talked about that, and no one could come up with an answer," says Gerry Griffith, the A&R man who brought Houston to Clive Davis' attention around 1982. "Where is that rebellion coming from? It didn't come out for a while." When it did, it came out in force, nearly destroying her personal life, career and music.

From the start, Whitney Houston was a child of both the church and the charts. Her mother, Cissy, was a Newark, New Jersey-born soprano powerhouse who sang backup on classic records by Franklin ("Ain't No Way," "Chain of Fools") and Van Morrison ("Brown Eyed Girl"), and toured with Elvis Presley (when she was a member of the Sweet Inspirations). Her cousin Warwick had crossed over to pop in the Sixties and Seventies with hits like "Walk On By" and "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" Whitney, born in 1963, inherited her voice from her mother, and her elegant good looks and strong will from her father, John Houston, who worked variously as a truck driver and for the city of Newark, and who would later manage his daughter's career.

Rob Sheffield's Twelve Favorite Whitney Houston Songs

When Whitney was four, her parents moved her and her two brothers to suburban East Orange, New Jersey, where many black families relocated after the Newark riots. Houston was a shy kid; her grade-school principal recalls Houston standing in line, tightly holding her classmates' hands, her head down. When Houston's godmother, singer Darlene Love, would stay at the family's home while on tour, she shared a bed with "Nippy," as Whitney was called. "I was pregnant at the time and she'd go, 'What do you want, what do you want?'?" Love recalls. "There was a store on the corner where she'd run down the street and buy fruit for me. So charming from Day One."

To read the rest of this cover story, pick up the March 15th, 2012 issue of Rolling Stone, available on stands and in Rolling Stone All Access March 2nd.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Cover Story Excerpt: Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston on the cover of Rolling Stone, Issue 1152

The following is an excerpt of the Whitney Houston cover story in the March 15th, 2012 issue of Rolling Stone, on stands March 2nd.

Diligent professional one moment, wild child the next: Those were the opposing sides of Houston in her last days – and, it turns out, much of her life. Blessed with a peerless combination of bravura lung power, model-perfect looks, and an image that was both warm and regal, Houston was that pop rarity: a genuine crossover star, juggling music and film, ­audiences young and old, black and white. "Because of her cousin Dionne [Warwick], she understood all those pretty-ass melodies from Burt Bacharach," says Narada Michael Walden, one of Houston's many producers. "But because she was young and from the era of Michael Jackson, Prince and Madonna, she had soul in her too – those rhythms. She had both sides. Plus, she was so damn gorgeous. You couldn't say no to her."

But after she peaked with her 1991 version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and 1992's The Bodyguard, her fans watched as, year by year, Houston's demons were revealed to the world: Her voice grew huskier, her looks hardened. Her records, when they appeared, didn't sell as well as they once had; her live performances revealed a performer physically and vocally rusty.

Photos: Whitney Houston Through The Years

People who worked with her still find it hard to comprehend her dark side. "A lot of us talked about that, and no one could come up with an answer," says Gerry Griffith, the A&R man who brought Houston to Clive Davis' attention around 1982. "Where is that rebellion coming from? It didn't come out for a while." When it did, it came out in force, nearly destroying her personal life, career and music.

From the start, Whitney Houston was a child of both the church and the charts. Her mother, Cissy, was a Newark, New Jersey-born soprano powerhouse who sang backup on classic records by Franklin ("Ain't No Way," "Chain of Fools") and Van Morrison ("Brown Eyed Girl"), and toured with Elvis Presley (when she was a member of the Sweet Inspirations). Her cousin Warwick had crossed over to pop in the Sixties and Seventies with hits like "Walk On By" and "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" Whitney, born in 1963, inherited her voice from her mother, and her elegant good looks and strong will from her father, John Houston, who worked variously as a truck driver and for the city of Newark, and who would later manage his daughter's career.

Rob Sheffield's Twelve Favorite Whitney Houston Songs

When Whitney was four, her parents moved her and her two brothers to suburban East Orange, New Jersey, where many black families relocated after the Newark riots. Houston was a shy kid; her grade-school principal recalls Houston standing in line, tightly holding her classmates' hands, her head down. When Houston's godmother, singer Darlene Love, would stay at the family's home while on tour, she shared a bed with "Nippy," as Whitney was called. "I was pregnant at the time and she'd go, 'What do you want, what do you want?'?" Love recalls. "There was a store on the corner where she'd run down the street and buy fruit for me. So charming from Day One."

To read the rest of this cover story, pick up the March 15th, 2012 issue of Rolling Stone, available on stands and in Rolling Stone All Access March 2nd.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon MP3 Download Center

Read more »