Questions surrounding Houston death echo past

Singer Whitney Houston performs at the pre-Grammy gala & salute to industry icons with Clive Davis honoring David Geffen in Beverly Hills, Calif., Feb. 13, 2011. / AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill

LOS ANGELES - Whitney Houston's life was a doleful cover of other addiction-riddled pop stars who put their talent and themselves at risk.

Her death has created more heartrending echoes of tragedies past: The painstaking investigation that follows the shocking loss. Why was Houston found in a Beverly Hills hotel bathtub, beyond resuscitation?

The 48-year-old singer, who had prescription drugs in her room, left behind disconsolate family and friends and unfulfilled dreams. Her body was flown Monday by private jet to New Jersey, where she was born and where her funeral is planned for Saturday. Late Monday, a hearse under heavy police escort arrived at the Newark, N.J., funeral home that was handling the arrangements for the late pop star.

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After an autopsy Sunday, authorities said there were no indications of foul play and no obvious signs of trauma on Houston. It could be weeks, however, before the coroner's office completes toxicology tests to establish the cause of death.

The singer had struggled for years with cocaine, marijuana and pills and her behavior had become erratic, including in the period before her death. Some described her as upbeat and eager to perform at producer Clive Davis' pre-Grammy Awards bash. Others described an unfocused woman, unkempt and smelling of alcohol and cigarettes.

Law enforcement sources have confirmed to CBS News that prescription drugs were also found in the room, creating speculation that a mixture of drugs and alcohol could have contributed to her death. (Watch John Blackstone's latest report on the investigation into Houston's death at left.)

It recalled the end of Michael Jackson's life, as he tried to turn his career around with an ambitious series of London concerts. The 50-year-old struck many as youthfully energetic and upbeat, while others said he was bedeviled by insomnia that led him to a fatal dosage of prescription drugs in June 2009.

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Whitney Houston 1963-2012

Jackson's death was quickly linked to the anesthetic propofol, although the criminal prosecution of his doctor was played out through 2011. It took three months for a London coroner to rule that Amy Winehouse drank herself to death last July.

Houston's funeral service will be held Saturday in the church where she first showcased her singing talents as a child.

The owner of the Whigham Funeral Home in Newark said Tuesday that Houston's funeral would be held at noon Saturday at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, where her mother, Grammy-winning gospel singer Cissy Houston, led the music program for many years. The funeral home said there would be no wake.

It will likely be smaller than Jackson's Los Angeles memorial service, which included members of the public, 1.6 million of whom had vied for about 9,000 tickets, along with songs from Usher, Jennifer Hudson and Mariah Carey and speeches from other celebrities.

An impromptu memorial for Houston was held during a sadness-tinged Grammys, with Hudson saluting her memory with a performance of "I Will Always Love You." Viewership for the awards show soared over last year by 50 percent, with about 40 million viewers tuning in to the program on CBS.

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Remembering Whitney

"It was the greatest honor of my life to be able to be the one to pay tribute to Whitney's memory," Hudson said in a statement Monday. "It was from my heart. I haven't stopped crying since she passed."

Houston was found at the Beverly Hilton Hotel by a member of her staff about 3:30 p.m. PST Saturday, just hours before she was supposed to appear at Davis' party, police Lt. Mark Rosen said. She was pulled from the tub by members of her staff, and hotel security was promptly notified, Rosen said. She was pronounced dead about a half-hour later.

A sensation from her first album, Houston was one of the world's best-selling artists from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s, turning out such hits as "I Wanna Dance With Somebody," "How Will I Know," "The Greatest Love of All" and "I Will Always Love You." But as she struggled with drugs, her majestic voice became raspy, and she couldn't hit the high notes.

Houston left behind one child, daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown, 18, from her marriage to singer Bobby Brown.

[samXXkiley]

coucou,
consciously or unconsciously, and for reasons, Whitney has programmed her self-destruction
"au revoir"

[shielas4u]

My only concern and question would be, Why was Whitney taking a bath??? Media confirmed that she was talking to family and friends just an hour before her death. She was suppose to meet with her girl friend before they went to the party which was to be in an hour after her death. Why would Whitney be taking a bath?? Any women knows, You got one of your best friends Biggest event party in an hour.Your girls gonna meet up with your at any time now, Take A Bath!!! No she would be doing final touch up! Hair and face. Lets go the other way, friends lying about her, shes drunk, high! Still, Why would she be taking a bath??? Any one who knows an addict, if their not worried about their appearance, they certainly not worried if they showered!! I think they should look in to foul play! She had cuts and scratches on her body. Media confirmed she had verbal confutation's with a few people.

[MegaProcrastination]

I'm not even sure why I clicked the link to read this but since I did I may as well post. It's totally ridiculous to run weeks and weeks worth of articles on someone who died. There are articles on memorials and awards, etc., basically a bunch of hoopla that serves no purpose other than for the media outlet to profit from that person's death. If you really want to honor a person, honor them while they're still alive and around to appreciate it. Once they're dead it's too late.

Every time a celebrity dies it's treated like one of the biggest tragedies in the world. It IS sad that Whitney Houston died at such a young age. The saddest thing of all about her death is that she left an 18-year-old daughter without a mom. However, that's no worse than when my mom died and left four of us between the ages of 18 and 29. And that's not nearly as bad as the mom who is taken young leaving behind little children. Just look at the fellow who died from cancer due to "complications" from chemo and leaves behind his wife and three of his own children plus two step-children he was helping raise. Now that's tragic.

[andie52]

Her daughter is going to have a rough go of it. Also having two addicted parents raises her odds of becoming an addicr too.

[debbie1120]

Hopefully, she will learn from what she has been through, and seeing what her parents went through and vow not to do this. Unfortunately, it takes something like this to scare the crap out of people.

[Molly-Pchr]

Have pity. Many drug- and/or alcohol-dependent people are dead long before their bodies know it. What a horrible way to live, if you can call it living. Kids, when your friends try to get you to do drugs and use the old familiar, "What, are you scared?" Say, "Yeah, I'm scared, scared I'll end up like you."

[magnumdr]

LOOK! The woman is dead. Why can't it be left at that!

[credibility2]

...it's unfortunate, but the lessons that were supposed to be learned from addiction abuses, hasn't sunken into the thick selfish heads of the abusers...media loves milking a sad story...gets viewers/readers...

[r_r_k]

What a tragedy. It's such a shame that people as talented as Whitney Houston care so little for themselves that they are drawn into the web of drugs and alcohol. Another performer who has died too soon because of personal demons. Hopefully now she won't be in pain anymore.

[varigdc10]

Don't know why people differentiate between a drug and alcohol, alcohol is a DRUG, they are all the SAME THING. So, even when people of class and distinction and self control sip on a glass of Don Perignon 1982 its a DRUG they're sipping on, the only difference it's LEGAL !!!!!

[varigdc10]

Really ridiculous many people asking " cause of death" are all these people ignorant or what? She self distructed with drugs, meaning ( alcohol, xanax, valium, cocaine, marijuana, etc., etc., etc., ), and Bobby Brown on the side, the whole cocktail, what else is there to know or find out, cause of death, give me a break !

[heyder84]

There is not question about, her addition to drugs have to blame to one idiot: bobby brown, another addited and drug dealer.
He should be bring to justice.

[margroks]

It's a shame but seriously-she did it to herself just as Jackson did. All that talent wasted.

[debbie1120]

agree!