Remembering Whitney THE GREATEST VOICE OF ALL

It’s been a decade since the music died – we lo

Heartbroken and in tears, hundreds of fans flooded through the streets of Los Angeles cradling candles in their outstretched hands. It was an astonishing sight – but ultimately just a mere snapshot of the millions of people around the world who mourned the death of Whitney Houston, once fêted as possessing the voice of God.

On February 11 it will be 10 years since the beloved music icon was discovered face down in the bathtub of a Beverly Hills hotel. The 48-year-old had been due to perform at a pre-Grammy Awards party in LA that night, but there would be no introductory spotlight, no spine-tingling moment when her extraordinary three-octave voice swept through the room. No more adoring applause.

Whitney was gone and her untimely death was a dramatic end to a life that had become blighted by the very fame that had made her so loved.

Born on August 9, 1963, talented Whitney – cousin to Heartbreaker songstress Dionne Warwick and unofficial goddaughter to Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin – was lead soloist for her gospel choir by the tender age of 11.

Eight years later, the well-mannered New Jersey girl with a “million-watt smile” had inked her first recording contract, and the combination of her spectacular voice and supermodel looks was dynamite. With songs like How Will I Know and Saving All My Love for You, she dominated charts around the world, smashing a record previously held by The Beatles by releasing seven number-one hits in a row.

“I was a millionaire by the time I was 22,” she once confessed.