Whitney Houston's talent took her far too fast

When pop stars die too young it's always tragic, and often not all that surprising.

Whitney Houston, who died at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles on Saturday at age 48, had the particular misfortune to have the swift and spectacular success of her early career followed by years spent living a deeply troubled public life under the watchful eye of a tabloid culture.

If anybody ever seemed destined for success, it was Whitney Houston. Her mother was the vocalist Cissy Houston, her cousin was Dionne Warwick, her godmother was Aretha Franklin. Philadelphia soul legends Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff issued a statement recalling that they worked with Cissy Houston in 1969, when Whitney was 6: "Cissy used to always talk about her daughter . . . and what a great talent she was going to be."

There was more to that boasting than just a mother's pride in Houston, who was remembered in prayer as the Grammy Awards telecast opened Sunday night and was to be honored later in the program by Jennifer Hudson.

When Houston, who was born in Newark, N.J., was just 15, she sang backup vocals on Chaka Khan's hit "I'm Every Woman," and she was a successful teenage fashion model before her music career took off.

Her first hit was a duet with Philadelphia soul man Teddy Pendergrass, "Hold Me," in 1984. By the next year, she had signed up with her mentor, record executive Clive Davis, and her self-titled debut album yielded three No. 1 singles: "Saving All My Love For You," "How Will I Know," and "Greatest Love of All."

In the years to come, Houston's only real competition as a dominant hit maker specializing in slickly modern African American pop was Michael Jackson. Her music was more conservative, and she was sometimes criticized for leaving the grittiness of traditional black music behind in pursuit of success, to the point where she was booed at the Soul Train Awards in 1989, where she also met her future husband, Bobby Brown.

While Houston lacked Jackson's inventive genius, her music was equally ubiquitous. Her mark of seven straight No. 1 hits - the other four being "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)," "Didn't We Almost Have It All," "So Emotional," and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" - is a streak unequaled in pop music history.