Newark Native, One-Time Mendham Resident Whitney Houston Dead at Age 48

Newark native and one-time Mendham Township resident Whitney Houston, a singing superstar whose career foundered over drug abuse, died Saturday at age 48.

Her publicist, Kristen Foster, confirmed that Houston had died, but the cause and the location of her death were unknown, according to MSNBC.com. However entertainment news Web site TMZ.com reported that Houston died shortly before 4 p.m. Saturday at the Beverley Hills Hilton hotel.

Houston was born in Newark, the third and youngest child of Army serviceman and entertainment industry executive John Russell Houston Jr. and gospel singer Cissy Houston.

She was exposed to some of the top soul and rhythm and blues singers from an early age—her cousins were Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick, and Aretha Franklin was her godmother.  

Her family moved to East Orange after the Newark riots in 1967, but Houston began her public singing career in the junior gospel choir at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark. Houston attended Mount Saint Dominic Academy in Caldwell for high school.

At one point, she owned a home in Mendham Township, but she put it up for sale in 2009, according to NJ.com.