Whitney Houston has died at age 48

Singer Whitney Houston has died at age 48, publicist Kristen Foster says.

Sources said Houston died at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles this afternoon, US entertainment news site TMZ reports.

A police crime lab vehicle has been photographed outside the hotel.

The singer was filmed leaving a restaurant in LA just last weekend with her on-again off-again boyfriend Ray-J — who is famous for making a sex tape with Kim Kardashian in 2007.

The Emmy Award winning singer has one child, Bobbi Kristina, with husband Bobby Brown.

She ended her 14-year marriage to Brown in 2006 after widespread media coverage of the couple's drug and alcohol abuse.

Houston holds the Guinness World Record as the most awarded female act of all time.

She is famous for her debut acting role in 1992 filmThe Bodyguard, which included the hit single "I will Always Love You". The song became the best-selling single by a female artist in music history at the time.