With more that 55 million records sold in the U. S. alone, singer and actress Whitney Houston is dead at the age of 48.  On the eve of the Grammy Awards, Houston was expected  to attend a pre-Grammy gala but was found dead just hours before the event. Paramedics attempted to revive Houston, but were unsuccessful.  Beverly Hills police told reporters that the singer  was pronounced dead at 3:55 p.m. in her room on the fourth floor of the hotel.   The cause of death is unknown, although various bottles of pills are reported to have been discovered in her hotel room.  At her peak, Houston was at the top of the music industry, as one of the world’s best-selling artists from the middle 1980s to the late 1990s.   A Grammy tribute  will be lead by Jennifer Hudson at tonight’s ceremony.  The Grammy’s air tonight at 8:00 est on CBS.