Pop legend Whitney Houston, who died Saturday, inspired a generation of music fans with her soaring voice described by her contemporaries as nothing short of magical.

No artiste could sell an album like Whitney Houston

“She had that voice that could just turn a story, a melody into magical notes,” said singer Lionel Richie, a contemporary of Houston.

The 48-year-old Grammy-winner was a huge star in the 1980s and 1990s, selling over 170 million albums with worldwide hits including “I Will Always Love You,” before her career and personal life went off the rails.

In recent years she has battled to revive her career, after a stormy and much-publicised 15-year marriage to singer Bobby Brown dogged by claims of spousal abuse and drug usage.

“She was a legend. These people don’t come around often,” British TV host and producer Simon Cowell told CNN television. “No artiste could sell an album like Whitney.”

She was a trailblazer who proved that a female artist could dominate the pop market, Mr Cowell said.

With a ferociously powerful voice and a dazzling range, Houston achieved stardom as a pop-soul singer known as The Voice and the Queen of Pop.

Her fantastic success – and that of fellow pop icon Michael Jackson – was propelled by a brand new device at the time: the pop music video.

Ms Houston’s trove of six Grammy awards included one for record of the year – for a soaring cover of Dolly Parton’s I Will Always Love You, and another for album of the year for The Bodyguard.

She later parlayed her stardom to acting success appearing in hit movies like Waiting to Exhale and The Bodyguard, co-starring Kevin Costner.

Born on August 9, 1963 in Newark, New Jersey to a musical family that included mother Cissy Houston, a gospel star, and Dionne Warwick, her cousin, she started out as a teen model and then made a dazzling segue to music.

She was “discovered” by veteran producer Clive Davis, who oversaw each of her hit records – she was due to attend his traditional pre-Grammys party on Saturday, when Houson was found dead in her hotel room.

Houston had 11 Billboard number one singles between 1985 and 1995. Her hits included How Will I Know, Saving all My Love for You, and I Will Always Love You, a Dolly Parton cover that Houston made her own megahit.