Whitney Houston : The biggest devil is me. I'm either my best friend or my worst enemy

　　Houston, 48, was buried in a New Jersey cemetery next to her father after an emotional four-hour funeral service that was attended by friends, family and superstars such as Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, Alicia Keys, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Jennifer Hudson and Roberta Flack

　　Houston, a sensation from her first, eponymous album in 1985, was one of the world's best-selling artists from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s, turning out such hits as "I Wanna Dance With Somebody," ''How Will I Know," ''The Greatest Love of All" and "I Will Always Love You." But as she struggled with drugs, her majestic voice became raspy, and she couldn't hit the high notes.

　　Interest in her music skyrocketed after her death, pushing her songs back on to charts and into heavy rotation on the radio.

　　She influenced a generation of younger singers, from Christina Aguilera to Mariah Carey, but Houston's drug use derailed her career and took a heavy toll on her once pristine voice.

　　But by the end of her career, she was a stunning cautionary tale of the toll of drug use. Her album sales plummeted and the hits stopped coming. Her once serene image was shattered by a wild demeanor and bizarre public appearances. She confessed to abusing cocaine, marijuana and pills and was eventually unable to hit the high notes as she had during her prime.

　　"The biggest devil is me. I'm either my best friend or my worst enemy," Houston told ABC's Diane Sawyer in an infamous 2002 television interview with then-husband Bobby Brown by her side.

　　She had been attempting a comeback when she died. She had finished filming a remake of the movie "Sparkle" in which Houston sang the gospel hymn "His Eye is on the Sparrow." Producers of the film have said the singer was a complete professional on the set.