Whitney Houston was dead before she went under the water

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The star's family have been told that there was not enough water in her lungs to conclude that drowning was the cause of death after she was found in the bath at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles on Saturday.

Toxicology reports are expected to take weeks to establish what happened officially. Police refused to confirm that drugs were involved.

But the TMZ.com gossip website reported that prescription medication - possibly including the Lorazepam pills that contributed to Michael
Jackson's death - and alcohol were thought to be to blame.

Investigators are working on the theory that it was an accidental overdose. The 48-year-old had been out partying in the days before her death. And she had previously admitted to fighting a long battle with drink and drugs said to have reduced her £100 million recording fortune to virtually nothing and leaving her asking her record company and friends for hand-outs.

In the aftermath of the tragedy which rocked the weekend's Grammy awards, her daughter Bobbi Kristina, 18, was said to be suicidal after twice being rushed to hospital.

She was initially treated and released late on Saturday when she was described as "hysterical, exhausted and inconsolable". She was involved in a row with police who at first stopped her seeing her mother's body.

A source told another website that the teenager collapsed after a mix of alcohol and sedatives. "She tried to ease the pain of losing her mother by having a few drinks. Members of her mother's entourage tried to calm her down with a sedative. The two were an unfortunate mix and she ended up passing out."

She was taken back into hospital yesterday after paramedics were called to her. A string of tributes were paid to Houston at the Grammy awards she had been due to attend.

X-Factor judge Kelly Rowland said: "We lost our hero. I would not be standing here today if it was not for her." Rapper LL Cool J led a prayer to "our fallen sister". And Jennifer Hudson sang Houston's global hit, I Will Always Love You.