Whitney Houston 'feels great' as she arrives for British tour

LONDON: American pop diva Whitney Houston arrived in Britain on Thursday to continue her interrupted world tour and insisted she was "feeling great" despite a bout of ill health.

The 46-year-old singer was forced to pull out of a concert in Paris and re-schedule her first two gigs in Britain after being hospitalised in the French capital with a respiratory infection. Houston, who checked into a hotel in central London, said: "I'm feeling great, I'm just ready to move on and continue my world tour."

She dismissed suggestions she was on a downward spiral due to drugs as "ridiculous". She said: "At this point, I just don't respond. I don't even read it." Houston continued: "I'm doing what I love to do, which is singing. The best part is seeing all of my fans around the world." After racking up a string of worldwide hits in the 1980s, Houston suffered a decline in record sales, run-ins with the police over drug use and a divorce from singer Bobby Brown.