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.
She had been due to take to the stage in Manchester on Thursday and Friday, with a performance in Glasgow on Sunday, but the Scottish date will now take place on May 1 and the Manchester gigs have been moved to June 16-17.
The British leg of her tour is now set to start in Birmingham on Tuesday.
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