DUBLIN?US singer Whitney Houston was forced to take a ferry from Britain to Ireland, after a volcanic ash cloud grounded flights across northern Europe, a spokesman said Friday.

The 46-year-old pop diva, who performed in Britain this week as part of her Nothing But Love tour, took a car ferry across the Irish Sea to Dublin where she is to play three concerts starting Saturday night.

"When Whitney was made aware of the airport closures due to the volcanic ash, she made the decision to drive from Birmingham to Dublin via the ferry so that she would not disappoint her Irish fans," her promotion company said.

"She is delighted to be in Ireland and is very much looking forward to performing."

A spokeswoman for Stenaline said the ferry firm received a booking for Houston and her entourage for the three-hour trip on board the "Nordica" superferry across to Dublin.

Houston arrived in London last week from France, where she was forced to pull out of a concert after being hospitalized in the French capital with a respiratory infection.

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.