Pre-Grammy party honours Whitney

LOS ANGELES (AP):

A year ago, Clive Davis' glittery pre-Grammy showcase was winding down after a number of electric performances when the grandest name of all, Whitney Houston, walked on stage to close the evening with what promised to be a show-stopping tribute to her famous cousin, Dionne Warwick.

Instead, what transpired was yet another troubling display of erratic behaviour from the superstar, and a foreshadowing perhaps of what was to come.

Though she looked spectacular, her once-stunning voice sounded frayed and hoarse. She didn't seem to follow the rehearsed plan and looked out of sorts at times. Even when Davis, her longtime mentor and producer, announced that the show was over, Houston appeared to try to get back on the microphone, only to be stopped by Davis with the joke: "I found you when you were 19; I'm still your boss!"

On Saturday, Houston was once again the focus of Davis' annual party, but her presence was a posthumous one. Pop music's former queen, until her majestic voice was ravaged by drug use and her regal image was tarnished by erratic behaviour and a tumultuous marriage to soul singer Bobby Brown, died on the eve of the Grammy Awards she once reigned over. She was 48.

Cause of death unknown

Houston was pronounced dead Saturday afternoon in her room on the fourth floor of the Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills police Lt Mark Rosen said. "There were no obvious signs of any criminal intent," he said.

The cause of death was unknown, said Houston's publicist, Kristen Foster.

Houston's death came on the night before music's biggest showcase, the Grammys. She was remembered yesterday in a tribute by Jennifer Hudson. Houston had been at rehearsals for the show Thursday, coaching singers Brandy and Monica, according to a person who was at the event but was not authorised to speak publicly about it. The person said Houston looked disheveled, was sweating profusely, and liquor and cigarettes could be smelled on her breath.

Davis went ahead with his annual concert Saturday at the same hotel where her body was found. He dedicated the evening to her and asked for a moment of silence. Houston was supposed to appear at the gala, held downstairs in the hotel where her body lay for most of Saturday night.

Aretha Franklin, her godmother, said she was stunned.

"I just can't talk about it now," Franklin said in a short statement. "It's so stunning and unbelievable. I couldn't believe what I was reading coming across the TV screen."

Houston seemed to be born into greatness. In addition to being Franklin's goddaughter, she was the daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston and the cousin of 1960s pop diva Dionne Warwick.

She first started singing at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey, as a child. At the church yesterday morning, a couple of sympathy cards were tied to a fence post. "To the greatest songstress ever," one said, and tied next to it was a small bouquet of fresh flowers.

The pastor asked for strength for Houston's family, said churchgoer Shawn Cooper, 32, of Newark. He said he hadn't regularly attended church but felt compelled to go yesterday.

"The Houston family means a lot to this community; they have done a lot for this community, and being there for them is the best thing we can do as a community," he said.

Racial challenges

Her decision not to follow the more soulful inflections of singers like Franklin drew criticism by some who saw her as playing down her black roots to go pop and reach white audiences. The criticism would become a constant refrain through much of her career. She was even booed during the "Soul Train Awards" in 1989.

"Sometimes it gets down to that, you know?" she told Katie Couric in 1996. "You're not black enough for them. I don't know. You're not R&B enough. You're very pop. The white audience has taken you away from them."

Some saw her 1992 marriage to former New Edition member and soul crooner Bobby Brown as an attempt to respond to those critics. It seemed to be an odd union; she was seen as pop's pure princess while he had a bad-boy image and already had children of his own. (The couple had one daughter, Bobbi Kristina, born in 1993.) Over the years, he would be arrested several times, on charges including driving under the influence and failure to pay child support.

But Houston said their true personalities were not as far apart as people may have believed.

"When you love, you love. I mean, do you stop loving somebody because you have different images? You know, Bobby and I basically come from the same place," she told Rolling Stone in 1993. "You see somebody, and you deal with their image, that's their image. It's part of them, it's not the whole picture. I am not always in a sequined gown. I am nobody's angel. I can get down and dirty. I can get raunchy."

Brown was getting ready to perform at a New Edition reunion tour in Southaven, Mississippi, as news spread about Houston's death. The group went ahead with its performance, though Brown appeared overcome with emotion when his voice cracked at the beginning of a ballad and he left the stage.

Before his departure, he told the sell-out crowd: "First of all, I want to tell you that I love you all. Second, I would like to say, I love you, Whitney. The hardest thing for me to do is to come on this stage."

Brown said he decided to perform because fans had shown their loyalty to the group for more than 25 years. During an intermission, one of Houston's early hits, You Give Good Love, played over the speakers. Fans stood up and began singing along.