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>> we will always love whitney houston and the talent that she had and the beautiful voice and the songs that she leaves as her legacy. whitney houston dead at the age of 48, died today in a hotel in beverly hills, california. the great lionel richie on the phone now. before we get to you, lionel, we're looking at live pictures of the beverly hilton. whitney houston found unresponsive on the fourth floor in a hotel room there, and you're looking at live pictures. obviously the center of attention now. big clive davis grammy party supposed to be going on there. and then you have this. last time i spoke to you, we were at michael jackson's funeral and now we're dealing with this. are you there? >> yeah, i have to tell you, i'm absolutely devastated. i always say this all the time,

you know, we are a business. unfortunately of such great talent, but also of great tragedy. you know, we see it happen so many times, from the '60s, the '70s, the '80s, 'the 90s, we watch them come and go. you keep thinking it can't happen to this next generation, and sure enough, here we go again. michael was enough to stop traffic with me. i couldn't believe it. and then you see whitney. i talked to her, how are you doing? are you okay? you keep hoping for the best. but when you get this kind of news, it's nothing but silence is all i can give you. >> can you talk to us about her talent? i'm sure you've seen her entertain as we look at these live pictures from the beverly hilton. you've seen her perform on stage there personally. but talk to us about her talent, that voice. >> well, what we pray for in this business, there are

singers, and then there are stylists. there are people that you can hear, you know, two notes, three notes and you know exactly who it is. and she had that voice. she had that voice that could just turn a story, a melody, into just magical notes. i think about it all the time in terms of watching her just -- there was no end to what range she could hit. and of course, you think, okay, she can't get any better than that. and then she comes with another lick that's even more amazing than the last lick. i always think about myself. i'm a storyteller, so when you get someone who is that gifted with a voice, it almost -- it's almost angelic at some point. for her, it was just her signature, her signature was that beautiful voice she had. >> lionel, piers morgan is standing by in los angeles.

piers, it's odd to see as we saw the closeups, i don't know if you could see the closeups of the beverly hilton, but you could see the red carpet inside. but piers, i'm sure you have a couple questions for lionel. >> there are swirling reports that the clive davis party may not be happening. they're still trying to decide what to do. he was the great mentor to whitney houston. he discovered her when she was a teenager. lionel, obviously very, very difficult night for everybody in the business. i was talking to simon cowell about the pressures that come with being as big a star as whitney houston was and trying to stay at the level that people know you for. we were talking there about the angelic voice. there's no doubt that in recent years, because of the issues in her life, she was struggling to keep that voice at that same level. from a singer's point of view,

tell me about the psychology when that happens to you. it must put huge pressure on you. >> huge. it's almost to the point of, what would be your identity? if your identity is your voice and you don't have the voice that you had say ten years ago, what an amazing psychological pressure that could be on top of you. to be excellent every time you perform, it's just devastating. and then let's put, now we have to live our lives in the press every day. so on top of just the vocals, it's what are our personal tragedies? what are we going through personally as, i bet your can't top yourself. can you beat the last performance you had? a young singer just came along that could be the next you. can you imagine how that sounds in your head if you're an artist?

>> i was interviewing jennifer hudson last night by coincidence with clive davis and she was talking about whitney being her great heroine. you know, you can imagine the psychology of whitney houston probably sitting there listening to this young girl singing at the level she may crave. >> can you imagine someone saying, well, you know, you don't have to hit the notes you used to hit. we'll take it down a half step or a whole step for you. as much as this sounds accommodating, it's not what a vocalist wants to hear, especially when you have someone sitting there hitting notes higher than you did the first time. i understand it. but she was such an iconic state in terms of her career. you always want to maintain the person that you started out with back in the '80s or where your

career started. it's not an easy position to be at that level, that altitude of her career. >> can i just jump in here, guys? i want to remind the viewers of where we are. on the left side of your screen, viewer, this is live pictures of the beverly hilton where the clive davis party is going on. a lot of events are held there. you're looking at a balcony now. i'm sure the chopper is trying to zoom in on the fourth floor, because that's where whitney houston's body was found in a room on the fourth floor at 3:55 and pronounced dead. lionel, you bring up a good point. one of the last things simon said, listen, there are going to be a lot of horrible stories that will be said, but let's hope there is a lesson, a positive lesson from all of this. you have had to deal with

yourself being in the press. your daughter being in the press in the tabloids. whitney houston. what is the advice, what is the takeaway as you see it here? >> well, you have to understand something. we live our lives every day in the public. more so now than ever. and just there used to be a time when all you had to do was survive your own craft. they didn't know anything about your personal life. we didn't know about elvis and the back ground. we didn't know about all these tragedies that were happening. and now we have every single day there's a tweet, a blog, there's a blurb about some part of your personal life. now, from a stand point of an artist, we're a business of psyche. how can we hold ourselves together and still maintain the

voice, the psyche of who we are and how do we maintain that? can you imagine the pressure of trying to be who you want to be and still with all this swirling around your personal life, the tragedy of your personal life, and you're trying to overcome that and walk on the stage now and do your best song. it's the hardest thing to overcome. >> lionel, i just -- >> today, so many artists are falling apart because the pressure of being famous and maintaining the famous part, and maintaining your craft at the same time is almost overbearing. >> we're hearing, lionel, i just got a message from somebody who is at the clive davis event that they probably now are going ahead wit. this must be an incredibly difficult decision and night for clive davis. what he's going through -- i sat with this man in this studio

yesterday, and she was talking in this incredibly emotional way about whitney, not knowing anything is going to happen to her. it's a real bombshell this, isn't it, lionel? what impact will this have on the music industry? >> let me talk about clive for a minute. what's so beautiful about this man is that in our business, we find people who believe in us. we find people who tell us before we even know we're famous that you have a voice, you have a skill that's going to be so amazing to the world that i believe in you enough i'm behind you and we believe in this guy. clive was the perfect person to whitney. he took her under his wing and said, i'm going to do all i can to make you that star. and i know tonight he's probably devastated because this was his angel. this was his little angel.

and i know that through her tragedy of drugs and everything, i know how he felt about one day my angel is going to come back and be strong. >> lionel, can we talk about sissy, what she's dealing with now? >> who is this again now? >> sissy houston. >> i can't imagine. well, i mean, we don't have to go any further than that. she's been in the business longer than anyone. she knows the hardships of this business, but she just lost a child. my heart absolutely goes out to her and to dion, because i know them so well. i can't imagine their loss. >> lionel, there's going to be so much stuff written about whitney houston, as there was after michael jackson, amy winehouse, and all these entertainers who get taken at such tragically early ages like this.

try and put in perspective what whitney houston was really like from your knowledge of her. cut away from the tabloid headlines and the mythology, what kind of woman was she? >> very good question and i love that. i started smiling as you thought about it. first of all, she was a gift, if you understand that. i mean, i am a storyteller. she's a singer. so when you see someone walking to the studio and can hit any note she wants to hit at any volume, at any level, come on. i sat there some days saying god, you should have given me a little bit more than that. she was just a gift in voice. and i think the humor, her sense of humor in the middle of all this. i remember in the early days she kept saying to me, do you think one day i will be like you? i said no, no, you are there already. but she was just so innocent to

the business and that voice was so pure and her life was so pure that's what i'm holding onto. what we're going to do in the long run of her life story is focus on the voice. not the tragedy but the voice. that's the gift that was left to us. that's the gift that was given to her and that's going to be what we'll always remember. >> while we have you, lionel, i want to read some of the responses from some of the people you have worked with. first up, i'm going to read aretha franklin. she says, i just can't talk about it now. it's unbelievable. i couldn't believe what i was reading coming across the tv screen. my heart goes out to sissy, her daughter, bobbi. i mean, aretha franklin is a phenomena herself paying tribute to whitney houston.

smoky robinson saying, i've known whitney since he was a little girl and loved her. she was like family to me. i will miss her. mariah carey saying, heart broken and in tearing over the shocking death of my friend. my heartfelt condolences to whitney's family and the millions of fans throughout the world. she will never be forgotten as one of the greatest voices to ever grace the earth. piers, you mentioned you were talking about tony bennett, another amazing talent. tony bennett says, sit a terrible loss for the industry. he's at the clive davis party tonight. terrible loss for the industry, and when clive davis heard the news, he said that when clive davis first signed her she was one of the best voices ever in the industry. and he calls her one of the best vocalists of our time. that's just coming in. i'm just reading it off of my e-mail and to cnn. >> i agree with that.

>> yeah, i think, don, we're going to be hearing from clive davis very shortly. he's at this party at the beverly hilton. obviously it's a tragic situation where whitney houston was found dead at the hotel. she was staying there specifically for the purpose of attending the party tonight. it's a party she always looks forward to every year. clive was telling me off camera last night it's a thing she really enjoys and he was hoping she may get to perform. it's such a devastating thing to have happened. all these great stars and the others, they're just reeling from the shock of what's happened. but they're right to go ahead with this. all the guests we've had tonight are hitting the right tone here. whatever has gone wrong with whitney houston's life, and it's been very well documented that she had many difficult issues. the reality is that she was one of the greatest singers of all time. she produced some of the greatest records of all time. and i think it's appropriate

tonight to remember the incredible music, the incredible body of work and the tributes from people like lionel richie himself, one of the great stars himself, talking in the kind of awe that you have, lionel, about this woman. >> i'm glad to tell you, honestly in my lifetime, i've never met anyone who was so gifted in voice. from the first day i watched her in the studio, that i could not believe when we did "the preachers wife," she did take after take after take live. which is unheard of. she did every take live. i kept thinking, where is this voice coming from? i think that's what we're going to hold onto in the long run, is her gift, the gift of what god -- the universal god, what gave that gift to her. if we can hold onto that, then her memory will be absolutely brilliant. >> lionel richie, thank you so much for calling in.

we appreciate it on this difficult night for you and the whole music business and everyone that new whitney houston as you did and our heart goes out to you and everybody who knew her. we're going to go to a break. for now, lionel, thank you. >> thank you so much. >> we'll be back with our coverage of the death of whitney houston right after a quick break and hear from dr. drew penske whitney faced for some of her life and pay tribute and honor her, as well. we're back in a moment on cnn. ♪ i love that my daughter's part fish. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care.

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helps remove food stains better than an entire 40 load bottle of the leading liquid bargain brand. that's my tide. what's yours? is that whitney houston, singer, extraordinary, dead at the age of 48, found in a hotel room in beverly hills, 3 p.m. -- 3:55 p.m. this afternoon. paramedics found her unresponsive and never revived her. 48 years old. she was supposed to be attending a grammy party for legendary producer clive davis. the party is going on now. you're looking at live pictures of the beverly hilton hotel. my colleague piers morgan is in los angeles.

kareen wynters is in los angeles, as well. before we go to piers and all the people we have, i want to go to dr. drew penske. dr. drew, listen, we want to pay tribute to whitney and remember the good things about her and the extraordinary voice and talent that she did possess. but we would be remiss in our duties as journalists if we didn't talk about the other possibility, just the possibilities of what might have happened and to talk about some of the issues that whitney dealt with in her life. dr. drew? all right, we lost dr. drew. piers morgan is standing by. piers, i thought it was very interesting when you spoke with simon cowell and i got to jump in a little bit and he mentioned the same thing that i said, we should be honoring whitney

houston. but the fact is -- >> i think that the real -- >> yeah, go ahead. >> there's a fine line, isn't there, don, when the events happen when you have somebody like whitney houston who has had such a well documented history of problems and terrible issues to deal with substance abuse and a brutal marriage and so on. there is a temptation to dwell too much on that. when this is the night that this -- a remarkable talent has been taken from us, and it is important, i think, to focus on that talent, on her as a human being, on the impact she had on the world. because we know what's going to happen in the next few days and weeks. every tiny part of her life will be raked over and cnn, like everybody else, will report on that as it's appropriate. but when you hear whitney houston singing in these clips that we're playing, it's very hard for me to think of anyone in my lifetime, i'm 46 years old, who has ever had a better

voice than whitney houston. and that voice is gone. she's 48 years old. desperately young age to lose somebody of this huge talent. >> when i finished doing the other job and as soon as i got downstairs, they said go back up, because we're getting tragic news that whitney houston may have died. piers, we're the same age. i'll be 46 in a month. this was the soundtrack to my south, at least my college years. piers, stand by because i want to go to emcee light. piers, feel free to jump on. you knew whitney, 25 years you were friends, and you're out there i imagine. are you at the party? emcee light? we don't have her? piers, when they get her --

>> don, it's fairly chaotic down there. clive davis is extremely distressed about what happened, but he has this huge event, which i imagine will become a memorial to whitney houston. he was sitting in the studio last night talking about whitney as being one of the greatest stars of them all, without any indication of what was going to be happening today. lord only knows what that man is going through. he could never have contemplated. we now have some tape of tony bennett who is at that event tonight. this is what he had to say. >> to have this happen, it's so tragic. it's terrible. she had a god-given gift of being a magnificent singer and great artist. >> can you speak about her impact on your industry? >> well, it's all personal, but

i just, you know, to me she was one of the greatest singers ever i heard. and to have this happen is tragic. >> you've worked with some of the best vocalists. >> that's true. she was one of the greatest singers i ever heard. >> do you feel like you regret not getting as much opportunity to work with her in the past? >> it's one of the regrets i had because i always wanted to sing with her. >> unfortunately you won't be able to do that. >> right, i understand. >> can you give us a preview of your performance and what we'll hear from you? >> i'm nominated for three grammys, so i'm just doing one of these. let's see what happens. thank you very much. >> that was tony bennett, who is speaking tonight at the beverly hilton, which is where whitney houston's body was found this afternoon, dead by a freak coincidence, she was there to attend that very event. clive davis, her mentor, who

discovered her, sold hundreds of millions of records. and tony bennett recently i interviewed him. he talked about amy winehouse, who he did sing with last year, as being another of the greatest singers he had ever seen. both amy winehouse and whitney houston have died within the last year. and incredibly sad. we're now being joined by tony metolo. a desperately sad evening for everybody in music, tony. are you there? >> good evening, piers. >> tommy, obviously a desperately sad evening. you knew whitney well. what are your feelings tonight? >> well, this is just so, so heartbreaking and we're all filled with sadness. it's the loss of one of the greatest treasures to the world of not only music, but to everyonero