and the hope that one day she was going to put it together and she was going to come back on top, because any tv show across the world, you know, would drop anything to book whitney houston. she was the ultimate booking. you know, i'm watching the news now and i know there's a lot of speculation about what happened, why it happened, that it's important to note that. but importantly, i think that we must still remember her when she was at her very, very best. because that's what i want to remember and that's what i think she should be remembered for. she was a fantastic artist. an incredible singer. she fell into the wrong crowd, no question of that. and god, i wish that had never happened. but there's nothing we can do about that. but i want to remember her when

she was at the very, very top, because we all love stars like this. >> simon, if you could hold on the line for one moment. we're going to go back to don lemon in atlanta. he's going to give a quick news update. >> piers and simon, thank you very much. stand by, everyone, who is watching around the world. i'm don lemon in atlanta. thank you for watching. breaking news tonight. one of the greatest voices of her generation, whitney houston has died. the grammy winning entertainer was just 48 years old. we've learned that from the beverly hills police department, and we have been honoring her all evening here, as soon as we got the information and mourning the loss to the world in general. i'm joined by piers morgan, my colleague here on cnn. if i could ask simon a question. i'm noticing on twitter and from the reaction i'm getting, a lot of young people looked up to

whitney houston. she meant to much to so many young people, especially performers. >> you know, it was interesting, and i was thinking about this tonight, is that i started -- as i said, i've been doing this a long time and every singer who aspired to be great singer always looked up to whitney houston and what's been interesting recently is that this new generation of singer who has come along and a lot of them are quite cutting edge, and she will freely admit that her inspiration, one of her biggest inspirations was whitney houston. this wasn't somebody who was just popular in the '80s and '90s when she was at her peak. she still had this unbelievable influence and this coolness which, if anything, has been growing over the last few years. and that's what is so depressing

to hear this news now. the fact that she had such -- she was an inspiration to so many of these singers. that's what everyone aspired to even be close to. >> simon, if i could jump in. i had clive davis on my show last night with jennifer hudson. i was having some fun about the fact that she didn't get through to win "american idol" and so on, and she was saying that for her, whitney houston was this great kind of standard bearer for all girls of her generation. and to think that i was talking to clive on her last night and whitney houston has died today, you know clive davis very well. he's been a mentor to so many great stars over the years. he's got his huge pregrammy party tonight. how do you think he'll be

feeling tonight, clive? >> clive will be devastated. you know, clive was really the man behind whitney. he discovered her, he worked with her closely over the years, and he is, make no mistake, the man who helped whitney turn into a superstar. i have no idea how he's feeling, because he was like a father to her. but if i know clive well, i think he's going to use this night tonight to be what should be a tribute to her. like i said, not as somebody who we're going to remember as a troubled figure, but as a legendary superstar and she deserves, you know, that on this night. but he's going to find this very, very difficult because i've never known such a close relationship, piers, between a record executive and an artist. i've seen the two of them together, the way that he would sit in the audience and watch

her every move. like i said, like a proud father. even when she was going through her troubled times, he masterminded her comeback album, which wasn't easy. he was very proud of it, and it's upsetting me talking about it now, because it's sinking in. to realization that she's not around anymore. it really is -- i'm very, very upset. >> it is just devastating. i think people can't really get their heads around this. it's exactly like it was with michael jackson. there were reports, simon, in the paper here in america that you were considering making an offer to whitney to be a host on "x factor in america." was that true? >> that's often what happens when people, you know, want to be on one of these shows, somebody tells someone to get the word out. it's normally a sign that they

are interested. we were ironically going to meet on monday. of course, one of the names we were going to be talking about in that meeting, you know, as a possible mentor on the new series of "x factor" was going to be whitney houston. i have no idea genuinely whether she was that interested or whether given the choice, i would have like to have taken her under my wing, as well. because she would have been the ultimate, ultimate mentor to any contestant coming on the show. >> simon, do you think that -- was she in some ways her own worst enemy and was it a case that people couldn't get close enough to whitney to try and help her? did she lack somebody that could just put their arm around her? >> well, that's the sad thing, because with people like clive davis, and, you know, a lot of

her close family members, you know how much they cared about her. i can only speculate what happened recently and what led to this. i'm more frustrated as to why it happened in the first place, because it just shouldn't have happened. the only thing you can take away from this is, is that what the pressures of show business can do to somebody, even as huge as whitney. and you hope that because of this, you know, it may prevent it happening to someone else. i don't know. >> i've got a clip actually from the interview from last night. we're going to play a bit of this. >> for me, i've been known to be involved with divas, aretha

franklin and whitney. when i saw that audition for that movie part, i saw a depth and a range and af soulfulness that ranks at the top level. >> i always assumed, and correct me if i'm wrong, it would be part to beat whitney at her peak, hard, right? when i hear you sometimes, i do genuinely feel, i'm not an expert like clive is, but i feel she's nearly there, maybe as good now? >> listen, it's hard to make comparisons, for years, working with the queen of soul, aretha franklin and people saying can whitney compare? and jennifer. >> it has always been my goal and dream. it never gets old to me. it's always such an honor to be

under clive davis. as a kid at 11, i would create duets between whitney and i. >> did you really? >> yes, i did. so to be sitting here right now with him is like -- i feel like i'm dreaming. >> simon, there will be people watching that, not wondering what on earth it was. this was an interview last night i did with clive davis and jennifer hudson. and jennifer talking about mimicking, doing duets with whitney when she was wrong, never imagining that one day she would be receiving awards from her and being compared to her. whitney as a diva, as a singer, entertainer, hard to beat i would imagine, even in recent modern musical history. >> yeah, people like that can't be manufactured, piers. they've either got it or they haven't. it's so interesting, because i was only talking about her

music, her records don't sound old fashion now. they don't sound like they were made 20, 30 years ago. they still sound incredible. she still sounds incredible and they are going to sound incredible in 50, 100 years. there's something about a whitney record, it wasn't just the power of her voice, it was the way that she could sell a song, the way that she could sell a lyric, you know, and that's the reason she was so special and the whole diva thing came with that, because she was entitled to be a diva when she's got that much talent. >> you hinted earlier about the pressures of the kind of superstardom that someone like whitney houston had. after the "bodyguard" came out and "i will always love you" topped the charts around the world, it propelled her into

this rare stratosphere of genuine megastar. what are the particular pressures that goes with the territory if you are a singer that reaches that kind of level, do you think? >> i think part of it, piers, is that when you have tasted the kind of height somebody like michael jackson or whitney houston have got -- in other words, the top of the top of the top, those kind of artists, they can't walk away from that kind of success, you know? every artist like that will always want to be at the top again. i think michael jackson, a lot of the pressure was the fact that he wanted to prove that he was still the king of pop. he was under enormous pressure to do what was 50, 52 mega

concerts. that is unbelievable pressure. and i think the same must have applied to whitney, because, you know, she dwanted to prove that she was still as good as she was when she was at her peak. and i think that's part of the pressure. a lot of people are always blaming media intrusion or the paparazzi. i don't necessarily go along with that. if you're in the entertainment business, you've got to get used to the fact that you're going to get a lot of attention, and a lot of the time the media is what got you there in the first place and you have to accept the fact that when things aren't going quite so well, they're still going to show an interest to you. so it is down to you. but like i said, normally there are certain people, these people meet in their lives and they're

the wrong people and they are the wrong influence. and we all wish we could probably reverse time, if we could, and stop her meeting a particular person and you know who that is. >> there's an image of the person i think you're talking about there on the left of the screen, no doubt that whitney houston's life spiraled downhill after she met and married bobby brown. i think don lemon in atlanta has a question for you, simon. >> i think you're touching on something that's very interesting here. i was speaking with larry king earlier about adele. anderson cooper is going to interview her for "60 minutes." when she found out she was having problems with her vocal chords, she took a rest and did the surgery. that's hard for any entertainer to do. one wonders if whitney houston had done that and taken the time off to get whatever rest she needs, that the last part of her

career could have been different, the last couple of years may have been different. and that's a lesson for young singers coming up, as well. >> adele is a great example and i know her quite well. she's got this, you know, incredible attitude, which is i'm note going to be forced into anything. if i'm not well, i'm not going to do it. i do have choices over my life. the way she's succeeded, she's done it without hype and promotion. it's all word of mouth and she's got the confidence to do that. i think -- and i'm speaking for clive here, clive, when she was working with her three or four years ago, he took his time with her. he never tried to force her to rush something out. i know how many songs he went through to get to that album,

and he took very, very special care of whitney. and i never, ever once in all the conversations i've had with clive, and i've had a lot, did i ever get a feeling that he was ever going to rush something on the market. he was so proud of what she did on that last record. and there are some records on that last record which, you know, are suddenly going to be heard more clearly, because there was some fantastic material on that last record. and you're going to be hearing more and more of those songs. >> simon cowell, piers morgan, please stand by. more on the death of whitney houston right here on cnn after this quick break. ♪ ♪ shocking what love can do sarah, will you marry me?

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at meineke i have options... like oil changes starting at $19.95. my money. my choice. my meineke. very sad news to report to you tonight. whitney houston, one of the greatest voices of her generation, of our generation, dead at the age of 48. a legendary singer.

her talent matched by only some of the turmoil in her own life. an unbelievable career. dead at the age of 48 according to beverly hills police, she was found dead at the beverly hilton hotel. piers morgan is standing by in los angeles. piers, a big grammy party for clive davis going on. whitney was supposed to be there. things have changed now for the worse. >> this is a desperately sad event and night for anyone who likes music. whitney houston was the queen of pop. she was the female version of michael jackson. to lose both of them at this tragic age is really -- it's just awful and i got simon cowell on the line. simon, i know you're in scotland. there will be lots of speculation, and we touched on this, about the reasons why whitney's life may have ended in

such a gruesome manner. but let's just focus on her talent for a moment. what do you think will be her legacy and inspiration to the next generation? >> well, look, there's so many things you can talk about, about why she was so incredible. i was thinking about it while we were taking that break, because right at the moment, pop music you can argue as being dominated by female pop singers, bike beyonce, like rihanna, katy perry, obviously adele. but whitney and mariah, they were the trailblazers. they were able to prove that a solo female artist could literally dominate pop music, which mariah did and whitney did for most of her career. and importantly, even though she

was absolutely stunning when she was at the height of her career, you always remember whitney for one thing and one thing only, the voice. it was so distinct, so incredible. and that's what she's going to leave behind. like i said before, these records, these songs are timeless. i still have people every time i do mass auditions around the country for any of our shows, and we say to someone what is the big song you're going to be singing? seven or eight times out of ten it's going to be a whitney song. and like i said -- >> simon, let's just hear whitney singing here to give you an idea of what you're talking about. ♪

♪ >> i mean -- >> you know what, piers? no one could sell a song like whitney. you always knew that she had that kind of church influence, background in her voice, as well. she understood gospel with the people around her. >> it gives you goose bumps listening to her singing. i've never heard a voice as good as this. >> no, no. >> and the power of the range -- >> "i will always love you" will always remain one of the money notes of all time.

i don't think anyone has ever topped that. >> tomorrow night is the grammys. it's an event she dominated over the years. i'm sure it will turn into a huge tribute now to whitney houston. how do you think the industry as a whole is going to be reacting to this? obviously with great shocked a sadness. but what does whitney houston mean to the music industry? >> i think, look, they have every right to celebrate the grammys because whitney won a number, you know. i don't think she would want the whole thing to turn into a totally somber affair, because i didn't know her well but my guess is that most of the night, if not the entire night, has to turn into a tribute to her. i think people have to respect her and remember her when she was at the very top of her career. and the fact that a lot of people there on the night, in my

opinion, owe parts of their career to her, because she was such a trail blazer and she proved that, you know, a solo female artist like her could be one of the biggest selling artist of all time, which is what she became. and i think people need to remember that. >> it must be, when you hear her at her peak there, "the bodyguard," i watched it rece recently and she hit those big notes, it was just spine tingling. when contestants tried to emulate whitney houston, it would normally end in disaster when they tried to hit those big notes. that's what made her so special is so few people could hit them. it seems incredible that we've lost whitney houston at 48 years old. i'm finding it hard to come to terms with. >> i'm feeling the same way. like i said before, piers, i was

in scotland, i flew back to london and my phone is switched on. and there's over 100 text messages that have come in. i had no idea what's going on. i have friends, business associates from all over the world are all reacting in the same way. everyone is talking about it. they are completely and utterly shocked. but you know what? this is going to sink in even more over the next couple of days, because you're going to start hearing those songs again and the songs like "i will always love you," you're going to hear one moment in time and they're going to take on a whole different resonance. this is horrible, horrible news. >> yeah. it really is. simon, i'm grateful to you. i know it's late at night in scotland. >> i wish we were talking on

happier circumstances. like i said before, you're going to hear a lot of not very nice stories over the next few weeks, if not months. but i think it's really important that she was a troubled lady. i don't want to go into too much detail why she got there. but let's remember her for what she was when she was at the top, that she was one of the greatest artists of all time. i don't know whether we're going to find another one like her again. and i'm just incredibly sad. i'm glad i got the chance to talk to you about her to tell you how much she meant to me. >> simon, i'm very grateful to you and i know you'll be extremely sad about this. and you've given us fantastic insight into the issues surrounding whitney houston. it is a seismic shock to the music industry and the world. you can just tell by all the social media tonight, twitter, i

think the top ten trending subjects are all whitney houston related. this is a bombshell and it's right up there with the death of michael jackson and elvis and others before. there are very few people who have had the talent of whitney houston. simon, thank you very much. >> and let's just hope somebody learns something from this so these kind of things don't happen anymore. because you can't waste lives and talent like this. it's just so wrong. >> it's only a few months ago we were talking about the loss of amy winehouse, one of the great singer/songwriters of the last 25 years. if there's one message that comes through, this whole thing of drugs in the music business is just desperately sad when it takes such great talent so young. >> and have the right people around you. that's not to say she didn't with clive, because every artist should wish for a clive davis in their lives. but there were other people.

>> simon, thank you very much. we're going to go to a break now. i appreciate you spending so much time with us. >> it was a pleasure talking to you. and i wish it was on a happier note. >> thank you, simon. we're going to leave with some music as we go to a break from whitney houston. we'll come back with commentary from dr. drew penske. just to repeat, whitney houston has died at 48 years old today. . lemon burst, hm, cherry orchard, blackberry harvest... my daughter's grabbing some yoplait. pina colada, orange creme. i can't imagine where she is... strawberry cheesecake. [ grocery store pa ] clean up in aisle eight. found her! [ female announcer ] yoplait original. 25 flavors for you to love. it is so good.

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♪ and i will always love you ♪ i will always love you i will always love you ♪ ♪ i will always love you >> 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. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers.

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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 everyone around her and her family and her mother, sissy, and dion.