first speaker of the house to be disciplined for wrongdoing. that's a record. we need to do some work. s in going to take me all night. i have a whole other marriage to add in, and we're running out of time. i'm ezra klein. thank you for watching tonight. rachel will be back tomorrow. st stay tuned for lawrence o'donnell. so marriage number one. >> tonight we're going to talk about the inxrenable talent of whitney houston and how the santorum surge is driving republicans crazy, including ann coulter who was for romney before she was against him but now she's for him. again we look at how president obama turned it into a touchdown. we'll talk with whitney's friends, people that loved her and people that made musical magic with her, including the

last person who sang with her. >> the name whitney houston joins a long list of thoroughly talented artists who entertained all of us who lived hard and died young. >> whitney houston was discovered in her bathtub by maybe of her personal staff at 3:30 on saturday afternoon. >> though police do say the autopsy is now complete and there's no sign of foul play. >> we are all waiting for the toxicology report to come back. that could take six to eight weeks. >> whitney's body will be flown thoer hometown of nto her homet, new jersey. ♪ break it up ♪ >> whitney houston's family is

still making funeral arrangements, but wnbc is reporting tonight that the wake will be held thursday and the funeral is friday. the body is being transported by private plane at this hour to new jersey. wnbc's sources indicate the prudential center in newark could be the location of the wake and funeral. this is video of the prudential center tonight. there is already a picture of whitney houston in lights on the building. now we're going to talk about something unusual for this program. the power of art. artists, musical artists, music's unique and sometimes overwhelming power to move us and why the world of music, which includes not just the people who make music but all the people who love music, that world is reeling tonight at the loss of whitney houston. joining me now is the last person to sing with whitney houston, grammy nominated r&b singer kelly price.

thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> thank you for having me. >> you've told this story before about thursday night in hollywood at the nightclub. was prearranged? did you know whitney was coming to your grammy party there that night? >> i did. i knew she would be in attendance. i invited her to be my guest, and she came to support me to help celebrate my grammy nomination. so absolutely, yes, i was expecting her. she beat me there. >> she got there before you did. that's a reliable friend, not just showing up but showing up before you. >> yes. >> and how did the evening go? how long were you together that night? >> oh, gosh. well, the actual concert portion of the show lasted, i want to say, about three or so hours, because there were a lot of artists. i wasn't the only one that performed that night. we were together in the -- in my private area prior to the show beginning, and then she was with me throughout the entire performance time. i sat on the steps of the stage as the other artists who

performed entered and exited and she was right it there. she stood right in the corner of stage for over three hours on her feet all night long laughing and cheering and rooting on the other artists that performed that night. >> i want to look at the video. there's some amateur video maybe from a cameraphone or something that someone took when whitney got up on the stage and sang "yes jesus loves me" with you. let's take a look at that. >> okay. ♪ >> kelly, did you know she was going to do that? >> no, i didn't.

i had no idea. it was completely impromptu. i was in the middle of talking to the audience about my relationship with her, our friendship and how she's been such an encouragement to me down through the years, and she made her way to the stage. i saw her out of the corner of my eye. so that was totally unexpected. a complete surprise. >> you now have a place in music history that you didn't want, no one wanted. the last person to sing with whitney houston. what did it feel like to be up there on that stage with your friend in that moment? >> every time i sang with whitney, i felt honored and privileged because i was a huge fan before becoming a colleague. that feeling never went away. there was always a feeling of just complete and total respect for the artist that she was before anything else. so, again, being on the stage with her and sharing a microphone with her that night,

it was the stame feeling. you can see it in my face. number one, i was so surprised, but she was just so graceful and gracious as always. she was always that way with me, and whenever we shared a stage or a microphone, she did whitney. she did her whitney thing, but she always pushed me to be kelly and nothing less. >> kelly, we can see in the glow of your smile what it felt like to have her step up there. there's a lot of investigative reporting going on now, which i have on to tell you at this point i don't care about. we're going to get an autopsy report in some weeks, and it's not what's important now. there's been, i think, some idiotic reporting and analysis on other networks about what was that on whitney's leg? did we see a picture -- it looked like -- we're not showing the picture. we won't do that here. it looked like someone took a picture of her shoes because she was wearing dazzling shoes that night, and some people want to

make a case maybe a drop of blood on her leg or red wine or anything. i didn't see much there. i don't know what they're talking about. that's not where i want to go. >> thank you. >> i want to go to what it costs you emotionally and whitney and people who do this kind of emotional work for a living. you give us this. you take these stages, and you open your emotions to us in a very raw way. what price do you pay for doing that? >> it's an extremely high price. we not only give our time, but like you said, we give our emotions. we bear our souls. we push ourselves to the point of extreme vulnerability. we do it while traveling the world being away from our families, a lot of times being out of the protected custody of those who love us unconditionally and who will cover us and protect us and who want nothing. being in this business is

accepting that in many cases you are a commodity that's being bought and sold when you're away and when you're asleep. it's a big thing to know that something that can be so precious as a gift like music and to be able to sing is nothing more than than something that can be bought and sold by a third party. when they feel like the next best thing has come along, you can be placed on a shelf and someone else be put or try to be put in your place. but we do it because we love what we do. i feel like that you have to be called to do what we do. it's a life's calling, because you have to be willing literally to go to the point of almost eternity or immortality in your own self, in your own soul. you have to be willing to give up pieces of yourself that in everyday life and in a quote-unquote normal job you

wouldn't have to do. we help people through our music. music is healing. it's a universal language. that's why you you go into a country where they don't speak the language, but the words translate through the spirit of the music. and when we leave the stage, we leave the stage empty. we bear our souls when we get on the stage. we do it. we're drained physically, emotionally, spiritually, and we need to be poured back into. it's sometimes extremely grate fig and rewarding at other times you do it depending on where we are in the industry and what, you know, music is doing. i'll say music specifically because i'm a musician and singer. other times ipt's not gratifyin at all. you feel it's in vain. having a network of people around you that you can trust that can be trusted, who will uphold you in the good times and bad times, that's so important. even with that, because it's so personal as a song writer, not

just a singer, to do this is so personal. you have to make a decision every time you open your mouth in front of a crowd that you will willing to let someone in on a little piece of your life they otherwise wouldn't know about. we do it through the music, so it's pleasant when other people hear it. we're very aware we are giving up pieces of our soul and telling our own secrets through the music. so it's not easy, but we do it. it becomes healing for us before it goes out and heals anybody else in the world. so it's hard to do. i absolutely believe that you have to be called to this life in order to do it and to do it successfully, because in the words of my friend, it can and will eat you alive if you don't have something to go back to a strong foundation. that's what i love most about whitney. she talked to me about that from the very, very beginning. she warned me, and she told me,

you hold yourself together. you hold your family together. you make sure that you keep a life outside of this business, because you're going to need something to fall back on. you need something to go to when this imaginary world starts crumbling. if you have a real world to go home to, that will be the thing that helps keep you together. part of that foundation for the both of us was spiritual as well as family. i appreciate having had the opportunity to have a big sister and a mentor and someone who cared about me the way she did throughout my time in this business. >> kelly, i think you've just explained a lot about what the life of this kind of artist is like. we're going to come back to that. i want to bring in another dear friend of whitney houston's in an exclusive interview with us tonight, grammy nominated gospel legend and pastor kim burrell. kim, i think you can identify with every word you just heard kelly say about what the price of this work is.

you also shared a stage with whitney houston, and it was something, i think, that up happened -- it just happened last year, wasn't it? >> absolutely. >> let's take a look at -- kim, i want it to show our audience this amazing moment that you had whe where whitney houston came out and did a surprise performance with you that i wish we could show in full. watching you work together is amazing. look at this. ♪ ♪

>> whitney houston, everybody! >> whitney houston, everybody! . that's a b.e.t. special. here at the show all day putting together these clips, we had to have the clekleenex out. >> i hear you. i've had kleenex out for the last two days needless to say. it has moved me to know that people like you, sir, have such a great heart and a great mindset when it comes to this phenomenal woman. my phenomenal friend, and i thank you so much for this opportunity. >> kim, we're going to take a break here, and we're going to be joined by reverend al

sharpton. i want to talk more about the life and times of whitney houston and what it took to tli deliver her art and the prices she paid. coming up, we have the man who arng arranged some of whitney houston's amazing performances including the national anthem she made all her own at the super bowl. ter ray is going to be here tonight. yes, we'll try to get to some politics before this is all over. ♪ and i will always love you ♪ i will always love you extra butter tickets, swoon penguin journey junior mints moviefone evil prince bollywood 3-d shark attack ned the head 5% cashback right now, get 5% cashback on movies. it pays to discover.

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still ahead the art of wh t whitney houston. her former musical director directed the music tribute by

jennifer hudson. he's going to join us. ♪ they see me rollin' ♪ they hatin' ♪ patrolling and tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ ♪ tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ ♪ tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ ♪ tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ [ mom ] hi, there. why do we always have to take your mom's car? [ male announcer ] the security of a tiguan, one of nine volkswagen models named a 2012 iihs top safety pick. ♪ tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant.

when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. thanks, mom. i just want to get my car back. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday. back with the naum grammy nominated r&b singer kelly price and gospel legend pastor kim burrell. kim, we just saw that amazing video of you with whitney. i want to read to you something that was in today's "l.a. times." the music critic there randolph roberts -- randall roberts wrote a fascinating paragraph saying every syllable counted, and that's so true talking about "i

will always love you." he has this paragraph that the beginning of the line and the you at the end. with ironclad control that seals the deal, a pair of one syllable words so convincing they should have won her an oscar and grammy. kim, talk about the talent that we saw here with whitney houston. it was technical. she had a technical ability to do certain things. it was soulful and came from everything she had it seemed. >> everything she had. she loved music. music loved her. i'm tell you, we had an opportunity to sit in germany on her last european tour a few months back, and we sat up until -- about four or five hours talking strictly about music and her heart was all about conveying the message of

music. i think that's why the world heard it so loudly and clearly. she meant it, every word, from her soul. she loved to write music. whitney of a brilliant woman. one of the only things egreat today is that the world didn't get a chance to really see some stuff that i got a chance to see. that was such a privilege for me, because god gave her such an awesome ability to convey such a message. look at her there. look at that. that expression on her face. that is her soul coming out, because that wasn't just the national anthem. that was her letting the troops feel her love, the people in the room and her family. she wanted them to know that. she was so special. >> kelly, when you would listen to whitney houston, did you find yourself sitting there saying how does she do that? >> oh, my god. yes. yes, and then at times understanding. i think kim understands what i'm

saying, too. i hope i get it across the right way. how does she do that, and then taking a beat and reminding myself i'm supposed to do that as well. it's so intense. it's so, so intense. you know what? i love what you just read by the writer at the "l.a. times." that was so i will kwently said. every syllable counted because there was something special about that millisecond when it was put out of her. there were times i said how in god's name did she do that? there are days when you have to push past yourself to deliver to get the job done and so that the people who are supposed to receive from you get what they're supposed to goit of it. you do wonder how, how in god's name did she do that, yes, i do. >> i want to apologize to the audience for showing these little short clips of whitney singing, but we're going to let

whitney houston sing us out at the end of the show tonight and we're going to do that with her teenage video of when she was singing at her church in newark. i just want to show a little piece of that now, because this is the video we have that i think tells us where all this began. let's take a look at that. snoelt ♪ ♪ >> kim, as you've sung gospel for so long, you can't sing gospel in a church like that and not be singing to extremely high expectations in that audience. they've heard a lot gospel before you show up.

and here you have this teenager whose holding that audience, who has that. you can feel that grip already. she's got that audience in her grip. >> you know what? she told me that during those times her mother would tell her, this is the challenge for the day. when you stand before these people, you make your heart sing. make them know that you understand what you're singing about. we were discussing that. that's amazing you would show this footage. i'm so grateful for this, because she meant every bit of that. she was very aware of what she was saying but she had a promise to keep on to her mom and people there. it's a privilege to know that she knew where her help came from and she conveyed that. that's why i'm so glad her and kelly sang "yes jesus loves me." what a wonderful way to remember here. >> kelly, i can't imagine in a certain kind of way a tougher audience to have to prove yourself to than the gospel

audience in church. also, i can't imagine a better training. if you can do that, i mean, talk about if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere, that seems to be the place. if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. >> absolutely. you couldn't have been more right when you said that there's a lot of people that stood before the congregation before that. growing up in church and singing in church and going to the church conventions and i grew up a pent coastal church of god and christ kid. i would go to conventions, so at the conventions you had darrell coley, you had the clark sisters and the people singing on one program. so if you found yourself with the opportunity to get in what available slot there was in those midnight musicals or back home hours, kim, you better come correct. i promise you there is not a more scrutinizing audience than a church audience.

honestly, they'll let you know if you don't have it together. >> they will put two fingers up. they put two fingers up like you have two minutes to prove whoever you are. >> that's the truth. that's the truth. >> i have on to tell you, the control room put up two fingers to me several minutes ago, but we're going to stay with this. we're going to junk other parts of our show and stay with us p if you can stay. >> absolutely. >> we're going to be joined by the reverend al sharpton as i promised we would and tyree is going to join us. ricky miner is going to also join us to talk more about the life and achievements of whitney houston. please stay with us. ♪ i'd rather be home feeling blue ♪ so i'm saving all my love for you ♪ you used to tell me we'd run a

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39 million people watched the grammy awards last night, a 50% increase over last year's grammy audience. that huge television audience showed up simply to see this.

♪ i will always love you ♪ whitney we love we love you you ♪ >> back with me now is grammy-nominated r&b singer kelly price and kim burrell, both who sang with whitney houston and joining me now is the man who worked with jennifer you hadson to produce the tribute to whitney houston last night, ricky minor. here in new york in the studio is pop culture critic and pop culture writer tyree and another family friend of whitney houston is reverend al sharpton. thank you all for joining me.

al, you've been listening to kelly and kim talk. there's a bunch of questions i could ask, but i think there's enough on the table to react to. go ahead. >> let me say this. i grew up a boy preaching the church of god in christ. >> you got your voice in the church. >> cissy houston was a hero to us. when i was 9 i toured so i would preach in the intermission. >> what does a 9-year-old have to tell the world to preach wisdom? >> i'm sure kelly and kim could probably tell you. >> from a 9-year-old? >> let not your heart be troubled. >> come on now, reverend. >> the difference with whitney, i met her in the '80s. when i learned she was cissy's daughter, it meant something to me. over the years we would see each other. i wasn't nearly as close as kelly and kim. i got to know her.

she came and sang at the national network dinner. she was involved in movements at the foundation. she was anointed. there's a difference between those that are appointed by record companies and those that are anointed with a gift. nothing she went through interfered with that anointing. i remember i happened to be in los angeles over the weekend doing other things with my civil rights work, and then i had to preach at a church yesterday. when i heard she had died, i was only a few blocks away. what i kept remembering is i ran into her a couple of times last year, and she said to me, she said i thank you reverend sharpton for praying for me. what do you mean? her mother had participated with her local radio station, kiss fm had a healing session for not only whitney but all the young people going through something. we all came and i spoke that night among others. she knew about it. i said, well, you know, i know you'd be all right because i

know where you come from. the bible said train up a child. your mother believed in you. no one has given enough credit for cissy houston who stood by her daughter through ups and downs and all of the mess they would write. that woman stood like a rock on so did her cousin dionne. he never knew her singing "yes jesus loved me." when you came back in '09 with a comeback album, you sung i look to you. it was like a gospel pop song where she sun about after all i've been through, i look to you, to god. i said i love this song. i put it on my ipad and travel with it. she busted out laughing. i said why are you laughing? she said i'm laughing because i didn't know you knew what an ipads was. she never lost her spirituality, and i think what sustained her,

which the media will not talk about, is she was grounded. i talked to the pastor of that church she grew up with today who preached there yesterday. her mother was an organist. many years later after i was known i went to preach at the church and cissy was on the organ. i was almost too nervous to preach. she was grounded in that and she came back to that. i don't care what anyone says, that brought her through. rather than talk about her fall, they should talk about how she got up. every one of us have fell. it's the getting up that takes a different kind of strength, and whitney houston's real story is no matter how many times she fell, she got up and learned how to get up at places like new hope baptist church and at the knee of cissy houston. >> you can't judge a fall unless you know how hard the road is. tyree talk about where she fits in our musical history.

or say anything you want. >> i had some things that i wanted to say. i had some things i wanted to say, and then the things kelly price said at the top of the show raised the television discourse far beyond what we normally get. kelly forced me to rethink everything i was going to talk about. one thing i was getting at is yesterday at the grammys it was s subdued and a lot of people were talking about doing soul-searching. i had a talk with quest love from the roots talked about the soul-searching he's doing. he says there's an epidemic of death that's tragic among prematurely dying massive black singers. michael jackson was just 50. whitney at 48. heavy d was 44, nate dog was 41. why are so many of these people dying early? he talked about that there's an extraordinary pressure and stress on them to continue to

succeed year after year because it is embarrassing to fall. but they also have a fear of going back to poverty, which would steam strange to people. >> i don't want to interrupt you. i want to point out on the video screen with you right now is the plane landing in new jersey that is carrying the body of whitney houston on a private aircraft. but go ahead. >> there's an irrational fear of poverty in a lot of people who even have reached this level of fame and success they will fall back to that. you wonder why is why michael jackson and other people dealing with sedatives because they deal with an extraordinary amount of stress and anxiety. quest love said something to me that was deep and he was nervous to say but he said it anyway. for whitney houston would you rather be what she is or melba moore? melba moore was a singer very popular and successful, and then ended up back in the projects through several mistakes, some no fault of her own, and for an

artist who chases success and achieves success, the level of desire is so high that to fall back to that, where you came from, and to be embarrassed by other people taking your spot is massively painful. i mean, you think about the level that michael jordan gets to. you don't think about that same thing with these artists. whitney houston definitely had it because she got to the top. she had to be at the top. she started at the top. there's a significant emotional pain that goes through with this a lot. >> rickie, you arranged the national anthem performance at the super bowl and many other of whitney houston's most memorable performances. what was it like to work with an artist like this trying to find the i right way to deliver a song. >> working with whitney was amazing, but our relationship goes back. i mean, i was 22 and she was 18. i was called to put together a

band for a showcase to try to get a record deal for this young girl who sings at church. no one showed up. we were amazed that no one showed up, but at the same time, 1982, there were groups. there was blondie, heart, whispers, i was all groups. rolls-royce. put the girl out front and have the band. no one really was interested. a year later clive davis calls me and says, they tell me you're the guy had that put the band together. i want to do it again. i've signed her. we want to showcase her to the world. he wanted to showcase her to the top producers and top song writers of that time. we sat and talked and working with whitney was, you know -- there was such a krcreative

energy. the two of us together, i feel like she was my gift and i was hers. we really have this collaborative thing that happened, and really, we were set to take on take on and set this music business on fire and we did. >> and so when you're faced with a challenge like, okay, it's super bowl time, and you're going to sing a song that everybody in the world has sung before you and everyone in the world knows, how do you bring something creative, something new to that? >> well, i mean, i produced this record, this performance, and i talked to her about it. we sat. we went over everyone who had ever performed in the national anthem. at that time computers weren't such a big thing, so it was hard to find. she loved marvin gaye's version of it. it was more open and free.

we changed the meter from a standard three, four meter waltz thing. don't listen to my singing. don't judge me on that. we change that had to a four four meter where she could have a little more time. we wanted to the put in gospel, chords and gospel movement with the jazz sensibility and a classical or more or contest raal layout. it was totally different nochlt one had done that. she gave me the green light to do it, and i did it. i produced it and john clayton jr. did the arrangement. i flew with the arrangement in my arm to florida. we recorded it, and no one liked it. the orchestra didn't like it. cbs hated it. i get a call from john houston, her family and manager and said, ricky, we worked really hard to make this happen. don't go down there and mess it up. they said there's a call for

you, and i thought it was a call with john houston telling me congratulations, great job. it wasn't there. to there was a definite push to not do this version. they said, well, we reserve the right to have a standard version of the national anthem. this is after roseanne barr, so people were doing the national anthem. you can't really change it. whitney came into the fray and said, look, ricky does the music. let him do it. and i sent it to her. i said here, whitney. here's the arrangement. i mailed it to her. a week later we were set to record in l.a. she was a half hour late, and i said, hey, did you listen to it? she said, no i haven't had had a chance to listen to it yet. i just did a screen test for kevin costner, and i want to be an actress. he says i'm good, so maybe i'll get this part. she came in the studio and sang

it one time, left out of the booth and said how's that? i said, how was that? that was great. i said let's do one more safety. 90% of what you hear is it from that first tape. >> wow. that's fantastic. >> the only thing i used on the second tape and the rocket's head glare because it was a lot more power there because she did it once. there was no like, okay, you need to do this and do this. she listened to the arrangement one time and said i got it. >> let's take a tloiven that when we come back from a break. we're watching video of plane landing at the airport in new jersey bearing the body of whitney houston. we'll keep all our guests to talk more about whitney houston right here on "the last word." mid grade dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs bag of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback

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but as a person that had been helped by their work. i was just blown away. life's been good to me. i feel like one of the luckiest guys in the world. ♪ [ male announcer ] the 2012 m-class continually monitors blind spots, scans the road to reveal potential threats, even helps awaken its driver if he begins to doze. so in the blink of an eye it will have performed more active safety measures than most cars will in a lifetime. introducing the all-new 2012 m-class. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial services. okay. it's official. we're junking all that politics stuff we were going to do in the second half of the show tonight.

politics will be here tomorrow. the world of politics didn't change today. that's all you have to know. back with me now is kelly price, ricky minor of the tonight show with jay leno, he worked frequently with whitney houston. also with us grammy nominated gospel legend and pastor kim burrell and tyree and the reverend al sharpton. we talked about how you put together the national anthem with whitney for the super bowl. i want to listen to a little bit of it now. ♪ and the home of the brave >> kelly price, when you heard whitney was going to do the national anthem, what were you expecting to hear? >> that.

that. and it was so much better than i could have even imagined. that moment is stamped in history. we already know it's stamped in history. there was such a -- even in the or kes trags and rickey, i've had the tund to work with rickey, it was so regal. there was something so regal about it. it almost sounded like core nation music. >> that ending is a traditional gospel ending. so we just borrowed it from everywhere and tried to make it. we were young. we didn't know what we were doing. we were just trying to make an impact. i don't think we ever in our collaborative work of whitney and i never set to necessari

necessarily -- necessarily put ourselves out there and try to make history. our goal was excellence. a commitment to excellence every time we hit the stage and to make no two performances the same. that we would create once p in a lifetime performances. >> there was something triumphant in that the way her hands go up in the end in victory it seems. >> there was something try yurch ant about giving all her spirit to the troops in a difficult moment to america. i'm taken by that ending. just the technical ability it to hold that note for stuch an extraordinary period and it's held so bufkally and so steadily and powerfully. you can hear so much. it's like deep resonances in that one note. it's extraordinary, and i kept thinking, well, now we're to the end, no, no. it was like an extraordinary

long jump that goes further and further and further than you can even imagine to where she takes flight. i go back again to na michael jordan where he takes off from the foul line and floats through the air. >> al sharpton, you've been around artists like whitney houston, if there is an artist for whitney houston, for a long time. what i began with, this question of the price of this kind of art. the artist's sensibility is very sensitive. it must be very sensitive and open to the flow of emotion both into the person and putting it out. i just want to -- toure, to frame a little wider what you were talking about, the early deaths that we see of people in this business. i just up want to tell you that in a creative arts that i've been in, the writing business, i can rattle off for you a bunch of ivy league educated crack

addicts who are white who have survived it so far but might not in the writing business. others who are alcoholics having nothing to do with race, having nothing to do with class, but possibly having something to do with the vulnerability of the artistic sensibility. >> i think it has a lot to do with the vulnerability. i also think that you've got to remember many artists come out of a background that is not acclimated for the entertainment world. and full of a lot of people that don't come from a pure place. they're vulnerable, because they are sensitive. they are giving. >> too trusting? >> too trusting, and people exploit that. i was listening as reverend burrell and kelly were talking. then when toure came, i preached at james brown funeral who was like a father to me. i did the eulogy for michael

jackson and just did etta james. i thought of the miles i traveled with james brown, how they could give every night and go back to empty dressing rooms. all you see in the airport, the hotel, the gig, the arirport, te gig. these peemt donople don't have . it makes them vulnerable to a lot of things. it means that unless you have people and thank god whitney at some point had a mother and she had kim burrell and others that would come in that understood that. only people that have been there can minister to that, because ordinary people see the glamour. they don't see the life you have to live. they helped her reconnect. when you play that song, america needed to hear that. she brought the soul of had this country back at a very opportune time that only she could have

done. that wasn't just a regular super bowl. >> kim burrell, tell your story, i texted recently a friend of mine a singer giving tremendous performances every night and she texted me back. i said wow, that's amazing you could do that. i would be in a lump after what you do every night. she said i am in a lump. that's where i am after the show every night. >> indeed. that makes sense, you know. i had the opportunity as i said earlier to be on this last european tour with whitney. i went out to be strength to her and not to perform but to be there as her sister and pray for her. every single night i saw that lady give her heart and leave it there on that stage to those people. she loved them. she talked about them at least two or three hours after the smoe, because that was her life and love. she meant every bit of it. >> it's that after show time that's the difficult one for performers it to deal with. what do i do after what i've

just done. >> that's right. she chose to pray and sing even more. and do rye caps of the show and to reminisce. her favorite gospel singer was cissy houston. we had to sit and listen to cissy houston sing sonics from the '60s and '7 0s. >> i beg your forgiveness for interrupting you. we're going to sit and listen to whitney houston after the break so i want to thank all my guests, kim burrell, rickey minor, toure and al sharpton. we just blue out the whole show and did much more than. >> it's the last word. >> thank you very much. the last word on whitney houston, and we will give "the last word" tonight to whitney houston when we come back. [ male announcer ] juice drink too watery?

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jersey girl whitney houston is back in jersey tonight. the hersearse is about to leave teterboro airport in new jersey. 17-year-old whitney houston is going to close us out tonight and sing us out. ♪ it's up to jesus to love you and make it through ♪ ♪ ♪

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