i love whitney hughouston. could it be the dancing? maybe not. but i love whitney houston.an i get an amen in church? nobody can wear a gown like whitney houston. that smile, that face, that smile and grace. i love whitney houston for all those things and so much more. whitney houston changed my life forever. by entrusting me, rickey monroe from louisiana, with her career, with her music career. why? i believe that god sent her to me. she was my gift and i was hers. and that we would go on to collaborate and work hard together and make music and laugh and cry, and fight. i would bring something, what you got for me, rickey? okay. what you got for me now? what you got? i would bring my ideas that she stayed up and worked on. i would explain to her what we were going to do and how we were going to do it. and she said, as sweetly as she is, i'm not doing that. so, we would go back and forth until we finally got to the point where i said, you're going to do it and you're going to love it. and she said, is that so? and i said, yeah, that's so. she said, okay. and we did it, you

. >>> whitney houston's death won't stop tonight's grammy awards, but the mood there is subdued. michelle turner is on the red carpet as hughouston'sues stream into the award ceremony and share their memories. what are you hearing? >> reporter: well, ted, i have actually wrangled maroon 5 here with me now. i've been talking it has been a different mood here on the red carpet. these guys are lightening it up a bit for me, and we appreciate that. on music's biggest night, we're talking about music's biggest story. even though you play pop music and rock music, i'm sure whitney had some influence. >> she had a tremendous influence on everybody. everybody is realizing that the hard way after all this time. it's just so shocking and sad. we don't really know what to say. it's a somber vibe. understandably so. now, what we have to do is spend the day and night celebrating whitney because that's the most important thing to spin this into something good. take whatever good we can. we love her. everybody loves her. it's a really tragic loss. >> reporter: some people have said we thought it was a cruel joke. we didn't believe it. we thought

hughouston at the grammys tonight. her ex-husband, bobbi brown, took the stage and said i love you, whitney, but appeared to break downe stage. lester? >> known whitney houston and her family for 30 years and chaka khan, thank you both for coming on. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> reverend, you've known whitney and her family for years. have you spoken to her mother or dionne warwick, her aunt? >> no. we've reached out to them. i spent a lot of time last night talking to people who knew her well, was working with her, including the one who directed the movie she just finished "sparkles," that's coming out. everyone is numb and in shock because she seemingly had recaptured her whole grip on life. they say that we will be amazed at how well she will come off in this movie. she even sang. i know i saw her a couple of times last year and she kept saying to me, reverend, thank you for praying for me. we all knew and stood by her mother, cissy houston, who showed an incomparable strength to stand by her daughter, because whitney was our star. she was the one that was the diva that brought our music and culture to a whole ot