Music icon tragically passes away

>> last night's grammy awards was overshadowed by the death of whitney houston . a six-time grammy winner was shown singing her signature ballot "i'll always love you" jennifer hudson sang the tribute. and i will always love you

>> and joining me now, the chair and ceo of b.e.t network, debra. thanks for joining us. you knew her and followed her career as we all did. but you knew her so personally. i wanted to ask you about your thoughts about her role and her impact on the culture and on the music industry ?

>> we, whitney was such a great talent and woman, i was able to get to know her in 1996 , i was able to have a lunch on in her honor. we have honored her so many times. most recently two years ago and that night jennifer hudson sang in tribute to her. whitney stood the whole time, she was so appreciative and moved by the tribute. and to be in l.a. this weekend and have her pass away, the day of clive davis ' party, service to surreal and sad. we all had a heavy heart at the grammys. it was a very nice tribute. left la ll cool jay did a nice job of opening the program. but she will be missed. every year at clive davis ' party, everyone looks forward to seeing her, whether she is performing or not. and this year, it was so hard to believe.

>> you were at mr. davis' party and at the grammys. were there signs among those that knew her and saw her, that things were going down hill fast some

>> no, all indication were that things were doing great. she just filmed the movie "sparkle," and she filmed a movie where she played jordan sparks ' mother and all the feedback from the movie set was she was doing great and was scheduled to perform at clive's party and this felt like a come back for whitney , everyone was saying she was doing better and was terrific in the movie. and everyone was looking forward to seeing her saturday night so this came as a complete shock and contrary to what we are hearing about where whitney was right now.

>> and in fact, you did an interview about spa"sparkle" and she talked about how she related to the part.

>> i took a lot of my mother's character into this movie. a lot of it. raising me and my two brothers, but me alone, you know, as 19, i signed a record contract and then, boom, it took off. membership m my mom was very, very firm.

>> and apparently there's a rough cut that will be released in the august. let's talk about the music. you know so much about her impact. she was the first star, the cross over star that brought gospel into r and b, on the first cover of 17 magazine, you watched her over the years she had an enormous role on african american women.

>> exactly. she was such a role model, she was polished and glamerous, she was this nation's diane a ross, she had an amazing voice that crossed over . she was a pop icon . she never lost touch with her roots. from the gospel church or r and b, she had this larger than life image, she was a great performer. she made great video and then she was a movie star . you know, her role in "waiting to exhail" and "bodyguard," groups of women in "waiting to exhail," rushed to see this women.

>> white women related to that and we all had parties to go see it and see it on video then.

>> exactly. and then, the music from that movie just moved everyone. and then when she was in "the bodyguard" and "preacher's" wife, "cinderella," i know her great friend and partner, debra martin chase , she worked on "sparkle," i know she is devastated. she worked with her for many years. she was a huge talent and just so important to the world. i mean, people all over the world knew her and loved her voice and her music will live on. but it reminds me of the death of michael jackson , three days before the b.e.t awards. so my heart goes out to her family and daughter, everyone who knew and loved her and a lot of those people have been together this weekend.

>> one final question, i know time is short, i was struck by listening to an interview by jennifer hudson which she said that when she was down and out and worried about losing her home, that whitney houston reached out the her and invited to help promote her and lift her up again. that is a side that we do not see about the super stars .

>> right, she had a big heart. she was close to people. as i said, she didn't forget about her roots. wherever i saw her, she gave me a big hug, she showed up when we asked her to and you know, she didn't fit the model of a classic dciva, she had a great on stage presence, but she was a regular human being . that is one of the things that we have to remember about our super stars , is that they are human and we have to understand that aspect.

>> debra lee, thanks for sharing.

>> thank you.

>> i know a difficult time.

>> thank you very much.