Gone, but not forgotten. Whitney Houston's memory was honored at Clive Davis' annual pre-Grammys gala on Saturday, Feb. 9 almost exactly one year after the iconic singer's untimely death on Feb. 11, 2012.
Houston's brother Gary and sister-in-law Pat Houston joined the who's-who-in-music fete, though Houston's mother, Cissy Houston, opted to steer clear of the event (in an interview with Access Hollywood last week, the elder Houston called Davis' invitation "the most obscene thing").
After introducing Gary and Pat, music producer Davis then showed some rarely seen footage of his protege performing for the troops, singing "All the Man That I Need."
"I've chosen one video that isn't seen much and you'll see why Whitney Houston is the greatest contemporary singer of our lifetime," Davis prefaced the clip, an insider tells Us Weekly.
The late singer was found unresponsive in the bathtub of her hotel room at the Beverly Hilton — the same venue where the gala was set to take place — a few hours prior to Davis' fete, having drowned after taking a lethal mix of prescription drugs. She was 48.
Learning of Houston's death hours earlier, Davis initially canceled his pre-Grammys party, but he later moved forward with the bash. The music executive is credited for bringing the "Greatest Love of All" singer to prominence in the 80s after discovering her in NYC when she was just 19 years old.
This year, rather than being a mournful affair, however, Davis managed to keep his gala positive, and bold-faced names like Miley Cyrus, John Legend, John Mayer and Katy Perry mixed and mingled happily at the annual music event.
A wide range of artists provided the music for the three-hour bash, including DJ Afrojack spinning David Guetta's "Titanium" and Usher's performance of "U Got It Bad" and "Climax."
Best R&B Song winner Miguel also took to the stage with his sultry tracks "Sure Thing" and "Adorn," and Jennifer Hudson, Emeli Sande and Gladys Knight closed out the evening with a series of powerful ballads and fun dance hits.
