Stars Pay Tribute To Whitney Houston On Grammy Red Carpet

Bob Seger arrives at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards.

Jason Merritt/Getty Images

Rememberances and tributes to the late Whitney Houston at yesterday's Grammy Awards weren't limited to just the telecast. On the red carpet before the show started, veteran rocker Bob Seger, who came out with his family to see Adele sing live, admitted Houston's sudden death on Saturday put a damper on the celebration. Seger was one of several acts to share their thoughts and memories of the singer with Rolling Stone on the carpet.

Seger:  "I met her at a Grammys in '86 and I happened to be seated next to her and her mother, Cissy, was on the other side of her. She was only 21 years old and just beautiful and wonderful voice, it’s just sad. [But] I just choose to remember her fantastic vocal performances, like 'I Will Always Love You,' 'The Star Spangled Banner' and all those wonderful things that she did."

Rick Ross: "We lost an icon, maybe the most talented singer of our time. Just to reflect on her accomplishments she sold over 170 million albums when today going gold is a feat. And I just pray we all remember her for her positive impact on the culture. My condolences go out to her whole family, words couldn’t express it. We’ll remember her for her accomplishments."

Booker T. Jones: "It’s a tragedy, it’s a huge loss. [And] not only was Michael Walden her producer and he’s a close friend of mine, Cissy worked in the studio with us back in New York and Memphis before Whitney was even thought of. I’m 67, I’ve been doing this a long time, so before Whitney was born the Houston’s were huge and still are."

Wiz Khalifa (Who performed Saturday night at Clive Davis party where Houston was honored): "I never had a chance to meet Whitney and last night was gonna be a great chance to at least perform in front of her and let her feel the vibe. But she’s up there, so she got to feel it anyway."

Kirk Franklin: "To be honest with you, with the climate of losing such a great talent like we did last night I don’t really know how to feel right now. It’s a very unfortunate thing because I think that the entertainment community, especially after Michael [Jackson], needs to make sure these celebrities that we love and we love their gift are doing good on the inside. We [have to] realize that they’re human beings, they’re human freaking beings. And we gotta make sure there’s a balance in their life. Somebody’s got to say no to some things. And somebody’s gotta have the cajones to even tell Whitney no, to tell Michael no. We’ve gotta love the person more than the talent."

• 
  MUSIC Exclusive Live Chat With Linkin Park and Incubus
• 
  MOVIES & TV Peter Travers: 'The Avengers' Has it All
• 
  POLITICS Matt Taibbi: Jon Corzine Is the Original Zimmerman
• 
  VIDEOS Exclusive Premiere: Tenacious D's 'Tinnitus'

Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter