NEWSLL Cool J Opens the Grammys with a Prayer for the Late Whitney Houston: "We Will Always Love You"
Feb. 12 2012, Published 11:41 a.m. ET
The Grammy Awards is all about celebrating music, but tonight, it's about more than the music. Tonight, music's biggest stars are using music to heal and honor a "fallen sister," as host LL Cool J said in his opening monologue.
"Tonight, we ask ourselves, how do we speak to this time? To this day. There is no way around this. We’ve had a death in our family. And so at least, for me, for me, the only thing that feels right is to begin with a prayer, for a woman that we loved, for our fallen sister, Whitney Houston," LL said, before asking everyone to bow their heads and celebrate the life of the music icon.
"Heavenly father, we thank you for sharing our sister Whitney with us. Today our thoughts are with her daughter, her mother and all of her loved ones. And although she is gone too soon, we remain truly blessed to have been touched by her beautiful spirit and to have her lasting legacy of music to cherish and share forever."
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That's when LL introduced a classic video of Whitney's Grammy performance of "I Will Always Love You," which brought tears to everyone's eyes and led to a standing ovation.
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"Whitney, we will always love you,” LL added.
Such a wonderful moment that will be remembered forever.
