Friends Remember Whitney

The death of icon Whitney Houston has come as a shock to many, including close industry friends of the singer. From colleagues to up and coming stars, to people who have met her briefly in passing, everyone is talking about the loss of a friend, and that incomparable voice. The Hollywood Reporter, has paired the most inspiring quotes from those who have already paid their respects publicly to the late singer.

Gladys Knight
Singer-songwriter

I know that family — [her cousin] Dionne and I have been close since we started in the industry. I knew her mother, Cissy. I remember the day Dionne told me, ‘Wait till you hear Nippy [Houston’s nickname]!’ It’s part of life, and it’s God’s plan. Her star was so bright. Even though it burned for a short while, boy, did it burn. There will never be another voice like that. Hers was unique to the world.”

P. Diddy
Hip-hop mogul

“I sat next to Whitney at the BET Awards, and if you ever sat next to her anywhere, you already knew that you were in for a good time. Whenever you saw Whitney, she always hit you with that beautiful smile, that incredible energy and a grandma hug that just shook your body — that real love. Hearing her sing was like listening to magic. Anytime we think of Whitney, we have to remember that positivity. Whenever she performed, she’d give 5,000 percent. She gave love. She was not a hater; she was a congratulator
all the time.”

Jennifer Hudson
Singer-actress

“When I first heard ‘I Will Always Love You,’ that was my song. I would create duets between us because I always wanted to sing a duet with Whitney. She’s who I modeled myself after; I always loved her technique. I never had any formal training.”

Clive Davis
Producer

“I am devastated by the loss of someone who has meant so much to me for so many years. My heart goes out to her daughter, Bobbi Kristina, to her mother, Cissy … to her extended family who loved and cherished her and her spirit. Whitney was a beautiful person and a talent beyond compare. She graced the stage with her regal presence.”

Maureen Crowe
Music supervisor, The Bodyguard

“I had pitched ‘I Will Always Love You,’ and Kevin [Costner] decided that would be the song and brought it to her. I could have easily been forgotten. It was like my second or third film. She thanked me for my ears at the Billboard Awards and at the Grammys. I was shocked. I didn’t even realize what that meant — that’s the kind of person she was. She didn’t want the little people to be forgotten. She truly tried to acknowledge everyone around her. She was a very generous, gifted person who knew she was gifted and knew that she wanted to give her gift back to the world. When she sang, she gave a thousand percent.”

Penny Marshall
Director, The Preacher’s Wife

“Last time I saw her was last year. She was trying to get better. We still don’t know everything that happened; I’m not gonna guess about it. I’m just sad. I did Preacher’s Wife, so she got to sing her gospel songs, where she came from. She was great. She was a delight. She was fun to be around.”

Dolly Parton
Songwriter, “I Will Always Love You”

“I was brought to tears … when Jennifer Hudson sang, ‘I Will Always Love You’ on the Grammys in memory of Whitney. Like everybody else, I am still in shock. But I know that Whitney will live forever in all the great music she left behind. I will always have a very special piece of her in the song we shared together and had the fortune to share with the rest of the world. Rest in peace, Whitney. Again, we will always love you.”

Diane Warren
Songwriter

“I’d written ‘I Didn’t Know My Own Strength.’ It’s basically, ‘Survived my darkest hour … I picked myself back up.’ Because she was doing a comeback record, she got divorced from Bobby Brown, and was going to kick ass again, like she always did. It was an amazing experience because I was actually in the studio with her. David Foster produced it, and he was kind of afraid: ‘Will she be able to hit those notes after damaging her voice a little bit?’ Being in that room when she wrapped her voice around that song and hit those notes, I was sitting there and crying.”

Forest Whitaker
Director, Waiting to Exhale

“The first day of shooting was only with Whitney, a simple scene where she applied makeup to go out. I proceeded for a whole day to just shoot her eyes, her mouth, her ears, her hand, her smile, her face. … So when studio executives flew in, I was confused and explained that it was the beauty and power of Whitney that would make the film work. I turned on this old song by the Whispers, ‘Chocolate Girl,’ and called action. After looking at Whitney on the monitor, they stepped back. It was impossible not to see her beauty, not to feel her soul.”

Craig Zadan
Producer, Cinderella

We [Zadan and producer Neil Meron] spent a day with her in Atlanta last year discussing a show for her and it was a great reunion. It was so great to really catch up on everything, because we were able to reminisce about all the things that we went through on Cinderella… I was so touched by how fragile and insecure and sweet and clear she was. It’s the most clear I’d ever seen her. I thought she was completely sober and straight where she was in a very good place and we had a very emotional conversation. The last discussion we had was all about Michael Jackson‘s death. She told me she was very close to him and all about the conversations she with him. She was worried about him rehearsing for the concert tour, about whether or not he was able to get through it. And she described the experiences she had when she went over to his house and what happened when he died, and the aftermath. And we were talking about what a tragedy that was. That’s the last conversation I had with her.

Lela Rochon
Actress, Waiting to Exhale

I was really looking forward to us working together again this year on the sequel to Exhale. Loretta (Divine) and I had tried to reach out to her and she was excited about seeing us. Then that Monday she checked herself into rehab, so we never connected. It was like, you do some movies and you just work with people. We did a movie and we became friends. I would imagine it’s not easy to have friends or be friends. We did all those things. We did dinners, birthdays, wedding gifts, cards, notes. She cracked me up. She was funny and worldly and knowledgeable when it came to life and men and what that was and what that was about and people. She was just a girlfriend, you know. She had great advice.

Tom Hanks
Actor

Without a doubt, we’ve lost a magnificent talent. She could do a lot of things great. Her movies were very good. The performances that she gave were iconic and mysterious.

Rita Wilson
Actress, producer

Certainly one of the greats — she paved the way for a lot of young girls, Mariah Carey and Christina Aguilera. I remember I was going to drama school when her first video came out and I first heard the voice and then saw the video and thought, ‘Who is that?’ She had such exuberance and joy and just this insane talent and you felt like you were in the beginnings of really recognizing that you were in the presence of someone who was going to have a long career. Maybe she’s up there with Amy Winehouseand some other fine people making some fine music.

Ron Fair
Music executive and producer

Whitney Houston was the idol of every young singer and a true role model in a time when hit songs were great melodies and incredible lyrics and not marketing concepts. Think of the simplicity of ‘saving all my love for you.’ This is like the industry loses a child before its time. Christina (Aguilera) must be crushed – Etta James and Whitney Houston were her idols.”

Matthew Morrison
Actor, Glee

She’s an American icon, an international icon. I heard about it on the ride over here [the Clive Davis pre-Grammy gala], it brought me back to last year at this time; I was so excited to actually get a picture with her. I mean, I grew up listening to The Bodyguard soundtrack. That was my jam. But what’s kind of eerie, is we [Glee] just did “I Will Always Love You,” and I think it’s going to air on Valentine’s day.