Hello, everybody. It was a mix of joy and sorrow at Sunday's 54th Annual Grammy Awards, but let's begin with the joys:

With a return performance since vocal cord surgery that brought down the house, Adele literally swept the board earning all six of the Grammys she was up for including Pop Vocal Album and Album of the Year for "21" and Song of the Year and Record of the Year for "Rolling in the Deep"; she has tied new mom Beyonce for the most haul by a female in one night. Other winners include the Foo Fighters (Rock Song, "Walk"; Rock Album, "Wasting Light"), last year's dominators Lady Antebellum (Country Album, "Own the Night"), Taylor Swift (Country Song, "Mean"), Bon Iver (New Artist), Louis C.K. (Comedy Album), and even Betty White (Spoken Word Album).

And then, there were the sorrows: In the wake of Whitney Houston's death (which I'll get to in a bit), producers scrambled at the eleventh hour to pay tribute to the six-time winner; first with host LL Cool J beginning the show with a prayer for Houston, and Jennifer Hudson's stirring performance of "I Will Always Love You" which was planned on the fly.

The fashions? Taking a cue from Lady Gaga last year, Nicki Minaj went Little Red Riding Hood on us in Atelier Versace, being accompanied by someone as the Pope, while suddenly single Katy Perry left us blue in Elie Saab. But my best-dressed was Rihanna in backless back, while Fergie? I'm sorry, but we can see your humps alright in that orange Jean Paul Gaultier...albeit a little too much.

Now like I said, this year's Grammys came 24 hours after the sudden passing of Whitney Houston at 48. Throughout her career, she racked up over 400 awards including six Grammys, two Emmys, 30 Billboard Music Awards, and 22 American Music Awards, earning a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most-honored female act of all time. Speaking of Billboard, she was the only artist to have had seven consecutive #1's in the Hot 100, a feat that has yet to be equaled.

But let's not get ahead of myself. Whitney Elizabeth Houston's journey began on August 9, 1963 in Newark, New Jersey, born to parents Cissy and John Houston. At age 11, she began singing in the junior gospel choir at a local church and during the 1970's, she would perform alongside her mother in nightclubs throughout New York City.

In the early '80s, Houston worked as a fashion model on the wide, appearing in Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, and Glamour. Then in 1983, Arista Records head Clive Davis caught wind of Whitney and after signing with his label, she made her worldwide television debut on The Merv Griffin Show.

Two years later, her self-titled debut album dropped to critical and public acclaim and by 1986, the honors started pouring in. That success would carry over to her sophomoric project, "Whitney", in 1987 with four singles from that album peaking at #1 on the charts, followed by her first world tour. Houston also penned "One Moment in Time", the theme song for the 1988 Summer Olympics.

When the '90s arrived, so did album #3, "I'm Your Baby Tonight"; the reviews were mixed, but the first two singles did garner #1 slots on the Billboard Hot 100. And then came what would be her first career highlight: With the Gulf War beginning to escalate, Whitney performed a very memorable rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner at Super Bowl XXV in 1991. Later that year came a televised "Welcome Home Heroes" concert special for HBO and then another world tour. 

But Houston thought to herself that singing was not enough, so in 1992, she added acting to her resume with "The Bodyguard" alongside Kevin Costner. Despite earning an unfortunate Razzie nomination for Worst Actress, the film turned up a massive profit: $400 million worldwide. 

The soundtrack was a completely different animal, with her version of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" hitting #1 on both the Hot 100 and R&B charts and staying there for weeks. And then came these all during 1994: Eight American Music Awards including the Award of Merit, 11 Billboard Music Awards, five World Music Awards, and three Grammys including Record of the Year and Album of the Year.

During the mid-'90s, she shifted her attention to films with "Waiting to Exhale" (with Angela Bassett), "The Preacher's Wife" (with Denzel Washington), and the TV movie musical "Cinderella" (with Brandy and Whoopi Goldberg). Then in 1998, she was back in the recording studio working on "My Love is Your Love", which had a funkier difference than her last three albums but managed to churn out stronger reviews.

At the turn of the century, that's when everything changed. Whitney performed at Michael Jackson's 30th anniversary concert in 2001 looking extremely thin; the reasons according to her publicist? Houston was "under stress due to family matters, and when she is under stress she doesn't eat." "Just Whitney" came out in 2002, then in 2004, Whitney toured again, this time overseas. 

Her last album, "I Look To You" was released in 2009, and she performed her single "Million Dollar Bill" on UK and Italian versions of "The X Factor" to Richter scale reviews. Despite that, the album went platinum. A new world tour would later follow in the hopes she would make a "triumphant comeback", but poor reviews, rescheduled shows, and cancellation of some due to illness had many fans saving their money. And last September, Whitney was supposed to be executive producing and star in a remake of the movie "Sparkle" with Jordin Sparks. 

In addition to all those achievements and then some, Whitney was also a humanitarian, being involved in the Freedomfest concert in 1988 for then-imprisoned Nelson Mandela, the Special Olympics, United Negro College Fund, and the Whitney Houston Foundation for Children, which she formed in 1989. 

Professionally, Whitney was on top of the world, but personally? Until the end, not so much. Her problems began when she met and later married Bobby Brown in 1992; the following year, the couple gave birth to their only child, daughter Bobbi Kristina. I could go on and on about the rest including their divorce in 2006, but let's get to the real highlights: Her infamous "Crack is whack" interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer in 2002, and then the "KISS MY ASS!" remark to her husband on "Being Bobby Brown."

There have been some developments since Saturday night involving Whitney's death. Two days prior came what would be her last public appearance and performance, singing "Yes, Jesus Loves Me" with Kelly Price during rehearsals for Clive Davis' pre-Grammy party at the Beverly Hilton. It was there where Houston would be found dead in a fourth-floor suite, her head submegred in the bathtub. Paramedics arrived on the scene in their attempts to resuscitate her, but they gave up hope and Whitney was pronounced dead at 3:00 pm Alaska Time. An autopsy was later conducted, but as of right now, they're withholding the results and her body was flown to New Jersey Monday where a funeral is expected to take place later this week. And believe me, folks: just like the Grammys or Michael Jackson's memorial, it will definitely be star-studded.

News and reaction of her death immediately spread like wildfire, especially on Twitter from Mariah Carey, Toni Braxton, Christina Aguilera, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, and many others. Even her ex-husband Bobby Brown was said to be a little distraught over the news, but during a concert in Mississippi, he blew kisses skyward saying "I love you, Whitney".

To put it in perspective...this came just a week or so after we lost "Soul Train" visionary Don Cornelius, and right now the two have reunited in heaven. But throughout her illustrious career, in good times and in bad, Whitney Houston's music was, as one of her songs put it, the greatest love of all which we cherished. Sure, we may have a show here called "The Voice", but there's no absolute debating that Whitney Houston was the voice. It may be permanently silenced, but it will continue to linger for years to come. And even in death, we will always love her. So long and stay strong.