Jennifer Hudson may not have expected to be leading the tributes to the sadly departed Whitney Houston at the Grammy Awards last night, but it turned out she was a good choice, the singer providing a stripped back but touching rendition of 'I Will Always Love You,' in homage to the late singer.
With news of Houston's death leaking on the Saturday, all eyes quickly turned on the Grammys to see how they'd react in such a short space of time. It was quickly announced that Hudson would be performing in tribute to the star, with Chaka Khan - whom Houston had sang backing vocals for at the beginning of her career - also scheduled to appear alongside the 'American Idol' alumni. However in a tweet, the 80s star said "As I grieve the loss of my friend and 'little sister,' I don't feel it appropriate to perform at this time. Continue to pray for the family," meaning that the 30 year-old was left with the not insignificant task of leading the tributes alone - something she did with aplomb.
She was far from the only one to pay their respects to the multi-million selling artist of course. The Winnipeg Free Press reports that LL Cool J told the crowd "We were up all night, and we just wanted to figure out and show Whitney Houston the love, the appreciation, the love, the respect she deserves based on her as a human being and the career that she had and give her that love and make sure that people know we care."