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Whitney Houston Dead at 48; Greek Spending Cuts Boost U.S. Stocks; Obama Unveils Budget Plan; Santorum Downplays CPAC Straw Poll; Apple: Ban Samsung Phone; 'Dream' Pairing: A Nightmare for Tiger

Aired February 13, 2012 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Whitney Houston's remarkable voice was compared to angels, but this morning much is made of the personal demons that haunted her final years.

New questions now surrounding her death even as fellow stars immortalized her at the Grammy Awards.

CNN's David Mattingly outside the coroner's office there in Los Angeles.

David, cops say it will be weeks probably before cause of death is released, right?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Six to eight weeks. We're told that's pretty standard for cases like this because those labs have a lot of cases they are working on, and they have to be very careful when they go through these tests to make sure that they get it right. But the answers they are looking for are ones that the coroners are not even trying to answer right now about what caused Whitney Houston's death.

They did tell us some very important things. They told us that there was no foul play involved. So this is not a murder case. And that there were no signs of trauma. No physical injuries associated with her death. So we do know that she was found in the bathtub of her hotel room in Los Angeles. We also know that the paramedics on the scene tried to revive her with CPR but were unable to do that.

So right now we are waiting for those tests to give us the all- important answers, and for the coroners to come forward with their official cause of death to tell us what happened here.

PHILLIPS: And, David, apparently Whitney's 18-year-old daughter was also taken to the hospital hours after her mom's death. What do we know about her this morning?

MATTINGLY: Well, Bobbi Kristina is a teenager. She's Whitney Houston's only child from the marriage she had with Bobby Brown. The teenager was taken to the hospital according to a source close to the family. She was released. She was just described as being overwhelmed by the sudden tragedy in her family. The loss of her mother.

We are also hearing that Bobby Brown, who was on the road performing, he became very emotional and had to leave the stage when performing in Mississippi on Saturday night. And he cancelled a performance on Sunday. This is something that nobody actually really saw coming. Everyone knew that Whitney Houston had problems in her recent past, problems with addiction. But they also saw that she was getting back on her feet. She had a movie in the works. She was preparing to go back out and start performing on the stage again.

So her fans, her family, everyone close to her was looking her -- at her and waiting for her comeback, anticipating a comeback. And instead, the shock and sudden surprise of her loss.

PHILLIPS: David Mattingly out of Los Angeles for us this morning. David, thanks so much.

And of course there's been reaction to this news all around the world, and Max Foster has been following that for us. He joins us live from London -- Max.

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Yes, Kyra, picking up on your sort of angle on the demons, that's really what "The Daily Telegraph" has been looking at here in the UK. The soul sweetheart destroyed by drugs, its headline. "When we mourn the loss of Whitney Houston we don't mourn the loss of talent because the talent was already gone." Harsh words. "We mourn the terrible trajectory of modern fame that takes so many bright, joyous talents and destroys them, fixing them in an all consuming glare that magnifies weaknesses, exploits ego, and attacks vulnerability."

The "Global and Mail" in Canada, "Triumph to Tragedy, The Death of a Diva." "Despite her spectacular talent, Whitney Houston was a disaster in waiting. Great of stature, yet brokenhearted and in the end cruelly mocked."

And finally, "The Sydney Morning Herald" in Australia, "One of modern pop's greatest voices falls silent, but the echoes will last forever." So a more positive note from Australia. "Without Whitney Houston, we would not have had Mariah Carey or Beyonce. We would not have had Adele, who grew up a fan of Carey and Houston since the late 1980s. Her vaulting voice, an instrument of both range and sensitivity became the benchmark for singers around the world" -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Max, thanks.

And in just about 10 minutes, we're going to talk with gospel singer Kim Burrell. She's a longtime friend of Whitney Houston and Whitney Houston had a tremendous amount of admiration for her. We'll talk to her in about 10 minutes.

Well, the carrot for Greece, a fresh bailout from the European Union. The stick, well, a new round of austerity measures. Here's what Greeks thought of the whole entire thing. Take a look at this. Protesters not happy with the move clashed with police in the streets of Athens. Dozens of cops and demonstrators were injured. A bank, cafes, movie theaters, all set on fire. Dozens of buildings have been damaged by the looting. And on the flipside, markets are reacting positively to the news, and our business guru, Christine Romans, telling us what this all means.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It's almost cruel, isn't it, to see those pictures in the street and then to say, but the markets like it. But people don't like it. And people in the streets don't like it because austerity means once again they have wage cuts, pension cuts.

When you have governments that are slashing spending, that means governments that are going to be having less services and paying their workers a lot less.

You know Greece is -- Greece is a country whose government is too big, has made promises it can't keep for too long. And the people now, the people are the ones , Kyra, who have to really bear the brunt of it. Why are stocks likely to move up on it? Well, because it's another tortured step forward in the resolution of a big problem for Europe.

Remember, your 401(k) likes it because stocks want stability in Europe and they want stability with basically the EU, America's number one trading partner, its biggest trading zone. And the financial systems are very closely tied. So resolving Greece's problem without kind of a catastrophic default on its obligation is what everyone wants here.

PHILLIPS: We're paying more for gas here.

ROMANS: I know. And now here in this country are watching gas prices rise. This is where we -- I always say this is like a tax on the consumer because if you look at $3.51 on average gallon on average right now is what you're across the country. Could go up to maybe four bucks by the summer. I'm so sorry to have to say this.

But that's up quite a bit. You know, that's up -- gosh, it was $2.67 I think in February of 2010. So gas prices have been rising for a lot of different reasons because of Europe. Prices are going up there. Because of what we're seeing from Iran. But also because the American economy is getting a little bit better, and that means that speculators are driving up the price of oil too.

PHILLIPS: Well, we have to look at the positive, I guess.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Even as we are paying more at the pump. Christine, thanks.

ROMANS: Right. You're welcome.

PHILLIPS: Washington is also crunching numbers and pointing fingers this hour. Last hour, President Obama delivered his 2013 budget plan to Capitol Hill, and it's sure to fan, well, more ugly debate over your tax money and how the government wants to spend it.

Dan Lothian is at the White House.

So, Dan, even before the budget was made public, angry Republicans said hey, it looks like a stimulus plan. Christine is laughing.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right.

(LAUGHTER)

LOTHIAN: You even heard from Mitt Romney out there on the campaign trail pushing back on this budget already. But you know much of what we will see in this budget are things that the president has been talking about already. We heard in the State of the Union address. We also heard in that speech that the president put forth back in Kansas.

Long-term, though, this new budget will look to call for $4 trillion in deficit reduction over the next 10 years. But in order to help the ailing economy, this administration believes that you need to invest in things like infrastructure and research and development and education. And so that's what this budget will have in it. Just to break it down for you, $476 billion for infrastructure, upgrades over the -- over a six-year period, $350 billion for job creation.

$30 billion to hire teachers and police officers and firefighters. We've heard the president talk quite a bit about that in the past. And an additional $30 billion to modernize schools. And then finally, $2.2 billion for research and development for advanced manufacturing. This is something the president had talked about for American corporations to remain competitive on the global stage.

Now, as part of this budget, there will also be some cuts in areas like the military. And you'll see from the president leaning on wealthier Americans to carry their fair share in that budget. One thing that's new is the so-called Buffett rule, where those making more than $1 million will have to pay more in taxes. The president has put out there 30 percent of their income. So the administration is calling this a balanced approach, but there are some Republicans out there who are saying this is just more sort of a retread, a repeat, of the president's failed policies.

PHILLIPS: Dan Lothian -- Dan Lothian at the White House. Dan, thanks so much.

And later this morning, President Obama will address the 2013 budget. He delivers those remarks at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale. We're going to carry that speech live right here on CNN.

OK. If you're maxed out on politics, good news. No primaries or caucuses for nearly two weeks, and of course the conservative Super Bowl CPAC that just wrapped up gives us plenty to talk about still.

Paul Steinhauser is here. You know, Mitt Romney won the CPAC straw poll. Maybe that's slowdown -- well, what does that tell us, I guess, about Santorum's momentum? Because that's all we were talking about last week.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Listen, Romney had a pretty bad week last week. So winning the straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference, which is the biggest conference every year for conservatives, and edging out Ron Paul up in Maine in those caucuses, it did -- it did help Romney kind of at least, at least change the storyline a little bit.

But, Kyra, Santorum is criticizing Romney over the straw poll results. Take a listen to what he told our Candy Crowley on "STATE OF THE UNION."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Someone clearly is telling you that they think Mitt Romney's team at least paid for folks to go and vote for him at the straw poll. And that's what you're saying.

RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That's standard procedure at all of these straw polls, that campaigns who want to win go out and recruit people and provide, you know, free tickets for them to come and vote. And there's nothing wrong with that. I mean it's absolutely a strategy. We just don't think that's a good use of our resources. And -- but Governor Romney, obviously, you know, may have a different idea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: Well, the Romney campaign, Kyra, they fired back immediately. In a statement from their campaign, they said, "Santorum has a history of making statements that aren't grounded in the truth."

Hey, and as Santorum said right there, Kyra, it is allowed. This is -- basically straw polls are a test of a campaign's organization. And I guess the Romney campaign had the strongest organization. But, yes, it helped a little bit. It tempered a bad week -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, well, it's a break from the contest and the debates so what are the candidates up to?

STEINHAUSER: Never a true break, Kyra. Take a look at this. Let's go right now -- we put up a graphic together. Here's where the campaigns are today. Rick Santorum in Arizona -- sorry, Mitt Romney is in Arizona. That map is a little wrong there. You got Romney in Arizona. Remember, Arizona votes on the 28th.

Santorum up in Washington state, and he is getting help today in Washington state. Why? Social issues again. Today, Washington's governor is going to sign a law legalizing gay marriage. Rick Santorum is being helped by all this, all this attention on social issues. And you saw right there Newt Gingrich in California. Some fundraising.

One last thing, take a look at this. Here is the latest Gallup tracking poll of Republicans nationwide. And I guess what, you can see Rick Santorum on the move up. Those numbers just a couple of days old. He's now up to 27 percent. Romney at 34 percent. We're really seeing a jump for Santorum in the national polls -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Paul, thanks.

More political news all day long on CNN. And a reminder for all the latest political news, you can always go to our Web site, CNNPolitics.com.

A sick teen taken from a hospital by her own father. Why cops feared for her life, next.

And then more on Whitney Houston's life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIM BURRELL, GOSPEL SINGER: Whitney was a brilliant woman. Very smart. Knew her craft. I embraced her as my sister and friend.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Up next, gospel artist Kim Burrell joining me live to talk about the special relationship she shared with Whitney Houston.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Checking stories "Cross Country" now.

A sick teenager is taken by her father from the St. Louis Hospital. Well, she's been found. The two turned up in a hospital in Milwaukee. She has been taken away from her dad after a kidney transplant in 2010. Family Services say that she wasn't getting adequate care at home.

Lawyers from reputed gangster Whitey Bulger back in court. The judge wants to know what evidence they need from prosecutors to defend him. The 82-year-old was the leader of Boston's Winter Hill gang and an FBI informant. He was busted last June after 16 years on the run. He is accused of 19 murders.

Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky might find out if he'll get a break on his house arrest conditions today. He wants to be able to see his grandchildren. He was charged in December with sexually abusing young boys over a 15-year period.

Whitney Houston, she talked about how she struggled with the devil inside. And when she sang about God, you could hear and feel her test of faith.

Gospel artist Kim Burrell was not only one of Whitney's closest friends, but they were sisters, a bond that was beautifully expressed through Kim's tribute at the 2010 BET honors.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

PHILLIPS: Kim Burrell joining me now from Los Angeles.

Kim, as you can see, Whitney was blown away by the fact that you were honoring her. Tell me about the respect that you had for each other.

KIM BURRELL, GOSPEL ARTIST: Wow. We loved each other deeply and richly, and purposefully. Whitney was an amazing person, and she had such a heart for music and for the world. And what you saw there that night was real.

And, you know, for a minute, everyone was just not there, only just she and me. Just me and Ms. Whit, because we shared so many private moments together. So that was just another one of our private moments in a public place.

PHILLIPS: You know, you even said that the two of you talked every week for the last 13 years. Did she ever come to you, the friend, the pastor, and say, Kim, I need help, I need prayer?

BURRELL: Oh, my God, how often? All the time. And I enjoyed those moments mainly because she was very sincere.

When she knew that she needed help, she didn't mind saying that and sharing that with me. All times of night, as often as she wanted. And in song and in some of our performances she would put that in the lyrics, that you've been there, we've been on the phone. And it was the truth.

And whenever she would call, I was there. And I always would be. And I always will be there in some way with her family. And I just love her and miss her.

PHILLIPS: And you were actually supposed to go to a Grammy party with her. Were you able to get in touch with her? Was there a point where you got concerned when you didn't hear from her?

BURRELL: Yes. Very. When I landed in L.A., I did call her because she and I were supposed to go to the Clive party together.

And she left a message, and it's on my phone right now. She left a message at about 2:00. And she says, "Kim, where are you? I need to see you. Call me back." And we were playing phone tag.

And when I did try to call her back, it was no more. And it doesn't feel good.

PHILLIPS: Yes.

BURRELL: It will never feel good.

PHILLIPS: She said she needed to see you. What do you think she was saying?

BURRELL: That was just her. Whenever she knew I was near, that we need to see each other. And express our love. Express our love for each other.

And it's just very hard today to see all of this. It's very surreal. But I'm trying very hard to be strong for her because she wanted so much for me as an individual, she loved me dearly, and I loved her. And we just wanted to see each other and hug each other and love each other, and I don't think it was necessarily anything.

But with Whitney, she always would let me know when she needed me most. And it was always in that way. She always wanted to protect me as her friend from anything that she knew that I would feel from her that could be hurtful.

And I don't think that she was trying to mask anything. She was in great spirits. She was singing. And she had gospel music playing when she left the message.

So it sounded like typical happy Whitney ready to see me. And I just hate we didn't get a chance to do that. I was on my way to her, and I ended up going to the hotel but it was just a little too late.

PHILLIPS: Kim, isn't that amazing that you heard gospel music in the background? It's like she knew she needed God. She knew she needed that spiritual strength, she knew she needed you. Why is it so difficult for so many people that struggle with addiction to hold on to that spiritual power and beat those demons?

BURRELL: You know, demonic forces are strong. And they are persistent. And they are consistent. And every day, the word of the Lord declares that we have a struggle but with our flesh and the spirit. There's a constant battle.

But today, the Lord woke me up in Psalm 46 and said, God is our refuge and a very present in times of trouble. And I saw God be that for her, very present in the time of trouble for her.

And I must acknowledge that Whitney knew to go to God. Whitney knew how to pray. And I'm very confident that in her worst of times, whatever they could have been, she knew how to go to God.

She would call me all times of night, all the time, so much so that she called me when she was on this last European tour, and flew out to Germany to be with her and I stayed for six or seven days just to be there in prayer because she believed in the power of prayer.

And it is hard. Everyday, we have a constant battle with what's going on in the world, we know that we need God and we need to pray and she knew that. And without hesitation, she'd call and we would pray together. And Whitney was amazing because she wouldn't just let me pray. She'd say, pastor, I need to talk to God and she would, and she would talk to God in such a passionate way.

She was a wonderful spirit. The girl was amazing and she knew God in the pardon of her sin and she was very aware of what he could do. And that's why I'm very confident that whatever her last moments were, she knew -- she knew that God could be there for her.

And I have the confidence in believing without having a need to sensationalize knowing what I knew about Whitney, she knew God enough to call on her. So, I have confidence that she's with him today because that's my compassion and passion with her and for her. No matter what the world is saying, I, her friend, knew that she knew how to get in contact with God, and I celebrate that fact today.

PHILLIPS: Then you know what? I think this will be -- this is one of my most favorite moments does. We're going to end on a really positive note here, because you talk about her faith and when she sang to God, boy, you could see it and you could feel it.

Let's do this. Let's take a little bit of this duet that the two of you did at last year's BET celebration of gospel. This was a very powerful moment. Let's let the viewers see this for a second.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

PHILLIPS: Kim, such a message here, yes?

BURRELL: Indeed. Indeed. Our moments right before that performance, she said let's go. She said this is for us. This is for you.

She knew how much I loved gospel and how much she loved gospel. And she called me that night. We had dinner right after that. And once we got to our different hotels, she called me that night and she said, Kim, I needed to do that. She said, and it felt good, and I thank God that we had an opportunity to do it together.

And then she flew to Houston to my home. And we watched it over and over again. As if we had not seen it before.

And she said, look at God. Listen to God. Look at God on us.

And I tell you, we shared that moment in my living room, and I will never forget that. I love you, Whitney.

I love her so much. And I thank you so much, Kyra, for giving me this opportunity to share what I knew about her to the world. She was the absolute best. I'll love her forever. Thank you so much.

PHILLIPS: Well, I knew the friend and the pastor would come through if I just asked the right question. So I tell you what, Scottie, if we can, if we could just cue up that duet again, let's take to break in honor of Whitney and in honor of you and the spiritual influence you were in her life. She definitely tried, in your words, Kim, so hard. Thanks, Kim, very much -- Kim Burrell.

BURRELL: Thank you. Thank you so much.

PHILLIPS: You bet.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Checking top stories now.

Possible break in the crisis in Syria. Russia, rather, now saying it's open to supporting an international security agreement on Syria. So far, Russia and China have opposed any agreement, but the bloodshed is continuing. Opposition activists say a sniper killed a civilian in Hama, and three soldiers died in a failed attempt to storm the town Roston.

In Greece, a new round of government austerity measures incites protests. Dozens injured in clashes with police. Several buildings are set on fire. The new government measure will help Greece get a $172 billion bailout from the European Union.

And back here in Washington, President Obama is rolling out his 2013 budget proposal today. He is calling it his blueprint for rebuilding. The proposal projects the deficit for this fiscal year of more than $1.3 trillion.

We'll carry his remarks live. He's expected to speak 11:00 Eastern.

Heavy snow and freezing rain are being blamed for dozens of crashes in Kansas and other states. Slick roads have caused drivers to actually run off the road or into each other. Several stretches of highway have been closed because of the bad road conditions.

Rob Marciano is tracking that storm for us -- Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, it hasn't been a lot of snow, but it's almost like we forgot how to drive in the snow because we have had so little this entire winter, Kyra.

I'll show you some other spots not only across Wichita, which was last night. But Flint, Michigan, over the weekend, pileups along I-75 from just a bit of snow there. And also across west Texas, Lubbock through Amarillo seeing a fair amount of snow. And now, we're starting to see that move off to the East.

To give you an idea of just how little Wichita saw, just a couple of inches last night. So that's where some of the traffic accidents came from. And the snow now is beginning to move its way off towards the snowing across Missouri through Kansas City, all the way to St. Louis and everywhere in between. And as far as how much of this snow is going to propagate of to the east, a fair amount.

But again, there's not a lot of concentration with it. So, the most we'll see out of this is maybe three, maybe up to five inches. But it will cause enough slick roadways to where we're, you know, we'll have some issues.

It is building up a decent snowpack out West, slowly, sleepily, even though we have seen very, very little in the way of snow across part of the Intermountain West. This storm will bring some warmer air to the East Coast, which rarely felt some cold air over the weekend. I think I speak for everybody lives east to the Mississippi. Winter is still here -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Rob, thanks.

MARCIANO: You bet.

PHILLIPS: Normally, L.Z. Granderson would be talking politics with us, but this is what he's writing about today. Whitney Houston -- her angelic voice and her powerful demons. L.Z. joins us right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We are told the autopsy on Whitney Houston's body is finished, but it could be another two months before we actually know why she died Saturday at the age of 48.

But here's what we do know. Authorities in Los Angeles say that she was found in the bathtub at the Beverly Hilton. There were no signs of foul play, and no signs of trauma on her body. Toxicology reports should fill in the blanks, but those results could take up to eight weeks.

And the tributes keep pouring in from all over the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM JONES, SINGER: Well, Whitney Houston was my favorite singer. I thought she had the best natural female voice that I had ever heard, before or since. You know, so it's -- the one good thing is that she recorded so many great records. So that means she will live forever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: L.Z. Granderson says when he hears Houston sing, quote, "learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all," it isn't just prophetic, it's sad.

L.Z., why was it so hard for her to live by those words?

L.Z. GRANDERSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: You know, I really don't know. I don't think any of us can really understand what it's like to have the sort of pressure and expectations that she had at a very, very young age.

I don't know if you saw Anderson Cooper's interview with Adele on "60 Minutes" last night prior to the Grammys. But, you know, Adele did a very good job of talking about the sort of pressure that she felt, and wondering if she can hit the notes and if her voice would be there for her. And it was very similar to what we saw in 2002 with Diane Sawyer and Whitney Houston talking about those expectations and how that could lead you astray.

And so, yes, learning to love yourself in the midst of all of that can be difficult. And I don't know if any of us can fully understand that.

PHILLIPS: You know, you write that there was always room for Whitney over the years. What did you mean by that?

GRANDERSON: Well, you know, there was a period there in the mid to late 80s where the music was really starting to sound manufactured. I think you had like the boy bands that were just being thrown together. And then the '90s came around, and we got grunge and we got hip-hop. And it was almost like a rebellion against that type of '80s sound.

But we always kept Whitney on the charts. And we did so because her talent was undeniable. You know, she didn't always record, you know, some of the most profound songs. But it's because she was able to breathe life into what songs -- into those regular sounding songs. We always, always turned her up if for no other reason than just to hear her magical voice.

And so, that's why there has always been room for Whitney and will always be room for Whitney.

PHILLIPS: L.Z., from Whitney, to Michael Jackson, to Amy Winehouse, so many others, people with means, with fame, so much talent, why can't they defeat the devil inside them like Whitney described?

GRANDERSON: You know, that is the question we're all asking ourselves right now, I guess. You know, but if you look at the everyday person's life, right, if we just look at how addiction has affected the regular person, you know, we all are susceptible to succumbing to our own demons.

And I think the lesson from all of this is that the names that you mentioned, you know, when they died, you know, we had these great tributes and we mourned and we were very sad. But when they were going through those troubles, you know, they tend to be the butt of jokes and we mock them and had fun with what they were struggling with. And so, you know, I don't know if society -- I don't know if our culture will ever get over doing that.

But perhaps we can take this moment to think about the way we talked about Whitney when she said the crack is whack joke and things line and things like that. And just try and remember that at the end of the day, they're still people. And just like everyday regular people struggle with their demons, these celebrities, they also struggle with demons. And the means to get out of it also gives you means to get further into it.

And perhaps if we analyze and look at the way that we look at these celebrities, we can do so in a much more sympathetic way than the cruel way that we sometimes do.

PHILLIPS: CNN.com/opinion, you'll see L.Z.'s article this morning. L.Z., thanks so much.

GRANDERSON: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Prayer and praise for the late Whitney Houston last night at the Los Angeles Grammy Awards. Coming up, a musical memorial of the iconic singer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: That was celebration of sadness in Los Angeles last night at music's biggest -- as music's biggest stars gathered for the 54th Grammy Awards.

Nischelle Turner was there last night.

Nischelle, Whitney Houston's death, boy, it weighed on the minds of so many artists there.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN SHOWBIZ CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes. Absolutely, Kyra. She was the focus of the Grammys last night in so many ways. Her sudden death provided the biggest emotional moments during the show.

And Jennifer Hudson's musical tribute, it was almost haunting. And Grammy host LL Cool J, he opened the show with a prayer to remember Whitney.

Now, before the show, I was on the red carpet. And I can tell you, everyone, no matter their musical background, was talking about how Whitney's talent left its mark on them.

Now, I spoke with one of Whitney's friends, Kelly Price. Kelly and Whitney sang onstage together in what was Whitney's last performance, and here's what she had to say about that party and the performance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLY PRICE, SINGER: Whitney partied. She drank champagne. She sang and gave a performance that was unscheduled because I never expected her to take the stage. I knew she was going to be there for me. And she was.

And as I addressed the audience to give acknowledgment to her being there, she decided to come up on the stage and after we embraced each other she said, "Give me the microphone."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: Now, the Grammy producers said that they wanted the tribute to Whitney to be appropriate and not over the top. And you know what, Kyra? I think it was just that. It's hard to kind of put into words still for so many people that that legendary voice is gone.

PHILLIPS: Yes. And I tell you, it -- even though singer Adele was last night's big winner, we don't want to overshadow that, of course, it was really hard to compete with the news of Whitney Houston and the tributes to her.

TURNER: Yes. You know, it was. And there was so much talk about Whitney. The rest of the show was kind of overlooked. But you have to talk about Adele, because her return to the stage was very impressive last night. Listen.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

TURNER: Adele took home six Grammys last night. She won every single category she was nominated for, including the three biggest awards of the night, which are album, record, and song of the year. And, you know, she sounded great. This was the first time we had heard her sing in public since that throat surgery she had to repair a polyp on her vocal cords.

And during one of her acceptance speech, she did thank her doctors and I think we can all say, Kyra, thank you to those doctors as well because they brought her back.

PHILLIPS: Yes, amazing voice as well. Nischelle, thank you so much.

And coming up next hour, Nischelle is back. We're going to have other highlights from the 54th Grammy Awards, including this guy. A heart-warming farewell from Glen Campbell. As you know, the singer is suffering from Alzheimer's, but, wow, what a performance.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Apple and Samsung are at it again. Alison Kosik, what's the deal?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: The deal is that Apple says there's a problem here. Apple says that Samsung's phone actually, its Smartphone, is too much like its iPhone. It's claiming that the Samsung's Galaxy Nexus that's what it's phone is called. It's saying it violates certain patents. In fact there are reports that Apple at this point has asked a federal court to block Samsung from selling its Galaxy Nexus phone.

Now if this sounds familiar it should, last year, Apple sued Samsung accusing it of copying the design of the iPhone. So while that lawsuit continues, Apple now maintains that Samsung is copying its technical features too. One of them is a feature that lets you unlock phones by sliding an image across the screen. So the big deal in this is that the stakes are high, because the sales are really neck and neck.

The "Wall Street Journal" says Apple's products accounted for 23 percent of global Smartphone shipments. Samsung is close behind with 22 percent. That's 22 percent share of the market but you know what Kyra, Apple not doing too bad today. Apple shares have hit $500, trading at $501 apiece.

PHILLIPS: 10/4.

KOSIK: You know where Apple shares were in 2009? They were at $100. Nice run-up. What do you think?

PHILLIPS: If we only knew then what we know now.

KOSIK: If we only knew.

PHILLIPS: We'd all be retiring.

KOSIK: Oh yes, we would. On the Riviera.

PHILLIPS: Alison, yes exactly. Sipping mai tai is Thanks Alison.

We'll take a quick break. More from the CNN NEWSROOM straight ahead.

KOSIK: Yes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: And here're some stories we're working on for you later today.

At 11:00 Eastern, President Obama expected to talk about his budget proposal for 2013 during a visit to a community college in Virginia.

At 2:00, NASA officials will unveil the space agency's budget cuts, they are reportedly cutting funding to explore nearby planets like Mars.

And at 2:30, the Governor of Washington state is expected to sign a bill legalizing same-sex marriages there.

All right, we're following lots of developments in the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM. Let's check in first with our Don Lemon. Hey, Don.

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning to you, Kyra. Over my right shoulder, inside the L.A. County Coroner's office, the body of superstar -- superstar Whitney Houston lays inside of there. What happened to her? How did she die inside of that hotel room? I'm going to have the latest on the investigation coming up at the top of the hour.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dan Lothian at the White House, President Obama unveils his budget for 2013, a budget that includes investments and infrastructure, education and research and development but some Republicans say it's more of the same. I'll have that story at the top of the hour.

KOSIK: And I'm Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange. Another Monday, another Greek debt deal but will this one stick and stabilize Europe? I'll have details next hour -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Thanks guys so much.

And a Republican governor takes exception to Rick Santorum's comments about women in combat, why? Because his daughter was so cool under fire in Iraq. Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell joins us next hour. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Phil versus Tiger. I couldn't stop watching.

JEFF FISCHEL, HLN HOST: (INAUDIBLE). You don't get this much this is what we all want to see if you're a golf fan -- the lottery really for golf fans. Tiger versus Phil at Pebble Beach. We were thinking could Tiger end his two and a half year winless drought?

They were paired together for the final round. One problem -- Tiger was not on his game. A brutal final round, especially with the putter. He shot a 75 and faded. More putts like this.

Meanwhile, Phil was fantastic. A final round 64. His wife Amy would celebrate Phil's 40th career win. Final round 64 from Mickelson to take the title.

Now that Tiger's not the old unstoppable Tiger, without a doubt the most clutch athlete on the planet is Kobe Bryant. He did it again. That hoop with four seconds left gives the Lakers the lead against the raptors. At the buzzer, Toronto had a chance but not a good chance. L.A. wins, again thanks to the Black Mamba. Kobe had 27 and the in.

Celtics and Bulls, Chicago without MVP point guard Derek Rose, he is struggling with back spasms. The Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo enjoyed the day without having to go mano a mano with Rose. Rondo, 32 points 15 assists, 10 rebounds. Here he comes again in the open floor -- Celtics win 95-91.

A Super Bowl dream came true for a football fan. The Steelers' Antonio Brown went to Indianapolis to be a part of some celebrity events before the big game, when Seth Paladin, a security company sales rep saw Brown was in Indy, he sent him a tweet. He's a big fan. Brown responded, the two hit it off.

CNBC reports they spent all week hanging out. Working out together. And actually when Brown forgot his dress shoes for NFL awards show, he Paladin gave him his credit card. So Paladin went and bought him a pair of size 11 Guccis. I mean these guys were inseparable all week. All because --

PHILLIPS: Guccis are already expensive. Size 11. There you go.

FISCHEL: I mean did you ever hear of this? No.

Great story.

PHILLIPS: Thanks Jeff.

Well, Whitney Houston had a voice that ruled the charts for a decade and a half. Our Fredricka Whitfield, takes a look back on Houston's life and career.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hers was a voice instantly recognized by millions worldwide. Legendary recording artist Whitney Houston sold more than 170 million albums with hits including "Saving All My Love for You" and "The Greatest Love of All.

But perhaps her crowning achievement was her 1992 cover of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" from her film "The Bodyguard" with Kevin Costner. Whitney Houston was born into a musical family in Newark, New Jersey in 1963.

Her incredible talent was discovered at an early age and she was signed by Arista Records in 1983. Her first two albums brought seven consecutive number one hits, surpassing a record set by the Beatles and the Bee Gees.

She went on to become music's most awarded female of all time according to the Guinness Book of World Records. She won 6 Grammys, two Emmys, 16 billboard music awards and 23 Amerian Music Awards and was named female artist of the decade at the Soul Train Music Awards in 2000.

But her career stalled as she struggled with drugs and alcohol and her stormy relationship with singer Bobby Brown became tabloid fodder. She filed for divorce in 2006.

In 2009 a comeback. Houston released her first studio album in seven years. It debuted at number one on the billboard charts.

WHITNEY HOUSTON, SINGER: It humbled me and it kind of like said ok, I think I want do this one more time.

WHITFIELD: But her tour was reportedly plagued with vocal difficulties. Her reps blamed an upper respiratory infection.

In 2011 her publicist said Houston was seeking help for her addiction. The performer was set to appear in the upcoming film, "Sparkle", her first movie since 1996. Her sudden death shocked fans and musicians across the world.

SIMON COWELL, "X FACTOR: I am absolutely devastated by this news. I am so sad for her. She was -- undoubtedly one of the greatest superstars of all time. One of the greatest voices, you know, in our lifetime we're likely ever to hear.

(END VIDEOTAPE)