Whitney Houston: A BRIT Awards tribute

When Whitney Houston died on 11 February 2012, the music world lost one of its finest singers and a true superstar. Her death at The Beverly Hills Hilton shocked the world and ended the career of an inspirational artist who achieved enormous international success during her 26-year career.

From her breakthrough UK hit 'Saving All My Love For You' in 1985 to her triumphant and uplifting 2009 pop comeback 'Million Dollar Bill', Whitney Houston balanced ballads, club hits, contemporary soul and classic gospel and sold over 170 million albums, singles and videos.

During her quarter-century career, Whitney Houston picked up five BRIT Awards nominations for her solo work and accepted the 1994 award for Best Soundtrack / Cast Recording for The Bodyguard soundtrack - which featured five of Whitney's tracks, including her ten-week UK No.1, 'I Will Always Love You'. Whitney was unable to attend the 1994 awards, but sent her thanks to her British fans via video message, saying: "To my fans in the UK, I am thankful for your love and support. God bless you, I'll see you soon."

Watch Whitney Houston's 1994 video acceptance speech.

She picked up BRITs nominations in 1987 and 1988 for Best International Solo Artist and 1989, 1991 and 2000 for Best International Female. Despite never taking home a solo trophy, she stunned audiences at the 1999 BRIT Awards with a spectacular performance of her anthemic hit, 'It's Not Right But It's OK'. She wore a spectacular, black leather dress for the performance and shared the stage with a troupe of dancers dressed in black. However, no amount of skin-tight leather or choreography could distract from the real highlight of the performance - Whitney's flawless live vocal.

Whitney Houston's tragic death comes as a massive blow to music fans across the world and the loss of such a talent is a devastating loss to the music industry.