Photo: Getty Images
Kevin Costner honored music executive Clive Davis at Davis’ annual pre-Grammys gala at the Beverly Hilton on Saturday evening, thanking Davis for providing guidance to Whitney Houston since their collaboration on 1992’s “The Bodyguard”.
Costner’s speech for Davis touched on the music exec’s long, storied career and the pair’s personal relationship. (Whitney Houston died on the night of Davis’ pre-Grammys gala in 2012.)
Costner said, “Neither one of us in the end could protect your beloved Whitney, but your fingerprints on her life are clean my friend. You were a miracle in her life. Thank you for being her bodyguard, Clive.”
Later in the evening, Jennifer Hudson also paid respects to Houston, giving a stirring performance of the singer’s “Greatest Love of All.”
Kevin Costner told the crowd that Davis "threw his soul into a song that he was unsure of at first" and "single-handedly drove the song that helped turn" 1992's "The Bodyguard: into a success.
Costner shared, "'I Will Always Love You' was number one before the movie ever came out, and thanks to the musical guidance of David Foster and the voice that came out of that little body that night in the studio. We have a performance of a lifetime. We're all chasing dreams here. We're all crossing paths, and sometimes, we do them through fate and destiny."
"When some of us met Clive, it altered our lives for the better, and in some cases forever. I don't see Clive as just a man of his time, but maybe more importantly, a man who changed the times he lived in. And he did it by listening, he did it by believing in himself. ... What he believed in most was a special gift that his artists were blessed with. The only thing better than being one of his artists was maybe being his friend."
Source: TMZ, Variety, People.
Photo Credit: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording Academy.