Britney Spears, Jennifer Hudson, Usher and Halle Berry were among the stars who honored the memory of late singer Whitney Houston at a star-studded tribute concert in Los Angeles on Thursday night.

Organizers of the Grammy Awards put together the concert and TV special, titled We Will Always Love You: A Grammy Salute to Whitney Houston, in honor of the singer, who drowned in her hotel room bath tub in February.

Oscar-winning actress Berry kicked off the evening by giving an emotional introduction to the show in front of an audience which included Houston's daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, sister-in-law Pat Houston and music mogul Clive Davis.

Berry told the crowd, "She inspired a generation of little girls and women to believe in their own dream and to know that they had within themselves the greatest gift of all. I was one of those little girls who then became a woman who never ever, ever, stopped loving Whitney Houston."

Spears was among the hosts of the event, and she revealed a rendition of Houston's I Have Nothing as a teenager helped her land a record deal and kickstart her career as a singer.

Performers at the concert included Hudson, who sang a medley of the late singer's hits including I'm Every Woman and I Wanna Dance With Somebody, and Usher, who sang a rendition of I Believe In You And Me.

Gospel stars Cece Winans and Yolanda Adams performed Count On Me, but Celine Dion was unable to attend the event and her performance of The Greatest Love Of All was taped in Canada and will be included when the show airs next month as a TV special.

The event also featured videos of interviews with Houston and footage of her singing her most famous hit, I Will Always Love You, at the 1994 Grammy awards. (LR/WNWR/ZN)