2012 BILLBOARD MUSIC AWARDS (PHOTOS)

I t was a night of tributes at the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday. The evening’s most emotional moment came during a tribute to the late Whitney Houston. While Jordin Sparks performed the singer’s iconic hit I Will Always Love You and John Legend crooned, The Greatest Love Of All — Whitney’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, broke down in tears before taking the stage to accept the Millennium Award on her mom’s behalf. “I really want to say thank you to everyone who supported us through it all,” said Bobbi Kris, who stood alongside Whitney’s manager and sister-in-law Patricia Houston. “Not just from when it was good but when it was bad, too. Thank you for showing that much love, because she deserved it. I’m just blessed to have been in such an incredible woman’s life. There will never be another one, ever.”

The show also featured several other farewells. British pop star Natasha Bedingfield sang Last Dance, Donna Summer’s 1978 hit, to honor the disco queen, who died Thursday of lung cancer. Goodie Mob performed the Beastie Boys’ (You Gotta) Fight for Your RIght (to Party!) in remembrance of MC Adam Yauch, who lost his own cancer battle on May 4th. Just before the show began, sad news broke that another music great, the Bee Gees cofounder Robin Gibb, had passed away after his long battle with cancer.

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