WHITNEY HOUSTON DIES AT AGE 48

On February 11, 2012, the music industry was rocked with the news of Whitney Houston's death at age 48. According to TMZ.com, the music icon was found dead in the bathtub of her hotel room at the Beverly Hilton. She was in town for the Clive Davis' Pre-Grammy party. She was last seen at Kelly Price's pre-Grammy party on Thursday, February 9, 2012.

The official cause of Whitney's death was an accidental drowning, but heart disease and chronic cocaine use were contributing factors. At the time of her death, Whitney had traces of weed, Xanax, Flexiril (muscle relaxer) and Benadryl in her system.

The superstar was laid to rest in her hometown of Newark, NJ on February 19th. The day before, Whitney's family celebrated her life with a star-studded ceremony. Celebrities like Tyler Perry, Whitney's Bodyguard co-star Kevin Costner, mentor Clive Davis, R. Kelly, Alicia Keys were among the stars who attended the funeral. Whitney's ex-husband Bobby Brown and his family ended up leaving the funeral early because he wasn't allowed to sit with his family.

  • Of course there had to be a little controversy -- just weeks after Whitney's death, The National Enquirerposted a photo of the superstar lying in her coffin.
  • Whitney was on the verge of a comeback at the time of her death. She had recently completed filming Sparkle and was also set to star in the sequel to Waiting to Exhale.
  • The Houston's On Our Own -- a reality show that follows Whitney's family after her death, premiered in October.

BEYONCE GIVES BIRTH

After nine months of speculation and conspiracy theories, Beyonce and Jay-Z welcomed their daughter Blue Ivy Carter into the world on January 7, 2012 at NYC's Lenox Hill Hospital. She weighed in at 7 lbs. Beyonce and Jay pulled out all the stops to make sure their baby arrived in style. They reportedly rented out the hospital's entire fourth floor for $1.3 million -- a report which they later denied.

Of course -- the joyous moment was soon overshadowed by drama! According to The New York Daily News, other parents at the hospital complained that Beyonce's security kept them from seeing their babies. The health department investigated the hospital after receiving the complaints, but ended up dropping the case.

Shortly after Blue Ivy's birth, Jay-Z released a song entitled "Glory" dedicated to his baby girl. The song even featured Blue crying in the background -- which led to her being the youngest person to enter the Billboard Charts.

  • In February, the normally private couple released the first photos of Blue. They haven't released any more pics since then, but paparazzi have captured photos of Blue out and about with her parents.
  • In May, Beyonce opened up about her new life as a mom and dropping 60 pounds in her first interview since having Blue Ivy with People Magazine. She also returned to the stage that month for a four night stand at Revel's Ovation Hall in Atlantic City.

CHRIS BROWN AND RIHANNA REUNITE

Just like 2011 -- rumors had been flying around all year that Chris Brown and Rihanna were back together, sleeping together, on the verge of getting back together, etc. Back in January, rumors hit that the two were seeing each other despite Chris' relationship with girlfriend Karrueche. Then in February, the two fueled even more rumors that they were back together when they released the collaborations "Cake" and "Turn Up The Music."

Did Rihanna Smash The Homies?

Fast-forward to May: Rumors started swirling that Rihanna was sleeping with Meek Mill and Drake -- as well as Chris Brown. Bossip.com reportedly that Chris took Meek Mill off of his Fortune album because he was sleeping with Rihanna. Meek tweeted, then later deleted, "U took me off ya song cause she let me watch da throne." Chris later tweeted, "She's a dream chaser! There are alot of dreamers so she'll be running forever!"

Meek Mill responded, "Dese chicks belong 2 da game....not u! Never get confused and think that's all u!" Drake also jumped in, writing, "Oh that's your h*? That's our h* too. Lol." He then added, "We get gyal eeeeeassy." Chris replied "This would be a dope a$* movie. I'd like to send the bullsh*t a BIG F*CK YOU from the bottom of my ballz. Lol!"

  • Rihanna also got in on the subtweet action, writing, "Typical." She then wrote, "A rat is a rat." She later wrote, "Cupid stay away from my h*'s!!" Followed up with, "The best part is that EYE get to choose!" Of course, all parties involved denied everything, but they couldn't deny what happened next.

Drake And Chris Brown Bottle Throwing Fight

On June 13th, everything came to a head when Drake's entourage and Chris' entourage got into a bottle throwing fight at W.i.P in NYC. Initial reports said that Drake actually started the fight -- which ended up with Chris suffering a gash to the head and his bodyguard suffering a serious injury to his head.

Drake denied being involved in the altercation and then fingers then pointed to Meek Mill -- who was also in the building. Meek denied being involved -- which Chris vouched for. Reports said that Chris started the fight when he sent a bottle over to Drake's table -- and Drake sent back a note saying, "I'm f*cking the love of your life." Other reports said that Drake gave one of Chris' bodyguards the finger and shouted "I'm about to go whoop that a**!" Drake then reportedly got loud and shouted at Chris, "You be on that h* s**t on Twitter n***a" -- a clear reference to a recent Twitter war between Chris, Drake, and Meek -- over Rihanna.

Moments later, Chris' security and Meek Mill, Juelz Santana and Chris' people started pushing and shoving. Someone threw a bottle and then the fight started. Club security rushed to break up the fight and called police. When police arrived, both Chris and Drake had already left the scene. Members of both crews required medical assistance.

  • After the fight, Chris tweeted, "How u party wit a rich n*gga that hate? Lol . . . Throwing bottles like girls? #shameonya! N*ggas is p*ssy! And I'm the singer?" He continued, "N*ggas hiding in the bathroom b*tch a** n*ggas!" Chris later deleted the tweets.
  • Several clubgoers were injured during the fight -- and filed legal action against Chris Brown, Drake and the club.
  • Rihanna remained silent about the fight due to her grandmother Clara dying of cancer at the time (She passed on June 30th.) In November, Rihanna said about the fight, "There's no proof of that being for my love. That's my answer to that question." She then asked the reporter, "You ever have b*tches fight over you?"

Rihanna Proclaims Her Love For Chris Brown

In August, during an interview with Oprah Winfrey, RiRi finally admitted that she was still in love with Chris Brown, saying, "We have maintained a very close friendship ever since the restraining order was dropped. ...We built a trust again and that's it. We love each other and we probably always will and that's not anything we're gonna try to change."

She also talked about how she acts when she's around him, saying, "It's awkward because I still love him. My stomach drops and I have to maintain this poker face and not let it get to the outer part of me...I think he was the love of my life."

  • Later on that month, Chris and Rihanna casually greeted each other with a kiss at the VMA's.

Chris And Rihanna Go Public

In October, rumors started swirling that Chris and Rihanna were partying together at an NYC nightclub and ended up locked in the bathroom together. Photos of the two hanging out were then posted online. The two ended up hanging out again in NYC -- going to Jay-Z's concert at the Brooklyn Barclay's Center.

Chris' girlfriend had had enough and decided to break up with him. She tweeted, Chris' girlfriend Karrueche took to Twitter earlier this week, writing subliminally "Life is too short to be anything but happy." She added, "There's a difference between a man and a boy. I prefer men."

  • Chris Brown released a video admitting that he is love with both Rihanna and Karrueche. He said in the video, "Is there such thing as loving two people? I don't know. I don't know if that's possible, but for me, I feel like that."
  • The two announced in October that they recorded a duet for Rihanna's Unapologeticalbum entitled "Nobodies Business".
  • As it stands, Chris and Rihanna are still denying that they are back together and are just friends. Stay tuned.