Whitney Houston’s body was still warm upstairs. Maybe she was still in the bathtub. Accidental drowning caused by atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use—or so the Los Angeles County coroner would later report.
Why was I there? The glitz and glut of Tinseltown was beyond the wildest imagination of a 24-year-old banjo player from England. But my band, Mumford & Sons, was riding a wave of surging folk music popularity in America. The following night was the Grammys; we’d been nominated for four. Tonight’s pre-party at the Beverly Hilton was hosted by music mogul Clive Davis, Whitney’s close friend and mentor of 30 years.
