How Cissy Houston learned of Whitney's death

Almost a year after Whitney Houston's death, one day before the 2012 Grammy Awards, Cissy Houston is commemorating her daughter's life with "Remembering Whitney" -- the "story of love, loss, and the night the music stopped," according to the book's cover.

While promoting her memoir on "Oprah's Next Chapter," the 79-year-old gospel singer detailed the moment that she learned Whitney, nicknamed Nippy by her family, had died on Feb. 11.

"My son called me and he was screaming, 'Mom, Mommy.' Then, oh God. I said, 'What is wrong, what's wrong?' He just said, 'Nippy. Nippy.' I said, 'What's wrong with Nippy?' ... I was getting annoyed because he wasn't telling me anything.

He said, 'Mommy.' I said, 'Is she dead?' And he said, 'Yeah, Mommy, she's dead.' And I don't remember too much else after that."

Oprah also spoke with Whitney's brother Michael about doing drugs with his late sister.

"It's painful (to see what Cissy wrote in her book), you know? I feel responsible for, that I let it go so far," he said. "Being together most of the time, and her following behind me ... we played together, you know? Any everything that you do together as you're growing up, and then when you get into drugs, you do that together too. And it just got out of hand."