Alicia Keys paid tribute to her idol, Whitney Houston, at Clive Davis’ annual pre-Grammy party Saturday night, sharing how the music superstar had inspired her.

“You think about how this person touched you,” she said at the event. “You form a friendship, a sisterhood, a bond. You see how incredible they really are. … She was a sister to me.”

Keys, 31, who grew up listening to Houston and wrote “Million Dollar Bill” for Houston’s 2009 comeback album, was one of the last performers to take the stage at the star-studded soiree.

Before she sang a medley of songs including her hit, “No One,” in Houston’s honor, Keys, seated and smiling at the grand piano, belted out that iconic line from Houston’s 1987 hit, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” to thunderous applause.

“I started to think back, think about just how much this person has touched your life, and it’s incredible, it’s incredible - I mean, from being a little girl, like a little girl growing up, watching this beautiful, incredible woman, who was a girl at the time, too. I’m talking about Whitney, and I’d be like, ‘Oh, I want to dance with somebody’,” Keys said and sang.

Keys told fellow music heavyweights and industry titans in the audience: “This one’s for her. Let’s sing her into heaven.”

Keys was one of many in the music world who mourned Houston’s death Saturday.

Keys was photographed outside the Beverly Hilton hotel, where Houston was found dead Saturday and where the gala was held, hugging and consoling a distraught Davis, Houston’s producer and mentor.