MTV will pay tribute to the late pop diva Whitney Houston with its 2012 MTV European Music Awards Global Icon Award.

The ceremony in Frankfurt, Germany, will air tonight at 9pm GMT.


Houston died earlier this year on February 11th, shortly before the 2012 Grammy Awards.

Bruce Godfrey, 2012 EMA executive producer stated, "She had one of the greatest voices of all time and (has had) a huge influence on music and other artists. We all know her music lives on."


This will be the third year MTV has presented its Global Icon honor at the EMAs. The two previous recipients of the award were Queen and Bon Jovi. 

The European Music Awards are the highlight of the European calendar for MTV. The 2012 show will be hosted by supermodel Heidi Klum and is to be aired live on MTV’s global network of channels which is expected to reach up to 700 million households across the world.

Taylor Swift, Alicia Keys and Korean pop phenomenon Psy are just a few of the acts performing tonight.


Rihanna is ahead on the nominations list for the 2012 EMAs with six, including ones for Best Female and Best Pop performer and for Best Song for her single with Calvin Harris, 'We Found Love'.

Listen below to the Whitney Houston track ‘Never Give up’ from the upcoming album ‘I Will Always Love You – The Best of Whitney Houston’, released on November 19 in the UK: