Whitney Houston was to attend Clive Davis' party tonight

Whitney Houston was among the A-list performers planning to attend veteran music mogul Clive Davis’ annual pre-Grammy party Saturday at the Beverly Hilton hotel, the see-and-be-seen event of the year.

Earlier this week, the 79-year-old Davis perused page after page of guest lists in a bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where he conducts business when he’s in the Los Angeles area. Among those Houston was expected to rub elbows with: Quincy Jones, Tony Bennett, Akon, Cee Lo Green, Miley Cyrus, Sean "Puffy" Combs, Jennifer Hudson, Jackson Browne, Elvis Costello and Diana Krall.

“It’s a great time where everybody can set down their swords, so to speak,” Davis said, seated on an overstuffed divan next to a coffee table cluttered with papers, CDs and videos. “I was grateful that, inviting them to my home, that they would feel comfortable and just keep coming back, and they've kept coming back every year to where it's expanded to be this incredible haven for musicians.”

Davis, whose track record in the music business stretches back half a century to when he was a lawyer at Columbia Records, was instrumental in bringing Houston into the public eye, along with such stars as Bruce Springsteen, Carlos Santana, Patti Smith, Barry Manilow, Alicia Keys and Sean Combs.

Davis has been involved in producing records for some “American Idol” winners and is working with the first-season winner of Simon Cowell's “X Factor” show, Melanie Amaro.