LL Cool J as Grammy host: How did he do?

(CBS) LL Cool J did something no one has done in seven years on Sunday night. The rapper brought back the Grammy Awards host. And with Whitney Houston's death on the eve of the Grammys, LL Cool J already had a tough task ahead of him going into the night.

"We've had a death in our family," he said after the opening number by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. "For me, the only thing that feels right is to begin with a prayer for a woman who we love, for our fallen sister, Whitney Houston."

LL Cool J, wearing his signature newsboy cap and a Giorgio Armani double-breasted velvet suit, then asked the audience members to bow their heads as he led them in a prayer for Houston. The night would "celebrate and remember" the fallen pop star, LL Cool J said before playing a clip of Houston singing "I Will Always Love You" at the 1994 Grammys.