The week began with the shocking news that Whitney Houston, one of the greatest voices of our time, had died.
As the world began to come to terms with her sudden death, tributes poured in from those who knew and admired the I Will Always Love You singer.
From Beyonce, who called Houston the "ultimate woman", to Jennifer Hudson, who bravely sang an emotional tribute to her idol at the Grammys - just hours after hearing of Houston's death at the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.
The musical legend's funeral will be live-streamed to the world from the New Hope Baptist Church in her birth town of Newark, New Jersey on Saturday, and soul stars Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder her cousin Dionne Warwick and Alicia Keys are all lined up to sing.
Houston's death undeniably overshadowed the Grammy Awards, which took place the following evening on Sunday night, but that didn't mean there weren't celebrations to be had.
Adele made a sensational comeback to the stage, with her powerful performance of Rolling In The Deep. The down-to-earth Londoner received a standing ovation from her peers in the audience, including Sir Paul McCartney.
The Brit star then went on to scoop six Grammys at the ceremony, which had the difficult task of celebrating music's best while mourning the loss of one of their greatest. Becoming emotional herself as she accepted her sixth award of the night for Album of the Year - sobbing, Adele remarked, "I just first of all wanna say, 'Mum, girl did good!'"
Also making her comeback performance at the Awards was Katy Perry, who hadn't sung live since her marriage break-up from funnyman Russell Brand in December. Taking what seemed like a thinly-veiled pop at her ex, she changed the lyrics of her new song Part of Me, from: "You can keep the dog/I never liked him anyway," to: "You can keep the diamond ring/it don't mean nothing anyway."
Other stand-out performances from the music industry's biggest night of the year included Rihanna's pumped-up rendition of We Found Love, during which she writhed around on the crowd until the Calvin Harris-produced track came in, and Sir Paul McCartney's performance of new romantic standard My Valentine from his new album Kisses on the Bottom, which also recieved a standing ovation. McCartney went on to close the show with a rocking, guitar-heavy hits medley that featured Joe Walsh, Dave Grohl and Bruce Springsteen.
Back on this side of the pond, the acting world's finest were busy celebrating at the BAFTA Awards. Hollywood A-listers George Clooney and Brad Pitt both made it over to the ceremony held at London's Royal Albert Hall, but it was French star Jean Dujardin who left with a gong as silent film The Artist continued its sweep of Awards season.
Meryl Streep also struck gold with her standout performance as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady and provided a comic moment at the Awards as ever-the-gentleman Colin Firth was forced to rescue her lost shoe when she took to the stage.
And finally, on the box, Channel 4's observational documentary My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding returned for a second series, once again becoming a hotly-debated topic of conversation as some viewers laughed at what was depicted on air but others were shocked and angered.
It wasn't just what was shown in the programme - such as a young Traveller woman claiming, while lying on a sun bed: "At the end of the day, if I get cancer I get cancer" - the show's adverts, which promise the series will be "bigger, fatter, gypsier", have also now been accused of racism.
However, despite all that happened this week, from the glitz and glam of awards on both sides of the Atlantic to controversial TV shows, this week will go down in history as the one when the world lost the incredible combination of beauty and talent that was Whitney Houston. Take a look back at her life in pictures below:
Whitney's life in pictures: