Boyz II Men's Nathan Morris remembers friendly rivalry with Whitney Houston

My friend, Whitney

Boyz II Men's Nathan Morris reflects of the life and legacy of Whitney Houston

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," February 13, 2012. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Whitney Houston's sudden death leaves the music world in shock. Friends and fellow musicians have been paying tribute to Houston. Last night, an outpouring of love at the Grammy Awards. And tonight, the tributes continue.

Singer Nathan Morris is a member of the Grammy-winning R&B group Boyz II Men. He joins us by phone. Good evening, Nathan. And I know that you, like everybody else, is shocked and in -- actually in grief about this.

NATHAN MORRIS, BOYZ II MEN (Via Telephone): Yes, it's kind of tough to deal with. I mean, you know, we've met on several occasions throughout the years and always had great, you know, conversation, and we always talked about music and performing and even battled each other friendly on the charts and things like that. So to have some -- I guess an icon and such an angelic voice be gone forever, it's very hard to deal with.

VAN SUSTEREN: Why was she so good? Was it -- was it just an innate talent? Was it a desire? Was it training? What made her so good?

MORRIS: I think it was -- I think it was just the talent. She had that type of talent that was able to take a song and deliver it. When you deal with producers like Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and Babyface, who write great songs -- every artist don't always now how to deliver them, and she always made you believe everything that she put her voice on, and a lot of artists are not able to do that.

VAN SUSTEREN: You know, she had such a troubled life. You know, there have been ups and downs. We've followed it for -- you know, for two decades. I guess, in many ways, many people aren't surprised about this.

MORRIS: Yes, I mean, you know, it is kind of tough when you live that kind of life and even when you -- when you have that type of, I guess you'd say light on you. It is kind of tough to be in a situation where you can't live a normal life. Some people are able to deal with it. Some people are not. Sometimes they have enablers around them. And some people are able to fight through that. I mean, it all has a lot to do with the person's self-esteem, I believe. And in some cases, you tend to get caught up. It's very difficult to fight. ...

VAN SUSTEREN: And sort of -- you had sort of this relationship with her that you had -- you had -- "End of the Road" was the number one, and then suddenly, she came along. She knocked you off the charts.

MORRIS: Yes, it's funny because "End of the Road" was a song that knocked out Elvis Presley and the Beatles for number one all-time on "Billboard." And we never thought that would be broken. And then she came out with the sound track, and not only was it a great song, but she did a great -- gave a great performance in the "Bodyguard" movie, as well, which the sound track was a part of.

And you know, we kind of would see each other in passing at Grammy Awards and American Music Awards and joke and stuff like that. And you know, we'd say, OK, well, we're going to get it back, and different things like that. So it was just a fun relationship to have.

VAN SUSTEREN: And I should say that she did knock you off, but then you knocked her off again, "I'll Make Love to You" was your final. So you know, you -- she knocked you out of first, and you knocked her out of first back.

MORRIS: Yes, it was a friendly fight. I mean, we definitely were able to take that spot back again. So it was kind of cool.

VAN SUSTEREN: Well, it's a very -- a very -- it's a huge disappointment for the fans and also for the music world. Everyone was hoping that it would be very different for Whitney Houston. Nathan, thank you.

MORRIS: No problem. Thank you.