The superstar singer died in 2012 aged 48 and Brandy has revealed she spent three hours on the phone with Houston the night before the tragedy - and the Greatest Love Of All star vowed to "be better" and was looking for "redemption" after a turbulent few years.
In an extract from her new book Phases: A Memoir published by New York Magazine, Brandy wrote: "For three precious hours, we talked ...
"There were flashes of the old Whitney in that conversation. I heard it in her raspy laugh that erupted unexpectedly like sunshine after rain, in the way she scattered 'baby' and 'sweetie' throughout her sentences like musical notes, in how she returned every topic - no matter how dark - back to faith.Â
"She spoke of getting back in the studio, of the redemption waiting just around the corner with Sparkle, the long-delayed remake of the 1976 film she'd put on the back burner after we lost Aaliyah, who she'd handpicked for the lead role.
"'I'm gonna be better', she promised as our call wound down, and in that moment, I believed her with every fibre of my being. 'You'll see. This is just a season, not the whole story?'
"I couldn't have known then that her words were both a prophecy and farewell. 'I love you, Whitney,' I said before hanging up. 'I love you more, baby girl,' she replied. 'Always have, always will. I can't wait to see y'all sing the house down on Saturday'."
Houston was pronounced dead after being found unconscious in the bath at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles shortly before she was due to attend Clive Davis pre-Grammy awards party.
Brandy was due to perform at the the bash and the singer revealed she woke up that day with a sore throat and a feeling that something bad was about to happen.
The singer explained she saw paramedics at the hotel before she learned of Houston's death when her mom called to tell her the news.
Recalling the moment she found out, Brandy wrote: 'No' I screamed. 'No! No! No!' I felt my body go limp, then I fell to the floor, convulsing with sobs. I could faintly make out the sound of my mom on the receiver trying her hardest to soothe me through the phone.
"My heart didn't just break; it disintegrated. The gala - obscenely, incomprehensibly - would proceed as planned."
Brandy went on to admit it felt "wrong" for the event to go ahead so soon after the tragedy but she already felt Whitney was with her like a guardian angel.
She said: "Whitney would always be with me - in every note I sang, in every challenge I faced, in every moment I chose courage over fear."
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