But her words of advice seemingly fell on deaf ears as Whitney tragically was found dead on February 11 after allegedly ingesting a lethal cocktail of prescription drugs and alcohol. Chaka - who overcame her own problems with cocaine and heroin several years ago - told Britain's OK! magazine: "I performed with her at the Prince concert last May and we had a lovely time backstage together.

We sat in my dressing room for hours and talked. We laughed a lot.

"We talked about addiction and music and Whitney's ex-husband] Bobby Brown and everything. "But Whitney knew, if she was going to talk to me, that we were going to talk about getting her life together.

"That was the last time I saw her. She gave me her number, I said, 'Please call me.

' I let her know I was here for her. All I can say now is that I know she's at peace.

I can feel it." Chaka was also a confidant of Amy Winehouse before she tragically passed away from accidental alcohol poisoning last year, and blames the music business for the way it treats its stars.

She added: "It's a very lonely existence. You are stuck in hotel rooms.

They keep you insulated from the outside world so you perform like a dancing bear. "This is an ugly ass business.

All we want to do is sing. We are highly sensitive people, we don't want to feel pain.

People are pulling from you and sucking from you. There are so many types of vampire out there.

" Whitney was buried in her home state New Jersey on Sunday (19.02.

12) the day after her "going home" service - which was attended by a host of stars, including Mariah Carey, Oprah Winfrey, Stevie Wonder and Alicia Keys - on Saturday (18.02.

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