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    February 18, 2012

Family, Friends Gather For Whitney Houston's Funeral

   VOA News
   A funeral home limousine passes policemen near the New Hope Baptist
   Church in Newark, New Jersey, February 18, 2012.
   Photo: AP
   A funeral home limousine passes policemen near the New Hope Baptist
   Church in Newark, New Jersey, February 18, 2012.

   Family and friends of American pop music icon Whitney Houston are
   saying their goodbyes to the singer Saturday at a private funeral at
   her childhood church in Newark, New Jersey.
   Celebrities, including music greats, are joining the final tribute at
   the New Hope Baptist Church, where Houston sang in the choir as a
   child. Fans showed their love with hundreds of balloons, flowers and
   cards piled outside the church.
   The memorial for the 48-year-old, six-time Grammy award winner and
   actress, comes a week after she was found unresponsive in a bathtub at
   the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles.
   A gold-painted hearse transported Houston's casket to the church
   Saturday morning, a day after her family attended a private viewing of
   her body at a Newark funeral home.
   Her mother, Cissy Houston, and daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown were
   joined at the viewing by a host of relatives, including singer Dionne
   Warwick, Houston's cousin. Her mentor, music executive Clive Davis,
   also was there.
   Music legend Stevie Wonder is among the planned performers at
   Saturday's invitation-only service. Close family friend, Aretha
   Franklin, and Houston's ex-husband, singer Bobby Brown, also are
   expected to attend.
   The church service is private, but will be broadcast live on the
   Internet and TV.
   Houston will be buried next to her father, John Russell Houston Jr., at
   a New Jersey cemetery.
   The cause of her death is not expected to be known for several weeks,
   pending toxicology results.
   Houston sold more than 170 million albums, singles and videos, making
   her one of the world's best-selling artists. But in recent years, her
   career faced ups and downs as she struggled with drug and alcohol
   abuse.

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