Los Angeles: Soul legends Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder will be among the stars to perform at the funeral of Whitney Houston in New Jersey which will be held on Saturday at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, where Houston used to sing as a girl and her mother was music director.
See: Whitney Houston drunk photos
According to a Sky news report, gospel singer Marvin Winans, a Grammy Award winner and longtime family friend, has been chosen to give the eulogy. In his role as a pastor, he married Houston and Brown in 1992. The 48-year-old's longtime musical mentor, Clive Davis, will also speak at the funeral. Ironically, the singer was due to attend a pre-Grammy Awards party he was hosting when she was found unconscious in the bath in her Beverly Hills Hilton hotel room.
According to the report published in Sky News, invitations for the private service were also been sent to Houston’s ex-husband Bobby Brown, even though earlier, the news had suggested that he would be told to stay away.
Others who will be part of the programme include gospel singer Donnie McClurkin, Alicia Keys, and her cousin Dionne Warwick. Jay-Z, Beyonce, Elton John and Bill Cosby have been invited to attend the service, according to The Star-Ledger newspaper. The ceremony will be broadcast on the internet but those without invitations will be kept away from the church itself. "I would urge people not to come to the church," Newark
Police Director Samuel DeMaio saqid. "There's really going to be nothing to see. There's no procession."However, many gathered on Thursday outside the red brick building to leave their tributes to the star who sold more than 170 million records. Donald Bernal travelled from Brooklyn, New York to pay his respects.
"She had great talent, great music. She was always positive," he said. "I grew up listening to her music - my mother used to play her records all the time." Some who came to the church left behind handwritten posters bearing the words: "RIP Whitney" and "We will always love you" - a reference to her hit ballad "I Will Always Love You," featured in The
Bodyguard.
