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Fans: 'We will always love you' Whitney. - Source: Getty -
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Stars, family and friends mourned Whitney Houston in a four hour
funeral service at her hometown church today, a week after the
sudden death of the singer.
A choir had guests swaying to gospel music in the crowded New Hope
Baptist Church in Newark, where Houston first honed her wide vocal
range as a young choir singer with her mother Cissy Houston, a
backup singer for Aretha Franklin.
"Whitney returns home today to the place where it all began," said actor Kevin Costner as he choked back tears. He urged those around the world to "dry our tears, suspend our sorrow - and perhaps our anger - just long enough, just long enough to remember the sweet miracle of Whitney."
*View images of Whitney and her funeral here .
Houston, who died in a Beverly Hills hotel room last week, recorded stirring love songs and vibrant dance tunes during a 30-year career that peaked with her 1992 signature hit I Will Always Love You and paved the way for a generation of singers that followed her.
During the service her cousin and famed soul singer Dionne Warwick introduced a host of soul, gospel and pop music greats from the past and present, including Alicia Keys who said "it was so obvious the way she just crept into everybody's heart" before performing the song Prelude to a Kiss.
Influential Hollywood actor and producer Tyler Perry talked about Houston's "grace that led her all the way to the top of the charts," before adding that now, "she is resting, singing with the angels."
Gospel singers who performed at the service included singer Kim Burrell and Donnie McClurkin who sang a powerful rendition of Stand while the choir and church stood and swayed.
Houston was among the greatest singers of the 1980s and 1990s, but her personal life and marriage to singer Bobby Brown was tumultuous. She admitted to heavy use of cocaine, marijuana, alcohol and prescription pills.
Her death at age 48 shocked her family, fans and the music industry. Houston was found underwater in a hotel bathtub on the eve of the music industry's Grammy Awards. A cause of death has yet to be determined.
Record producer Clive Davis, who discovered and guided Houston throughout her career spoke at the service, which Oprah Winfrey and Mariah Carey also attended.
Houston's family decided against a public memorial, as was done
for pop star Michael Jackson after his 2009 death, but they agreed
to allow the service to be broadcast live by television networks
and on the Internet.
Bobby Brown makes swift exit
Singer Bobby Brown abruptly left the funeral of his ex-wife Whitney Houston on Saturday, claiming security guards asked him to move several times and prevented him from seeing his and Houston's daughter.
Brown said in a statement that upon arriving to the service he was moved three times by security, who also refused to allow him to see his daughter with Houston, Bobbi Kristina Brown, 18.
Brown and Houston divorced in 2007 after a 15-year turbulent marriage as portrayed in a reality TV series, Being Bobby Brown that showed an affectionate yet troubled relationship.
"I fail to understand why security treated my family this way and continue to ask us and no one else to move," he said. "In light of the events, I gave a kiss to the casket of my ex-wife and departed as I refused to create a scene. My children are completely distraught over the events."
Brown said Houston, who died a still unexplained death at age 48 one week ago in a Beverly Hills hotel room, would have preferred he attended.
"This was a day to honour Whitney. I doubt Whitney would have wanted this to occur. I will continue to pay my respects to my ex-wife the best way I know how," he said.
The 15-year period after Houston married Brown coincided with a decline in the quality and frequency of her albums and her public admission of heavy use of alcohol, cocaine and prescription pills. Houston's fans have long blamed Brown for their favourite singer's downward spiral into substance abuse.
Kevin Costner recalls 'sweet miracle of Whitney'
Actor Kevin Costner gave an emotional tribute to singer Whitney Houston at her funeral, revealing insights into the singing sensation from the hit film The Bodyguard they made together.
Costner told family, friends and greats of the music industry who packed the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark during the uplifting ceremony that he and Houston both came from musical families and grew up as Baptists.
"Whitney returns home today to the place where it all began and I urge us all inside and across the nation and around the world to dry our tears, suspend our sorrow, perhaps our anger, just long enough to remember the sweet miracle of Whitney," he said.
Although Houston's place in musical history is assured, Costner remembered her self-doubt, fear, need for reassurance and her worries, and his doubts, about her first acting role in the 1992 film The Bodyguard.
"The Whitney that I knew, despite her worldwide success and fame, still wondered, 'Am I good enough? Am I pretty enough? Will they like me?' It was the burden that made her great, and the part that caused her to stumble in the end," he said.
"People didn't just like you, Whitney, they loved you."
Costner recalled that Hollywood studio executives were hesitant to cast Houston in her first starring role, preferring "somebody white," but she soon won everyone over.
