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Family, friends, stars celebrate, say goodbye to Whitney Houston
By TODAY.com news services

Many of the biggest names in entertainment gathered Saturday to say goodbye to singer Whitney Houston in the church in Newark, N.J., where the late singer, who died on Feb. 11, started her singing career in the choir.

Pastor Joe A. Carter of the New Hope Baptist Church opened Saturday’s service by telling the congregation that “we gonna have church today.

“We are here today, hearts broken but yet with God’s strength we celebrate the life of Whitney Houston,” Carter said. “Whitney, you are the only woman that could bring all of us together. Whitney, today is your day.”

Kevin Costner, Alicia Keys, Clive Davis, Stevie Wonder and Dionne Warwick remember their friend Whitney Houston at her funeral in Newark, N.J.

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As the nearly four-hour long service came to an end, the Rev. Marvin Winans said in his eulogy: “Father, we thank you for this life of Whitney Elizabeth ‘Nippy’ Houston. We thank you that she was a dear friend, and we echo all the sentiments of those who have come to show their love. … Let us leave here recognizing that Whitney left too soon. Let us leave her impacted by her life.”

The service offered a mixture of humorous memories and deep sorrow. According to the Associated Press, as Houston’s casket was carried out and her hit “I Will Always Love You” was played, her daughter Bobbi Kristina began crying, and the sobs of Houston’s mother, Cissy, rang throughout the church. “My baby!” she wailed.

Houston’s cousin Dionne Warwick presided over the funeral, introducing speakers and singers and offering short comments about Houston between them.

Actor-director-writer Tyler Perry was among the first speakers at the service, and he reflected what he called the one constant in Houston’s life — her grace. Her described it as a “grace that kept on carrying her all the way through, the same grace led her all the way to the top of the charts. She sang for presidents.” He told the congregation that no matter the trouble that she encountered in her life, Houston’s faith remained constant.

Actor Kevin Costner, her co-star in “The Bodyguard” that spawned her greatest hit, remembered a movie star who was uncertain of her own fame, who “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,” Costner said.

He also reflected on the decision to cast her in “The Bodyguard.” “A lot of leading man could have played my part,” Costner said. “A lot of guys. A lot of guys could have filled that role. But you, Whitney, I truly believe were the only one who could have played Rachel Marron at the time.”

Gospel singer BeBe Winans chose to focus on Houston’s “craziness.” He described how, at the peak of her fame, she offered her singing services to him because “y’all are broke, right?”

Close family friend Aretha Franklin, whom Houston lovingly called “Aunt Ree,” had been expected to sing at the service, but told the Associated Press that she was having foot and leg problems following a concert she gave Friday night at New York’s Radio City Music Hall and would not be able to attend.