Stars, family, fans to mourn Whitney Houston

Mel Evans / AP

Candles burn at a memorial to Whitney Houston outside New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, N.J., early Saturday.

By msnbc.com news services

Editors note: Further updates on the Whitney Houston funeral will be posted here.

Updated 10:05 a.m. ET: Hearse carrying Whitney Houston's casket has arrived at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, a church where Houston sung as a child. Watch live video from the New Hope Baptist Church here.

Updated 9:45 a.m. ET: Whitney Houston's casket has departed Whigham Funeral Home in a gold hearse, escorted by a police motorcade, NBC News reports.

Soul, gospel and pop music greats from the past and present are set to mourn Whitney Houston Saturday, a week after the sudden death of the singer whose spectacular voice and best-selling albums made her one of biggest pop stars of her era.

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."

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She was due to be honored by family and friends at a funeral service in her native Newark, New Jersey. While the world knew her as one of the greatest artists of her generation, to her family and friends, she was just "Nippy."

NBC's Reheme Ellis reports.

A nickname given to Houston when she was a child, it stuck with her through adulthood and, later, would become the name of one of her companies.

There was a heavy police presence outside the invitation-only funeral on Saturday and streets were cordoned off.

Houston's body was expected to leave a nearby funeral home under tight security en route to the church. Fans have been urged to stay home and watch the funeral on the Internet or television.

Keys, Wonder, Franklin, Warwick
The funeral is for invited guests only. Houston is scheduled to be buried next to her father, John Houston, in nearby Westfield, N.J.

Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and Houston's cousin Dionne Warwick will sing and speak at the New Hope Baptist Church, where Houston sang as a child in the choir with her mother, Cissy Houston, who was a backup singer for Franklin.

Hollywood stars Kevin Costner and Tyler Perry and Houston's mentor, record producer Clive Davis, were also scheduled to speak. Oprah Winfrey, Elton John, Beyonce and Bill Cosby were expected to attend the service.

In this TODAY exclusive, singer Aretha Franklin talks with TODAY's Al Roker about her reaction to the death of Whitney Houston, her close friend.

Houston's family decided against a public memorial, but fans were expected to crowd the streets around the church and nearby cemetery where she is due to be buried.

Many have left flowers, cards and balloons dedicated to the singer who became a global star with her 1985 debut album that included the hits "Saving All My Love For You," "How Will I Know" and "Greatest Love Of All."

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.

Read more on Houston's death:

Franklin jumped out of bed at Houston news

Source: Houston was under 24/7 supervision

Inside Houston's last recording session

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.

Houston grew up surrounded by gospel and soul music legends like Franklin and Warwick. She later forged new territory for a black, female artist who brought R&B and gospel touches into pop music's mainstream.

After her debut, her popularity grew exponentially with her second album, "Whitney" (1987), with all four singles -- "Didn't We Almost Have It All", "So Emotional", "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" and "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" -- hitting No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Coping with fame
Her music videos featuring her 1980s style and innocent, fun-loving image made her wildly popular around the world. In the 1992 movie "The Bodyguard," co-starring Costner, Houston played a character not far removed from her real self: an international singing sensation coping with fame.

She made other films including "The Preacher's Wife," but the 15-year period when she was married to singer Brown coincided with a decline in the quality and frequency of her albums. The couple, who have an 18-year-old daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, divorced in 2007.

Houston's powerful voice suffered in recent years. On her last world tour in 2010, she struggled to hit high notes.

She spoke publicly about her struggles with addiction.

In a 2002 interview, TV journalist Diane Sawyer asked Houston what was the "biggest devil" among her failings. Houston answered: "Nobody makes me do anything I don't want to do. So the bigger devil is me, I am either my best friend or my worst enemy."

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/18/10442130-stars-family-fans-to-mourn-whitney-houston

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