The funeral of singer Whitney Houston’s is underway at the New Jersey church where she performed in a choir as a child.
About 1,500 people were invited to the service at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark.
The singer died on February 11th in California, the day before the Grammy awards. She was 48.
There was a heavy police presence outside the invitation-only funeral today and streets were cordoned off. A gospel choir was rehearsing in the church hours before the service, and roses and lilies surround the pulpit.
Aretha Franklin, who had been expected to sing at the funeral, is no longer planning to do so. A person close to the Houston family said Franklin was not planning to attend because she was sick.
Franklin performed yesterday and is scheduled to give another concert tonight.
A revised programme for the service lists Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys and R. Kelly among those who will sing.
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.
After the funeral, Houston is scheduled to be buried beside her father, John Russell Houston, at Fairview Cemetery in Westfield, near where she grew up.
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.
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.
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.
Agencies