Soul, gospel and pop music greats from the past and present are set to mourn Whitney Houston today, one 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."
She's to be honored by family and friends at a funeral service in her native Newark, New Jersey.
Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and Houston's cousin Dionne Warwick will perform at the New Hope Baptist Church where Houston sang as a child in the choir with her mother Cissy Houston, who once backed up Franklin.
Hollywood stars Kevin Costner and Tyler Perry and Houston's mentor, record producer Clive Davis, were scheduled to deliver remarks.
Oprah Winfrey, Elton John, Beyonce and Bill Cosby were expected to attend the service.
Whitney Houston's family decided against a public memorial, but fans were expected to crowd the streets around the church, funeral home and nearby cemetery where she is due to be buried.
Houston was among the greatest singers of the 1980s and 1990s, but her personal life and marriage to singer Bobby Brown was tumultuous.
They divorced in 2007 after a 15-year marriage that began as the pop diva's music career began to slide.
The couple have a daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, 18, who was in Los Angeles when her mother died.
Houston admitted to heavy use of cocaine, marijuana, alcohol and prescription pills.
But 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.
Officials are waiting for the results of toxicology tests that will help to determine how Whitney died.
