Todd Heisler/The New York TimesMourners gathered near New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, N.J., for Whitney Houston's funeral on Saturday. More Photos »
NEWARK — The guest list and the parade of limousines with celebrities emerging from them seemed more suited to a red carpet event in Hollywood or New York than to a gritty stretch of Sussex Avenue near the James M. Baxter Terrace public housing project here.
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Among the speakers at the service were the actor Kevin Costner, who played her bodyguard in the 1992 hit film of the same name, and Ray Watson, her real-life bodyguard for many years. More Photos » Yet speaker after speaker at the funeral of Whitney Houston on Saturday afternoon kept coming back to her strong attachment to New Hope Baptist Church, where her prodigious talents were first recognized and where the funeral was held. “We came back to what produced her in the first place, where she sung in the choirs,” the Rev. Al Sharpton said after the service. Police officers on horseback stood sentinel at the entrance to the red brick church, near an illuminated sign that flashed alternating messages: “Whitney Houston” in pink letters, followed by “We will always love you,” a riff on perhaps the singer’s most famous song. And fittingly, the church’s interior often resounded with song during the four-and-a-half-hour service. Though Stevie Wonder and Alicia Keys and many other performers were well-known to the mourners and millions more watching on television and online, choirs also proved powerful, soaring presence. Ms. Houston’s former husband, Bobby Brown, arrived before noon dressed in a leather suit, but stayed only briefly. In a statement to CNN, he said that he had left after being asked to move three times. Among the speakers at the service were the actor Kevin Costner, who played her bodyguard in the 1992 hit film of the same name, and Ray Watson, her real-life bodyguard for many years. Mr. Costner noted that both he and Ms. Houston had grown up in the Baptist church and described her anxieties during a screen test for “The Bodyguard,” her first film. He said that while many actors who could have played his part, Ms. Houston defined her character, Rachel Marron. Though she made the film as she approached the height of her fame, she suffered doubt, and “the inexplicable burden that comes with fame,” Mr. Costner said. “I’ve had it,” he added, looking out at the crowd, which included show business luminaries like Tyler Perry. “I know the famous in the room have had it, too.” Mr. Watson told of the last hours of Ms. Houston’s life. She had been behaving abnormally at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles, where she died on Feb. 11. But that afternoon she listened to her favorite gospel singer, Fred Hammond, as was her pre-performance ritual, just before Mr. Watson left her to prepare for the Grammy Awards the next night. “Fred Hammond was rocking. I said, ‘yeah, she’s in the norm,’ ” Mr. Watson said. When he returned, Ms. Houston was dead. “It seemed like my whole world just —” his voice trailed off. “I lost a friend, a boss, a sister.” Another speaker was Clive Davis, the founder of Arista Records who had helped establish Ms. Houston as one of the most successful pop singers in the world, and whose party she was to attend the night she died. He said that in the days before her death, Ms. Houston, whose abuse of alcohol and drugs had diminished her vocal strength, told him she was on the mend. “ ‘I’m getting in shape; I’m swimming an hour or two a day, no cigarettes, I’ll be ready for August.’ ” Mr. Davis recalled her saying. “Well, Whitney,” he said in his eulogy. “I’m going to hold you to it. Everyone in heaven, including God, is waiting. And I just know you’re going to raise the roof like no one else has done before.” Fans had begun arriving in the chilly darkness on Saturday. In the predawn hours, the police established a metal perimeter that sealed off the streets around the church and kept both fans and reporters at a distance. Six hours before the funeral, Hedwig Berthold, 40, and Rhonda Owens, 32, teachers who had spent $600 each to fly here from Miami, sat in their Nissan rental car, hoping to avoid being asked to move by the police. “We came to celebrate her life and say goodbye,” Ms. Berthold said. On Friday, they signed a guest book at the Whigham Funeral Home, where the Houston family held a private viewing.
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