“Home going” service for a global superstar - Whitney Houston

New Hope Baptist Church on a street corner of a modest neighbourhood in Newark, New Jersey has been caught in the global spotlight. Returning “home” in a golden hearse was the body of Whitney Houston. Music filled the funeral service and from Kevin Costner who starred opposite Houston in the hit film, “The Bodyguard” there was a heartfelt plea: “Whitney returns home today to the place where it all began and I urge us all inside and outside and across the nation and the world to dry our tears, suspend our sorrow and perhaps our anger, just long enough to remember the sweet miracle of Whitney,” he said.

Stevie Wonder was one of several stars to pay tribute in song to the pop diva who was found dead in a Beverley Hills hotel a week ago. The gospel choir in which the 48-year-old first developed her voice along with her mother Cissy also sang to the congregation of 1,500 mourners.

Whitney Houston, regarded as the greatest fenale singer of her generation will be laid to rest on Sunday, the soaring voice and many worldwide hits, her abiding legacy.