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The hearse carrying the body of Whitney Houston arrives at the Fairview Cemetery on Feb. 19 in Westfield, N.J. (Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images)
Whitney Houston was laid to rest in a private funeral ceremony on Feb. 19 in New Jersey for invited friends and family as crowds of fans gathered outside the service.
Houston, who was gifted with a powerful voice and rose to superstardom in the 1980s and early 1990s, died in a hotel in Beverly Hills last week, causing reverberations throughout the music industry. Her body was found underwater in a bathtub. The cause of death has not been made pubic.
A funeral procession carried Houston’s body from a funeral home in her hometown of Newark to the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Westfield. Several thousand people gathered to watch the procession.
On Saturday, a star-studded funeral was held at New Hope Baptist Church, where Houston sang in the choir as a child, and combined gospel music with stories about the pop singer’s life. Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, R. Kelly, and Houston’s cousin Dionne Warwick performed her songs at the event.
Actor Kevin Costner, who starred with Houston in the movie “The Bodyguard,” delivered a moving eulogy to his late friend.
“I was your pretend bodyguard once, not so long ago, and now you’re gone too soon leaving us with memories,” he said. “Memories of a little girl who stepped bravely in front of this church, in front of the ones that loved you first, in front of the ones who loved you best, and loved you the longest.”
Costner said, “Whitney returns home today to the place where it all began and I urge us all, inside and outside, across the nation and around the world to dry our tears, suspend our sorrow and perhaps our anger just long enough, just long enough to remember the sweet miracle of Whitney.”
Actor-director Tyler Perry said that Houston was always carried by grace.
“This same grace led her all the way to the top of the charts, sold all of these albums, and just done some amazing things, won all these awards. She sang for presidents. And there was a grace that kept on carrying her, and that’s one thing I know,” he said.
Houston was buried next to her father at the Fairview Cemetery, reported the New Jersey Star-Ledger.