family and friends are arriving at a newark, new jersey, church getting ready to remember the singing legend. we have just learned who will perform at the funeral. we ll share that with you in a moment. and we ll talk with chile from the group tlc. and also whitney houston s principal, we ll talk with him also. he ll talk about what the famous singer was really like. from the cnn center in atlanta, this is cnn saturday morning. i m gary tuchman. well, aretha franklin, alicia keys, and stevie wonder, just a few of the people who will sing at whitney houston s funeral today. we re about two hours from the expected start. let s check in with jason carroll who s there in newark, new jersey, right now. what else can you tell us about the program that will be taking place today? reporter: a friend of the family gave me a rundown on what we can expect to see. the expected time, 12:00 noon. let s start off from the beginning so you know. first it will start off with the new hope
incredible voice coming from the choir. janet jackson knew and admired whitney houston and her voice. i talked to her today about her friend and the gift that she had. you ll hear her shortly. dr. drew pinsky joins us to help us understand the role of prescription drugs that houston was taking might have played in her death. and 360 sanjay gupta is on to talk about how houston s history with narcotics could have broken her body down over time. first, though, more on the very latest. the gold colored hearse was greeted by crowds of fans shortly before midnight last night as it pulled up to this funeral home in newark, new jersey. houston s mother, cissy arrived earlier. friends say she is overwhelmed but staying strong. newark is houston s hometown and a funeral will be held saturday at the house of worship she attended as a child, the new hope baptist church. how the 48-year-old singer died is still unclear, and the investigation has so far yielded very few answers. authori
i talked to her today about her friend and the gift that she had. you ll hear her shortly. dr. drew pinsky joins us to help us understand the role of prescription drugs that houston was taking might have played in her death. and 360 sanjay gupta is on to talk about how houston s history with narcotics could have broken her body down over time. first, though, more on the very latest. the gold colored hearse was greeted by crowds of fans shortly before midnight last night as it pulled up to this funeral home in newark, new jersey. houston s mother, cissy arrived earlier. friends say she is overwhelmed but staying strong. newark is houston s hometown and a funeral will be held saturday at the house of worship she attended as a child, the new hope baptist church. how the 48-year-old singer died is still unclear, and the investigation has so far yielded very few answers. authorities examining a bottle of prescription pills found inside her hotel room the day she died. friends sa
care of a funeral home in jersey. we re following developments on both fronts. cnn s don lemon on the west coast, deborah feyerick back east in newark. hello to you both. deb, let s start with you. what can you tell us about the arrangements? reporter: well, michael, whitney houston s mom, cissy houston, a gospel legend, is making all the funeral arrangements. and they decided to make it an intimate, invitation-only event, at the hope baptist church, the church where whitney houston grew up. another friend and church member said that at the church, whitney houston also felt safe and adored. her mother was the choir director there, the musical director. and whitney often would kick off her shoes and she would just be filled with the holy spirit. and she described her experience growing up in the church saying, when she was there, she was singing for god, and when she would visit later in life, oftentimes, michael, she wouldn t even bring security, because she felt so comfort
there was a grace that kept on carrying her. that s one thing i know. the other thing i know for sure, and this is more important than anything she has ever done in her life. whitney houston loved the lord. the whitney i knew despite her success and worldwide fame still wondered am i good enough, am i pretty enough. will they like me? it was the burden that made her great, and the part that caused her to stumble in the end. whitney was purely and simply one of a kind. yes, she admitted to abuse in her life, yes she confessed to oprah about her battle, but when i needed her, she was there. when did the drugs start? before the body guard we were just very light. after the body guard it started getting heavy.