Stars turn out for the funeral of Whitney Houston

The funeral of Whitney Houston was held at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey on Saturday.  Houston used to sing at the church as a young girl and her mother, Cissy Houston, has led the youth choir based there for the past 50 years.

Security was kept tight as many celebrities attended the funeral.  Among the guests were Mariah Carey, Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys and her Bodyguard co-star Kevin Costner.  Costner delivered a moving eulogy and appeared to struggle to hold back his emotions at times.  Houston's godmother Aretha Franklin did not attend due to ill health.

Bobby Brown, the singer's former husband, did attend the funeral despite rumours that he may not be made welcome.  He was said to want to be there to support his daughter.

The funeral was a private one with just a single camera filming the service.  The service was streamed online so that fans could watch it.  The streets surrounding the church began to fill with fans ahead of the service and some are said to have been selling t-shirts as a "tribute" to the star.

The news of Houston's death broke on Saturday, 12 February.  The singer was found dead at her hotel.  The cause of death is yet to be determined.

Opinion: Speculation isn’t Journalism

Since the moment the news broke that singer Whitney Houston had been found dead speculation has been rife.  People have been only too quick to point the finger and try and find someone to blame.

Less than an hour after her death was announced the question who is to blame? was already being asked and people were all too willing to give their theories.  Now we’re hearing claims that she went on a 48-hour drugs binge shortly before she died because sources -  so confident of what they are saying is true- say so and that's presuming the sources exist, of course.  How can anyone prove that it is true? Unless you can prove it, then you should not be writing it: It’s speculation not journalism.

We’ve also been treated to a variety of other rumours including the one dating from a while back which claimed that the singer had already died.  Her death on Saturday, the cause of which is still unknown, rather lays the previous rumours to rest doesn’t it?

The latest speculation is that Whitney was a secret lesbian and this is what led her down the path to self-destruction and onto her habit of drugs and drink, which to her credit she tried hard to fight and on the face of it had seemed to be turning her life around.  Addictions are far more complex than that and those are just repetitions of old rumours with little substance.

There was the same speculation surrounding Amy Winehouse’s death.  The Internet is still awash with speculation from news sources that she too had indulged in a drugs binge before she died, according to sources, only for the autopsy to find that there was no trace of illegal drugs in her system at the time of her death.  Since so many newspapers got that wrong you would think that they would tred a little more carefully before making unsubstantiated claims about Whitney Houston.
The Internet has led to a voracious appetite for gossip, speculation and untruths, and unfortunately there are too many people out there willing to believe almost everything they hear or read.  The other day, I heard somebody say that they knew some salacious celeb gossip was true “because they’d read it on the Internet” and of course, the people writing these stories on the Internet always tell the truth don’t they?  Are people really that naive?

Remember the Kate Middleton is pregnant story?  Most people could see through that one and even the most unreliable news sources in the UK didn't run with it and state it as fact.  Another rumour circulated that child actor Macaulay Culkin had died.  Recent pictures of him show that he doesn’t quite look his healthiest but he is still very much with us.  There are plenty of similar rumours about and I do wonder if some people feel a little bit silly once they realise that a story that they believed was untrue.  Does that not make them doubt the source of the story and does it not make them question some of the gossip that some websites tout?

Whitney Houston was somebody’s mother and somebody’s daughter.  There are many other people who have lost a close friend, a person that despite her personal demons, was loved and respected.  At what must be an excruciatingly difficult time for them wouldn’t it be good if ‘journalists’ concentrated on facts, not speculation?

Opinion: Whitney Houston: Didn't she almost have it all?

Shortly after 1.00am UK time the death of soul singer Whitney Houston was announced.  Whitney Houston was aged 48 at the time of her death.

The singer first became known in the UK in 1985 as a teenager with a voice that sounded like it came from a woman much older, full of depth and soul.  A glittering career lay ahead of her with Emmy, Grammy, Billboard Music Awards and American Music Awards.  Houston broke records when it came to music sales, The Bodyguard soundtrack became the biggest selling soundtrack ever.

With her squeaky clean image no one would have guessed that later in her career she would be struggling with a well-documented drugs and drink battle - a battle which would last for more than a decade and remained with her.

Sadly, Whitney isn't the first singer to find their lives blighted by addiction and she won't be the last.  It doesn't matter how famous or talented you are, drugs and drink have the same affect, and it was sad to see a woman with one of the most amazing voices the world has ever heard lose years of her career to her addiction.  It was even sadder to see someone with such talent being ridiculed in the media for not having the voice that she once had or for not being the person that she used to be. Addiction is an illness and the addiction that marred her life should have been treated as such.

Despite her personal struggles, Whitney Houston seemed to be getting her life and career back together.  Her 2009 comeback album I Look To You did well even if her comeback tour wasn't quite the success it could have been.  She was in talks to work on the X Factor USA and had recently completed  a movie.  She was also set to appear at the Grammys. The show will now be a very different one than the one that had been planned; artists will be paying tribute to the singer and rightly so; as one of the world's biggest selling female artists, she paved the way for a lot of them.

Some are saying they aren't surprised at the news but I am.  Her worst battles had seemed to be behind her and while some stars do seemed destined to have their lives end in tragedy, I didn't think Whitney Houston would be one of them.

Her death is a sad loss to the music world, to her family, and to those closest to her.  Beautiful, talented, and for many years living a life that most people can only ever dream of, it seems that having everything going for you isn't always enough.