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"Aretha Franklin has paid tribute to Whitney Houston after being forced to miss her funeral yesterday (February 18).  The soul legend was scheduled to perform at Houston&amp;#039;s service in New Jersey, but declined to appear due to &amp;quot;terrible leg spasms and locked muscles&amp;quot;.   Franklin did, however, perform a concert at the Radio City Music Hall in New York that evening, where she spoke lovingly of her late goddaughter.  &amp;quot;I hope that there&amp;#039;s something I will sing, or I have sung, that will lift all of our heavy hearts today,&amp;quot; WENN quotes her as telling the audience.  The 69-year-old later performed a cover of Houston&amp;#039;s famous track &amp;#039;I Will Always Love You&amp;#039; and said: &amp;quot;She was a very fine young lady... one of the best, greatest singers. &amp;quot;She was giving, gave so much of herself\u00E2\u20AC\u00A6 God bless you, Nippy. We&amp;#039;ll always remember.&amp;quot; Franklin claimed shortly after Houston&amp;#039;s death on February 11 that the star had tremendous trouble dealing with fame.  More Whitney Houston coverage: &amp;gt; Whitney Houston 1963-2012: Reactions &amp;gt; Whitney Houston 1963-2012: Obituary &amp;gt; Whitney Houston: A life in pictures &amp;gt; Whitney Houston: Greatest musical achievements - pictures &amp;gt; Whitney Houston to dominate singles, album charts next week &amp;gt; Bobby Brown: &amp;quot;I love you, Whitney&amp;quot; Click through a gallery of Whitney Houston&amp;#039;s life below: "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/showbiz/news/a366655/aretha-franklin-pays-tribute-to-whitney-houston-at-post-funeral-gig/>