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"The New Hope Baptist Church was filled with love on Saturday afternoon, as 1,500 family and friends joined together at Whitney Houston&amp;apos;s childhood church in Newark, NJ to celebrate her life.\r\nIn addition to Houston&amp;apos;s mother, Cissy, and her daughter Bobbi Kristina, several celebrities turned up to pay their respects to the late singer in the form of both tribute songs and heartfelt speeches.\r\n\r\nActor/director Kevin Costner told a lesson-laden story about casting the &amp;quot;I Will Always Love You&amp;quot; singer in the 1992 flick The Bodyguard, for which he revealed filming was postponed a year until Houston had wrapped her tour.\r\nThe 57-year-old actor reminisced how Houston took off the professional makeup and used her own, but the lights melted it right off during her screen test.\r\n&amp;quot;I asked her why she did it, and she said I just wanted to look my best. I asked her to trust me, and she said she would,&amp;quot; Costner said. &amp;quot;A half hour later she went back to do her screen test and the studio fell in love with her&amp;#x2026;Whitney, you weren&amp;apos;t just good enough, you were great.&amp;quot;\r\n&amp;quot;To you, Bobbi Kristina, and to all those young girls who are dreaming that dream, thinking that maybe they aren&amp;apos;t good enough, I think Whitney would tell you, guard your bodies. And guard the precious miracle of your own life. Then sing your hearts out.&amp;quot;Choking up and pausing as he ended his speech, he said, &amp;quot;Off you go Whitney, off you go. Escorted by an army of angels to your heavenly Father. When you sing before him, don&amp;apos;t you worry. You&amp;apos;ll be good enough.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\nBefore belting out &amp;quot;Send Me An Angel,&amp;quot; Alicia Keys remembered how she and Houston would call each other the nickname &amp;quot;Me Ma.&amp;quot;\r\n&amp;quot;She would call you for no reason at all, but just to say &amp;apos;hi,&amp;apos; Keys, who struggled to hold back tears, said. &amp;quot;She was a beautiful human being -- really caring, beautiful, thoughtful.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\nHouston&amp;apos;s music mentor Clive Davis added, &amp;quot;You wait for a voice like that a for a lifetime. You wait for a face, a presence like that for a lifetime. When one person embodies it all, it takes your breath away. That&amp;apos;s what I felt in 1983 when your daughter shattered me with her version of &amp;apos;Greatest Love of All,&amp;apos;&amp;quot; he said looking at Cissy.\r\nRay Watson, Houston&amp;apos;s bodyguard for 11 years who found her body in her Beverly Hills hotel room Feb.11, said &amp;quot;I lost a friend, a boss, a sister.&amp;quot; He wrapped his speech by saying, &amp;quot;We need to respect and love entertainers,&amp;quot; adding that entertainers give their lives so people can have enjoyment. His comments we met with a standing ovation from the crowd.\r\n\r\nStevie Wonder opened his two-song performance with lyrics, &amp;quot;I want to give praise to the Father for Whitney from God&amp;apos;s choir of love.&amp;quot;\r\nTyler Perry spoke of the singer&amp;apos;s everlasting grace. &amp;quot;She had a grace  that kept on carrying her all the way through her life. It was the  same grace that carried her home.&amp;quot;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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