>> ree's not here, but she is here. she loved whitney as if she were born to her. she is her godmother. okay. all right. no problem. we're going to have -- [ applause ]

>> to lord and savior, it is not a sad time, but a glad time. in the spirit. i don't have to say much because everyone who has spoken about nippy, they hit it as we say down south on the head. but i would say that we had some good times. she accepted me as a brother. although i was her bodyguard for almost 11 years. i remember when we did "sparkle," everyone had left and i wanted to go home bad. and she said, ray, and when she say ray, she called me uncle ray. that's her playful times. when she mean business she would say ray. i'm tired, i've done everything

i've supposed to do, i want to hang back a little bit and rest. i said, okay. all right. but the thing about it is when we got ready to leave, she says i don't believe i want to fly. i said how we going to get there? she said we're going to drive. i said, well, we going to drive? not we, i says, you don't drive. she said i'm going to help you drive. and i said, well, i'm not going to trust you drive me. so she said we can do it. i said okay. she said trust in the lord, you can do it. my room right across from hers, i go -- i am a christian, i start praying, say, lord, i --

this is precious cargo. and you know, i don't want nothing to happen and i could feel his presence, i gotcha. so we get ready to leave, i guess she started thinking about it now. she said i'm going to be ready in about 20 minutes. 20 minutes come by, ray, you ready? i said i'm ready, let's hit it. she said, give me about another hour. night begins to come over. and finally she called me and said i'll be ready. i said, i'll tell you what, when you're ready, you call me and i'll be ready. so she called me when she was ready and reloaded the truck up and here we go. i was afraid of stopping at service stations, i was afraid of flat tires because i have an icon with me, i have someone the

people love. and i said i drove all night and stopped twice. and after i said, don't get out of the car. and when i went in the store to pay for the gas i was looking out the window and looking back and i could see her had the window about like this and she was peeking out. and i said i told you to roll it up. she said, no, i had to see what was going on with you i had to make sure you were all right. so we made it in, but i tell you in our final days, she came in my room and that's something she would never do. she came in my room and began to speak biblically. and she said we're going to be all right. and i said -- so she gave me the activities for the day what we were going to do. and when i left to go do the vh1

walk through, she had fred hammond. fred hammond was what she listened to before she go on stage and she had him rocking. and i said, yeah, she's in the norm. so i go do the walk through, i come back, the music was off. so i pulled my key and i said go in the room. and i said no she's probably working that room right now, i open that door, she's going to get me. and i realized that she had left. she made my whole world just -- i lost a friend, a boss, a sister. but then her spirit came to me and said you're free. because in those 11 years i was by her side.

through thick, through thin, whatever, i was there for her. and she had a bible. she didn't know it but i call that bible raggedy, because it was so torn up that in those -- she knows what i'm talking about. that bible. she would take -- she had to have the bible wherever she went. if she didn't get that bible, she would make you take clothes out to stuff it in there. big, thick, you open it up, and passages marked all over it. she was a lovely lady. beautiful lady. she was a caring lady. she knew all my grandchildren, my family, she could call me my name. there was none other like her. but i say this, god gave us an angel, gave us ms. houston, and she shared it with the world.

her voice was so beautiful. we would sing so much together. but we have to give a little back to all our entertainers. we've got to treat them with dignity and treat them with love and stop ridiculing them. [ applause ] it means so much that we give a little love. they give their lives to you. they're not with their families, they're in and out on stage off stage, in planes, off planes, on buses, traveling, everything, just so we can have some entertainment. whether they're on a court or whether they're on the stage, whether they're on tv, they're giving us entertainment to make

our lives a little brighter and the nights a little smoother. so let's give back to them. let's give them love rather than just a ticket. this lady right here, she loved you. and i know that. i was with her every day. thank you. [ applause ] >> i like hearing words like that. we're going to hear some wonderful words now in the form of a song. stevie wonder. [ applause ] snths

♪ >> this is such an emotional

moment. let me just stop and give our prayers to god for just allowing me to be in life. at the same time as whitney. ♪ and dionne, cissy, and her other family, i want you to know as have millions of people said not

just in this time but throughout her career, we loved her so much and that won't stop. i'm so very happy we were able to do a song together. because actually in my little fantasy world, i had a little crush on whitney. okay? but i just have so much respect for her love for music. and when we sang in the studio we were ripping back and forth and who was going to do the riff and all that kind of craziness, but -- just expressing love and appreciation to the gift of god has given us. i understand in this song "lucy in the sky" was a song she

liked. i said, god, i'm going to be in church, i don't know about -- i said, god, give me some words i can say relative to where we are and what's to be said. and so on the plane coming here and then in the hotel getting ready kind of put some things together. and i just want to do a little bit for you. ♪

♪ nice day in 1963 ♪ we were blessed so incredibly ♪ ♪ with a sound so incredibly whitney's voice ♪ ♪ she allows you to touch our hearts ♪ ♪ and you did from the very start ♪

♪ nobody compares to her ♪ it's a gift from heaven of love ♪ ♪ mmm ♪ do-do-do-do-do ♪ oh ♪ oh, no no ♪ what god gives is never a coincidence ♪ ♪ but for years that was always

meant like you were a choir from heaven ♪ ♪ choir, oh ♪ who can lose with god on my side ♪ ♪ and no more whitney, no more do you have to cry ♪ ♪ you love always be our ribbon in the sky ♪ ♪ the angel of god choir, angel of god choir ♪ ♪ the angel from god's choir of love ♪ ♪ whoa, i want to give praise to the father ♪ ♪ i want to give praise to the father ♪

♪ i want to give praise to the father ♪ ♪ for whitney the angel from the choir ♪ ♪ from god's choir from god's choir ♪ ♪ from god's choir [ applause ] ♪ from god's choir of love [ applause ]

[ applause ] ♪ ♪ i -- ♪ -- to everyone ♪ what was i supposed to think

♪ love ♪ ♪ it's gonna -- in many hearts ♪ stop before it's come too far ♪ ♪ who -- whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa ♪

♪ god has you in his plans to make you his possession ♪ ♪ we must never take precautionary measures ♪ ♪ if love is your treasure and you hear me when i say ♪ ♪ whoa, whoa, love indeed of love today ♪ ♪

♪ things going around in every heart ♪ ♪ stop before it's gone too far ♪ ♪ you know that love, loving me another day ♪ ♪ no, don't delay, send your love right away ♪ ♪ you know that hearts going down, heads going around ♪ ♪ you've got to -- i've got to -- we've got to -- you've got to ♪

♪ love, love in need ♪ send your love my way ♪ heads going around ♪ yeah ♪ start to play -- ♪ bum-bum-bum-ohh ♪

♪ yeah ♪ no, no -- yeah ♪ l-o-v-e, love ♪ can't you hear whitney telling us love we need love today ♪ ♪ america and the world we need to put it together quickly ♪ ♪ god's gonna come and we better be ready ♪ ♪ he's gonna come better be ready ♪ ♪ whoa, just give the world

love ♪ ♪ just give the world love [ applause ] >> the words chosen by stevie to remember and pay homage and tribute, as i said, they're words of inspiration. pat houston, please come.

[ applause ] >> let the redeemers of the lord say hallelujah. >> hallelujah. >> hallelujah. >> hallelujah. >> hallelujah. >> when we first arrived here, dionne, gary, and i with whitney's body i was greeted at

my mother-in-law's door, my cousin diane, and she looked at me and said let the believers believe. so let the believers believe. kevin, i too have to had write something out because i don't want to live something out although i know i will. i love the lord. with those immortal words of praise, my sister, my friend gave the world a glimpse into the world of the presence of god that is so present with us every moment in our life in joy and sorrow and despair even in the midnight death always there. i have always been so curious and even a bit troubled by a statement that david makes in

psalms 115 and 116, until this past saturday when our beloved whitney found her way into the very presence and safety of god, then i understood. when someone dies, we are sad, we are angry, we are stunned, we are often bewildered, and we may even feel abandoned. but the more i think of her l e life, the more i know that she is so safe and so precious in the eyes of god that he carefully considered the time for her to come to another level of peace. i'm even more comforted by the fact that all of our times are in his hands. today the world is celebrating the life and times of this magnificent woman of grace, beauty, and enormous talent. today the world is saying good-bye in a way to that incredible soul.

today we as a family celebrate the life of our sister, our daughter, our mother, and our friend. there is so much i could say about her. she was one with a charmed and beautiful life. a life sometimes misunderstood, even by herself, but a life nevertheless that gave joy, happiness, enthusiasm, peace, and beautiful music to millions of people across the world. with all that i have been privileged to know about her, to share with her what i can say for sure is that even when she was tired or a bit lost, she gave. and gave and then gave some more. when she did not want to do

things, she did them anyway. and we are so much better for it. it is this very special gift about whitney of giving anyway that i was immediately reminded of a dusty yellowing wall hanging that hung on the wall of another woman that touched millions across the globe, mother teresa. today as we remember and celebrate this life of destiny, i am able to say without any doubt that this is one of the oldest of celebrations that so typifies whitney and the life she lived. i wanted to share it with you. it will remind each of us that whitney left us so much and though we will not see her in the flesh, she is ever so much present with us. and that no matter what we are enduring, we can still take comfort in the fact that while life sometimes cannot always be understood, we can yet give to others anyway.

when people were often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered, whitney forgave them anyway. when she was kind, people often accused her of being selfish or having ulterior motives. whitney was kind anyway. when she was successful, she did win some unfaithful friends and genuine enemies, yet whitney succeeded anyway. when she was honest and sincere, people often deceived her, yet whitney tried her best to be honest and sincere anyway. what she spent years creating, what others could destroy overnight, whitney created anyway. when she did manage to find serenity and happiness, some

were jealous and envious yet whitney tried to be happy anyway. the good she did, she knew could be forgotten, but she did good anyway. even when she gave the best she had, it sometimes was not enough, and she knew it, but she gave us her best anyway. she knew deep down that in the final analysis it was always between her and god. and it was never between her and the world anyway. [ applause ] today it is my prayer and that of our family that you will remember her with the love that she gave to everyone no matter what may be going on anyway. to my mother-in-law, yes, you

did everything you could while the choice was always hers. remember this also that there are people that jesus could not heal because they did not want his help. so if god in a body could not do something, then you can feel confident that you are fine. to clive, you were the rock that held her together professionally. your wisdom of the music industry did not go unnoticed. she referred to you as her industry father. she had more respect for you in one hand than she had for anyone else's entire being. you gave her hope. thank you for your excellence, your loving kindness, peace, dedication, and most

importantly, your love for whitney and this family for all these years. she loved you. [ applause ] there was much love and respect for you for many years. i used to tease her and say if clive was your industry father, then l.a. is your industry uncle. we got such a kick out of that. to her record label, her worldwide family past and present, she never forgot all the things you did for her. the journey was more than incredible, it made history. she loved her craft. to her international fans, you were blessed to have her final tour in 2010. she would dedicate that tour to

you. she gave you her best. with all of the obstacles and struggles with weight gain and challenges, she finished her tour like a champion. never regretting the moment sharing her music with you. she'd always say any way you fix me, lord, i'll be satisfied. one of her favorite songs was "home." home, america. and you were blessed with her last film. when we finally closed a deal with sony pictures in 2011, deborah chase her producing partner davon franklin and pastor t.d. jakes decided this film "sparkle" was going to happen. the six weeks of filming "sparkle" were some of the

happiest times of her life. the presence of god was in the midst of this project. in her mind, it have ordained by god. and the history of her film making, this movie inspired her to be devoted and dedicated. what she herself wanted to be as a mother bobbie kristina. and nicholas, her godson. her work ethics were impeccable. she was on top of her game. and on this day i'm proud to say that she was a gift of light to many on that set. she put the spark in "sparkle." and krissy, that was for you. you were that spark. she wanted much for you.

you know how she used to tell you to say your prayers. did you read that scripture? i don't care what was going on with her, i don't care what it was, she stayed grounded in the word. mom, you'd be proud. be proud. to her band members past and present, thank you for never abandoning her. [ applause ] she had nothing but love for you. for all that knew her intimately, our small circle of friends, all of you that were performing today. to tyler that comforting spirit,

that stayed with me when i needed you most. every phone call answered, anything that was necessary in the name of jesus. to oprah and diane, i thank you. her lawyers, staff, agents, especially nicole david, business managers, tour managers, glam squad, travel, security, publicists past and present. aunt bay and family. oh, aunt bay. to mary, ulysses, lynn, donna, my big brother ray, billy, and

of course, cousin dionne who i could call on any time thank you for always being there. the winans family, i can't say enough, you are a second family. kim burrell, there are no words to describe. donny mcclerkan, we were a team. >> yes. >> we were a team. [ applause ] she would want me to tell you to clap your hands, y'all, it's all right. because my love is your love. my last conversation with her

was at the beverly hilton. we were having lunch. she had concerns about information she'd heard about her. and i reminded her that in her 20s she gave her life with her golden voice, in her 30s and 40s, she gave her life to her husband and her child. and she was approaching her 50s and it was time for her to live for whitney. she said because he lives i can always face tomorrow. and she had a huge smile in that oh so beautiful face. to her brothers gary, michael, and johnny and her nieces and nephews whom she loved very much. our friends sent a note reminding us that our dear sister, aunt, mother, friend in christ has been set free. thank you. free from pain, free from

sorrow, free from crying, free from sin, free from death. we will see her again, but until then she rests peacefully in the lord's presence. for those of you that were unable to view her body, imagine her performance in the greatest love of all, the way that she looked. the way that she looked. may god's presence and his word comfort you. to the family, friends, and extended music family of incomparable and unforgettable, my sister whitney elizabeth houston. there are no words that can describe how i feel right now.

i didn't think that i could do it. but she's always telling me to stand. you stand. i need you. and today i stand. to say that the legacy that she left was music. but what she left for you was her love for god. and she had it, and she was absolute. she was absolute about that. in her final days, she held on to what you taught her to believe in. i promise you she did. [ applause ] ♪

>> i'm going to ask r. kelly to come. [ applause ]

♪ ♪ as i lay down ♪ heaven hear me now ♪ after giving it my all ♪ winter storms have come ♪ and -- my sun

♪ after all that i've been through ♪ ♪ who on earth can i turn to ♪ i look to you i will look to you ♪ ♪ after all my strength is gone in you i can be strong ♪ ♪ i look to you i look to you ♪ ♪ and when melodies are gone in you i hear a song ♪ ♪ i look to you

when all my strength is gone ♪ ♪ in you i can be strong ♪ i look to you ♪ i look to you ♪ and when melodies are gone in you i hear a song ♪ ♪ i look to you

>> we love you, whitney. rest in peace. [ applause ] >> i would like to share a few words with you. the words that i feel are quite appropriate. for how i feel about my nippy. don't grieve for me for now i'm free. i'm following the path god laid for me. i took his hand when i heard him

call. i turned my back and left it all. i could not stay another day to laugh to love to work or play. tasks undone must stay that way i found that peace at close of day. if my parting has let the void, then fill it with remembered joy. a friendship shared, a laugh a kiss, oh, yes, these things i too will miss.

be not burdened with times of sorrow, i wish you sunshine on tomorrow. my life's been full, i've savored much. good friends, good times, a loved one's touch. perhaps my time seemed all too brief. don't lengthen it now with undue grief. lift up your hearts and share with me.

god, god, god wanted me now. he set me free. i'll ask cece winans to come. ♪ ♪ here we are again

that old familiar place ♪ ♪ and when the winds will blow no will ever knows the time or space ♪ ♪ don't cry for me don't shed a tear ♪ ♪ the times i share with you will always be ♪ ♪ and when i'm gone still carry on ♪ ♪ don't cry for me

♪ no one is to blame no, no ♪ ♪ my death was meant to be ♪ don't carry guilt or shame the reason i came soon you'll see ♪ ♪ don't cry for me don't shed a tear ♪ ♪ the times i'd shared with you will always be ♪ ♪ and when i'm gone

still carry on ♪ ♪ don't cry for me ♪ oh, don't cry when life is not the joy it should be ♪ ♪ because when life comes pain ♪ soon time will end its course appointed and you will be rewarded and all the world will see ♪ ♪ don't cry for me ♪ don't shed a tear ♪ you've seen those times i've

shared with you will always be ♪ ♪ and when i'm gone life still carries on ♪ ♪ yes, it does don't cry, don't cry for me ♪ ♪ we'll always be don't cry for me ♪ [ applause ] ♪ don't cry for me

>> everybody sing. ♪ yes, jesus loves me ♪ oh, yes, jesus loves me >> come on, everybody, all over the world. ♪ yes, jesus loves me for the bible tells me so ♪ >> i love you, whitney. [ applause ]

>> ricky? rickey minor. >> 30 years ago i met this young girl 18 years old with dreams of singing in the music business. and i was a young 22-year-old hot shot bass player. i was going to show the girl a few things. and we were going to take the world by storm. we were going to figure out this music business and how to get in and how to kind of stay there, make a mark. it didn't take me long to

realize that i love whitney houston. not because she's pretty. i mean, she's pretty, 5'10", cocoa brown skin, that face, that smile, those eyes. but that's not why i love whitney houston. i mean not because she can sing. the girl sings, what a voice, not a voice, the voice, hear me now. i love whitney houston. could it be the dancing? maybe not. maybe not that, but i love whitney houston. i'm telling you i love whitney houston. the hair styles, i mean, come on. "dance with somebody," the hair,

what about the bow in "how will i know?" you know what i mean. i love whitney houston. could it be for the outfits? i mean nobody can wear a gown like whitney houston. can i get an amen, church? nobody can wear a gown like whitney houston. that's style, that grace, that smiliing face. i love whitney houston for all those things, but so much more. whitney houston changed my life forever. by entrusting me, rickey from monroe, louisiana, with her career, with her music career. why? i believe that god sent her to

me. she was my gift and i was hers. and that we would go on to collaborate and work hard together and make music and laugh and cry and fight. you know, i would bring something -- what you got for me, rickey? what you got for me now? what you got? so i would bring my ideas that i stayed up and worked on. and i'd explain to her what we were going to do and how we were going to do it. and she said as sweetly as she is, i'm not doing that. so we go back and forth until we finally got to the point where i said you're going to do it and you're going to love it. and she said, is that so? and i said, yeah, that's so. she said, okay. and we did it. you know, the memory i want to share is really the turning

point for both of us, which was the national anthem for the super bowl. and she was so excited. i mean she was so excited to do it. but she had ideas right away. it wasn't going to be what everyone thought. and she came to me and said, rickey, did you ever see marvin gaye singing the national anthem? did you see that? he took his time and had a beat under it. so can we have a beat? i said you're whitney houston, you can have anything you want. so we went on to try to figure out how to make this thing special. and i'll tell you, we didn't know. we didn't know, but god was leading us along the way. we didn't know what we were doing, we didn't know how to do it. but god said go for it, go ahead.

it just changed my life. and from that moment on, even before then, that first day i knew that i love whitney houston. on behalf of all the musicians and singers and dancers and actors and stage crew and staff and all of us on behalf of whitney houston, i want to thank jon simmons, the first music director and mike baker, the last music director for whitney. and i want to leave with knowing that because of you, whitney, because you were there, i'm here. because you were there. may god bless you all. [ applause ] ♪ >> we're now going to ask pastor marvin winans -- who?