NEWARK — They are so famous, you don't need a last name to identify them. 
 
 Oprah. Beyoncé. Stevie. Aretha. Elton. 
 
 All are expected at the private funeral in Newark Saturday for Whitney. 
 
 City officials with knowledge of the family's plans told The Star-Ledger that Bill Cosby, David Bowie and Jay-Z also will attend Whitney Houston’s invitation-only funeral at the New Hope Baptist Church on Sussex Avenue, the house of worship where she was nicknamed "Nippy," for a mischievous cartoon character, and where her golden voice first flourished in the junior choir. 
 
 The sources asked not to be named because they were not authorized to make the guest list public. 
 
 Music legends Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin — Houston’s godmother — are scheduled to sing in at the star-studded service that begins at noon. So are Alicia Keys, R. Kelly and gospel singer Donnie McClurkin, said A. Curtis Farrow of the Newark-based Irving Street Rep company, which is helping the Houston family organize the service. 
 
 And Thursday night, the celebrity gossip website TMZ reported that the Houston family has reached out to Bobby Brown, Whitney’s ex-husband, and have formally invited him to attend the service. 
 
 Interviews with church leaders, friends of the family and others suggest the funeral will be a mixture of a Parade of Stars and religious music revelry. 
 
 "It’s going to be a ceremony that reflects her life," New Hope church Pastor Joe A. Carter said yesterday as sound equipment was loaded through church doors. 
 
 Farrow, who has known members of the Houston family for about 16 years, characterized the service as "a celebration of Whitney’s life, with the participation of many people who are very important in Whitney’s life." 
 
 Houston’s cousin, Dionne Warwick, is scheduled to speak at the service, as are filmmaker Tyler Perry, Houston’s music-industry mentor Clive Davis and Houston’s sister-in-law and manager, Patricia Houston, Farrow said. 
 
 The church’s New Hope Mass Choir, along with the New Jersey Mass Choir, will perform the processional and the opening, Farrow said. Choir members will back McClurkin and, possibly, some other artists, and Rickey Minor will lead a house band. 
 
 The song list and who will be in the backing cast for each artist has not yet been worked out. 
 
 Newark Police Director Samuel DeMaio said officers will provide motorcycle escorts to many of the celebrities expected to arrive in Newark. 
 
 The funeral will otherwise be a private affair, with police shutting down a six square-block area around the church. There will be no procession of Houston’s body from the Whigham Funeral Home on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to the church, a little over a mile away, and no outside video screens so fans can mourn publicly, DeMaio said. 
 
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 Fans will have to content themselves with a TV and Internet feed from inside the church, where Pastor Marvin L. Winans is scheduled to deliver a eulogy. He told CNN’s Anderson Cooper the family wanted to bury Houston "with dignity." 
 
 "We loved her when she was Nippy in New Jersey," said Winans, a family friend who is a Grammy Award winner and pastor of Perfecting Church in Detroit. "The world loved her because of her voice. But if Nippy could not sing, the Houston family would love her, and I knew that Mama Houston would do it the way she wanted it done. We’re going to church and we’re not going to be worried about if the world can get in." 
 
 Everyone had a Whitney story Thursday. 
 
 The jaw-dropping moment they first heard her sing at church. Or met her mother at a beauty supply store. 
 
 STAGING AREAS FOR FANS 
 
 But fans won’t be able to get close to the star’s funeral. 
 
 Two staging areas will be available for the public, DeMaio said. One will be on Sussex Avenue at Norfolk Street, near an NJ Transit light rail station, and the other on Nesbitt Street near James Street. 
 
 NJ Transit will have additional light rail vehicles and buses positioned to meet the expected demand tomorrow, agency spokesman John Durso Jr. said. 
 
 "We’re taking prudent and necessary steps to meet the expected increase in ridership due to the funeral," he said. 
 
 Michelle Johnson, 48, of Roselle, said her cousin sang background with Houston at New Hope. Since she didn’t know if she would be able to get close tomorrow, she stood outside the church yesterday afternoon in the drizzle. 
 
 "This is just a way to say thank you," Johnson said as she scanned the mini shrine fans made for the star on the church’s front fence. "I understand they want their privacy, and they need that for now." 
 
 Tyrone Hudson of Newark and his partner, Bobby Hudson, tied a balloon on the fence that read: "You’re always in our hearts." 
 
 "I loved her music, I loved her," said Hudson, who at 48 was the same age as the pop queen. 
 
 
 
 Others, like 35-year-old Fuquan Snead of Newark, don’t have a Houston story, but can rattle off a list of hits from the artist who had 11 songs that topped the charts. 
 
 And barricades or not, rain or not, they say they’ll come out to pay their respects to a fellow Newarker. 
 
 "You loved this woman’s music for many years, you have to come out and show your support," Snead said. 
 
 FLAGS AT HALF-STAFF 
 
 Mayor Cory Booker will attend the services, according to his spokeswoman, Anne Torres. As of Thursday, he was the only Newark dignitary to publicly receive an invitation. 
 
 The mayor also said Newark will lower flags at its municipal buildings to half-staff in honor of Houston, mirroring Gov. Chris Christie’s controversial decision to do the same at state facilities. 
 
 "Our city is mourning the loss of one of its native daughters and one of music’s shining stars," Booker said in a statement. "Whitney Houston inspired so many people, and although she went from a Newark church to the global stage, she always remained a deep part of our city’s pride and collective heart." 
 
 Outside the funeral home yesterday, a simple condolence book sat atop a Plexiglas stand. 
 
 Through the funeral parlor’s glass doors facing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, passers-by could glimpse a large picture of Houston. The portrait of the singer is framed by a black microphone stand in one corner and a high-backed "Diva" chair with a fur throw in the other. A Bible atop the fur is open to the 23rd Psalm. 
 
 By yesterday morning, dozens had signed the book, and a few jotted down lengthier tributes to the singing sensation who died Saturday in her room at the Beverly Hills Hilton. 
 
 "You are one of God’s angels and he has called you home," read one. 
 
 With no public services for Houston, funeral home director Carolyn Whigham wanted to give admirers a chance to note their condolences. 
 
 "It’s put together as memorabilia," she said. 
 
 Whigham, who has known the Houston family for decades, said the condolence book would be given to Bobbi Christina Brown, Houston’s 18-year-old daughter. 
 
 Newark’s Sherri Dillard, 32, stopped by on the cold, overcast morning. 
 
 "I had to be here — she’s like family," she said, brushing aside a tear. "I love her dead or alive." 
 
 A Middlesex County police officer, Dillard said she would do all she could to attend tomorrow’s services. 
 
 Maplewood’s Alex Boykins, 38, also signed the book. 
 
 "I was brought up on her music," he said after taking a picture of the window display. 
 
 Boykins said that although a more formal public commemoration would be fitting, he understood the family’s decision. 
 
 "We’ve had her for many years," he said. "We have to appreciate and respect that." 
 
 By Jay Lustig and James Queally/ The Star-Ledger 
 
 Star-Ledger staff writers Alexi Friedman, Victoria St. Martin, Richard Khavkine, Mark Di Ionno and Mike Frassinelli contributed to this report. ||||| Kevin Costner, who hand-picked Whitney Houston for ‘The Bodyguard’, will pay special tribute at her final curtain Bobby Brown to attend Saturday’s funeral despite friction with Cissy Houston 
 
 He catapulted her to Hollywood superstardom as her big-screen bodyguard and now Kevin Costner will pay special tribute to Whitney Houston at her final curtain. 
 
 The co-star behind Houston’s romantic thriller “The Bodyguard” will address a church on Saturday packed with A-listers, including Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Alicia Keys and Tyler Perry, a source said. 
 
 The two-time Oscar winner hand-picked Houston to play his tempestuous diva and reportedly told her not to take acting lessons to preserve the natural charm he found so alluring. 
 
 WHITNEY HOUSTON: HER LIFE IN PHOTOS 
 
 “Some of my choices are real simple, and it’s very easy to fall in love with Whitney,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 1992 — the year the movie and its smash single, “I Will Always Love You,” dominated pop culture. 
 
 Wonder and Franklin are scheduled to sing at the invitation-only service inside the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark. 
 
 Houston’s music mentor Clive Davis also will speak, her rep said. So will her cousin, singer Dionne Warwick, who stopped at the church Thursday to check on preparations. 
 
 The 90-minute service in the same church where Houston’s towering voice filled the rafters as a choir member will follow a private family wake Friday night. 
 
 The ultra-private viewing will give daughter Bobbi Kristina, 18, her first chance to say a final farewell without any cameras, a source told The News. 
 
 Houston’s estranged ex-husband Bobby Brown, 43, will attend Saturday’s funeral despite some friction with the dead diva’s mom, Cissy. Hours later, he’ll join his New Edition bandmates at a reunion concert at the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut. 
 
 “Bobby will be there,” the source said, knocking down reports he would be locked out. “You can imagine the family doesn’t want to be in discord with Bobbi Kristina.” 
 
 New Hope Pastor Joe Carter will conduct Saturday’s ceremony, and the eulogy will be given by the Rev. Marvin Winans, who married the former couple. 
 
 “We’re going to celebrate her life in the standard of which she deserves,” Carter said. “This is a church, and we’re gonna have some church.” 
 
 The service will be broadcast on TV and streamed live on NYDailyNews.com starting at noon. 
 
 Houston, who had the voice of an angel but a life filled with demons, died in a Beverly Hills hotel suite Saturday just hours before Davis’ annual pre-Grammy party. 
 
 A member of her entourage found her unconscious in the bathtub, her head submerged in water, police said. 
 
 Multiple prescription pill bottles were recovered in her room, but the official cause of death may not be known for weeks, pending toxicology tests, officials said. 
 
 A source close to the investigation told The News that investigators are looking at possible prescription drug interaction with an underlying ailment, possibly resulting in organ failure. 
 
 ndillon@nydailynews.com ||||| Update Bobby Brown Performing After Attending Whitney Houston Funeral 
 
 Erik Jordan/Retna 
 
 Not only is Bobby Brown not banned from attending Whitney Houston 's invitation-only funeral on Saturday, he is performing with New Edition a few hours later, it was just announced."He is not being banned. That's completely untrue," a family source tells PEOPLE.Adds a close family friend: "Bobby will be there at the funeral to support his [and Houston's] daughter [Bobbi Kristina Brown, 18]. There was some talk ... some people were angry at him, but that's just grief. He will be there."But Houston's funeral isn't Brown's only obligation on Saturday. Hours after his ex-wife is buried in New Jersey, he will perform with all the original New Edition members at Connecticut's Mohegan Sun Arena, a rep for the venue confirms.Early Thursday, PEOPLE learned that Clive Davis, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Kevin Costner will be among the speakers and singers at the funeral, which is being held at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, where Houston's distinctive voice was first heard in the choir."Kevin always supported her and, like many of her friends, they may have lost touch, but they were always friendly," says the family friend.Friday night, a private family service is planned.Earlier this week, Houston's publicist, Kristen Foster, said that the only video camera to be permitted inside the church for the funeral will be that belonging to the Associated Press, which will stream the service on its Livestream site and on PEOPLE.com.Brown, now 43, and Houston wed in 1992, and the following year Brown was charged with domestic abuse, though the charges were later dropped. After several rocky years together, the couple divorced in 2007.Houston, 48, was found dead Saturday in the bathtub of her suite at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, and her body was returned to New Jersey on Tuesday.Check back Saturday for the AP's live stream from inside Houston's funeral, here on PEOPLE.com ||||| A hearse under heavy police escort arrived late Monday at a funeral home officials said was handling the arrangements for late pop star Whitney Houston. 
 
 Stacey Bates, center, and Gregory Hanks put up balloons on a makeshift memorial for the late singer Whitney Houston outside of New Hope Baptist Church, Monday, Feb. 13, 2012, in Newark, N.J. As a young... (Associated Press) 
 
 Evelyn Rios cries after reading a poem she wrote and posted on a makeshift memorial for the late singer Whitney Houston outside of New Hope Baptist Church, Monday, Feb. 13, 2012, in Newark, N.J. As a... (Associated Press) 
 
 The hearse traveled from Teterboro Airport, where officials had told The Associated Press Houston's body would arrive Monday night on a flight from the Los Angeles area. 
 
 Several officials familiar with funeral planning said arrangements were being made by Newark's Whigham Funeral Home, which handled the 2003 funeral of Houston's father. They spoke to the AP on Monday on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak for Houston's family. 
 
 Houston died Saturday at a hotel in Beverly Hills, California. She was 48. Officials say she was underwater and apparently unconscious when she was pulled from a bathtub. 
 
 Houston was born in Newark and was raised in nearby East Orange. 
 
 A woman at the funeral home, where several police officers were stationed, said she could neither confirm nor deny reports that it would handle the arrangements. A white tent was set up leading into the funeral home's rear entrance, and two opulent golden sarcophaguses stood at the front entrance. 
 
 Dozens of Houston fans went to the funeral home, where they played her songs, sang, lit candles to remember her and hoped to get a glimpse of her casket. 
 
 Houston's family raised the possibility of holding a wake Thursday and a funeral Friday at Newark's Prudential Center, which hosts college and professional sporting events and seats about 18,000 people. City officials were awaiting the family's arrival to complete the funeral planning. 
 
 A picture of Houston appeared Monday night on the electronic board outside the arena, one of the nation's busiest entertainment venues, with a New Jersey Devils ice hockey game Friday night posing a logistical challenge to a planned funeral that day. 
 
 Houston's relatives also were debating whether to have a smaller service at New Hope Baptist Church, where family members have sung. They planned to meet Tuesday with officials to finalize the details, according to someone who had knowledge of the planning but wasn't authorized to speak publicly about it and requested anonymity. 
 
 Houston began singing as a child at Newark's New Hope Baptist Church, where her mother, Grammy-winning gospel singer Cissy Houston, led the music program for many years. Her cousin singer Dionne Warwick also sang in its choir. 
 
 On Monday, mourners left flowers, balloons and candles for Houston at the wrought-iron fence around the tall brick church, which sits near the edge of an abandoned housing project near the train line leading to New York City. 
 
 "She was an inspiration to everybody," said Gregory Hanks, an actor who grew up in the neighborhood and who dropped off a bouquet of flowers. 
 
 Hanks said he saw Houston perform at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center years ago. 
 
 "I grew up listening to her as a little boy, and to hear her sing, you knew she was special," the 26-year-old said. 
 
 Sandy Farrow, a technology consultant from Mitchellville, Maryland, who was in the area visiting relatives, said she was a senior at Clifford J. Scott High School in East Orange when Houston was a freshman. 
 
 "We felt like she put East Orange on the map," she said. 
 
 Farrow said Houston's death came as a shock. 
 
 "We lost somebody who I thought, after all her troubles, was coming back," Farrow said. 
 
 Across the street from the church, Bashir Rasheed set up shop with a duffel bag full of T-shirts reading "In Memory of Whitney Houston 1963-2012." He said he had sold 24 shirts at $10 apiece within a few hours. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writer Dave Porter contributed to this report. ||||| Bennett Raglin / Getty Images The program for Houston's funeral featured photos of the star as a child, with her mother and daughter, and a letter from her mom. 
 
 Many of the biggest names in entertainment gathered Saturday to say goodbye to singer Whitney Houston in the church in Newark, N.J., where the late singer, who died on Feb. 11, started her singing career in the choir. 
 
 Pastor Joe A. Carter of the New Hope Baptist Church opened Saturday's service by telling the congregation that "we gonna have church today. 
 
 "We are here today, hearts broken but yet with God's strength we celebrate the life of Whitney Houston," Carter said. "Whitney, you are the only woman that could bring all of us together. Whitney, today is your day." 
 
 As the nearly four-hour long service came to an end, the Rev. Marvin Winans said in his eulogy: "Father, we thank you for this life of Whitney Elizabeth 'Nippy' Houston. We thank you that she was a dear friend, and we echo all the sentiments of those who have come to show their love. ... Let us leave here recognizing that Whitney left too soon. Let us leave her impacted by her life." 
 
 The service offered a mixture of humorous memories and deep sorrow. According to the Associated Press, as Houston's casket was carried out and her hit "I Will Always Love You" was played, her daughter Bobbi Kristina began crying, and the sobs of Houston's mother, Cissy, rang throughout the church. "My baby!" she wailed. 
 
 Houston's cousin Dionne Warwick presided over the funeral, introducing speakers and singers and offering short comments about Houston between them. 
 
 Actor-director-writer Tyler Perry was among the first speakers at the service, and he reflected what he called the one constant in Houston's life -- her grace. Her described it as a "grace that kept on carrying her all the way through, the same grace led her all the way to the top of the charts. She sang for presidents." He told the congregation that no matter the trouble that she encountered in her life, Houston's faith remained constant. 
 
 Actor Kevin Costner, her co-star in "The Bodyguard" that spawned her greatest hit, remembered a movie star who was uncertain of her own fame, who "still wondered, 'am I good enough? Am I pretty enough? Will they like me?' 
 
 Costner reflects on Houston's self doubt 
 
 "It was the burden that made her great and the part that caused her to stumble in the end," Costner said. 
 
 He also reflected on the decision to cast her in "The Bodyguard." "A lot of leading man could have played my part," Costner said. "A lot of guys. A lot of guys could have filled that role. But you, Whitney, I truly believe were the only one who could have played Rachel Marron at the time." 
 
 Gospel singer BeBe Winans chose to focus on Houston's "craziness." He described how, at the peak of her fame, she offered her singing services to him because "y'all are broke, right?" 
 
 Close family friend Aretha Franklin, whom Houston lovingly called "Aunt Ree," had been expected to sing at the service, but told the Associated Press that she was having foot and leg problems following a concert she gave Friday night at New York's Radio City Music Hall and would not be able to attend. 
 
 Houston's ex-husband, singer Bobby Brown, arrived for the service, but left just minutes before the service began. In a statement released after his departure, he said he was prevented from seeing daughter Bobbi Kristina by security. 
 
 "My children and I were invited to the funeral of my ex-wife Whitney Houston," Brown said in the statement. "We were seated by security and then subsequently asked to move on three separate occasions. I fail to understand why security treated my family this way and continue to ask us and no one else to move. Security then prevented me from attempting to see my daughter Bobbi-Kristina. In light of the events, I gave a kiss to the casket of my ex-wife and departed as I refused to create a scene. My children are completely distraught over the events. This was a day to honor Whitney. I doubt Whitney would have wanted this to occur. I will continue to pay my respects to my ex-wife the best way I know how." 
 
 Singers Chaka Khan, Brandy, Mariah Carey, Roberta Flack, Jordin Sparks and Jennifer Hudson were among those in the pews. Brandy comforted her brother, Ray-J, a singer who spent time with Houston during her final days. The Rev. Jesse Jackson, Oprah Winfrey and actress Lela Rochon also were in attendance. 
 
 A program featuring a picture of Houston looking skyward read "Celebrating the life of Whitney Elizabeth Houston, a child of God." Pictures of Houston as a baby, with her mother and daughter filled the program. Her mother wrote a letter thanking her for being a "wonderful daughter," signing the letter, "mommie." 
 
 The service marks one week after the 48-year-old Houston, one of music's all-time biggest stars, was found dead in a Beverly Hills hotel in California. A cause of death has yet to be determined. An estimated 1,500 friends and family members attended the invitation-only service. Houston will be buried next to her father, John Houston, in Westfield, N.J., on Sunday. 
 
 Houston's death marked the final chapter for the superstar whose fall from grace while shocking was years in the making. Houston had her first No. 1 hit by the time she was 22, followed by a flurry of No. 1 songs and multi-platinum records. 
 
 Over her career, she sold more than 50 million records in the United States alone. Her voice, an ideal blend of power, grace and beauty, made classics out of songs like "Saving All My Love For You," "I Will Always Love You," "The Greatest Love of All" and "I'm Every Woman." Her six Grammys were only a fraction of her many awards. 
 
 Share your thoughts and memories of Houston on Facebook. 
 
 Related content:
– Whitney Houston's funeral tomorrow will be full of Hollywood VIPs, from Oprah to Beyoncé to Elton John. The New Jersey Star-Ledger runs down others expected to attend (Bill Cosby, David Bowie, Jay-Z, Elton John), speak (Dionne Warwick, Tyler Perry, Clive Davis) and even perform (Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Alicia Keys, R. Kelly). The invitation-only funeral will take place at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, where Houston was nicknamed "Nippy" in her childhood, and will be streamed live. One particularly poignant participant: Kevin Costner, who hand-picked Houston as his Bodyguard co-star, will pay tribute to her at the funeral, a source tells the New York Daily News. Another rumored invitee: Houston's ex-husband Bobby Brown. Sources tell People the rumors that he had been "banned" were not true and that he will in fact attend, and E! points out that he can still easily make it to a scheduled concert appearance with New Edition that evening in nearby Connecticut. (Controversy alert: Westboro Baptist Church plans to picket the funeral.)