New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will have flags flown at half-staff Saturday for Whitney Houston, despite receiving strong criticism. Christie ordered flags flown at half-staff at state government buildings on Saturday, the day funeral services are held for Houston at Newark's New Hope Baptist Church, where she sang as a child. Christie defended his position by saying Houston deserves the honor because of her huge cultural impact and as "a daughter of New Jersey."
The cause of Houston's death at a Beverly Hills hotel has not been determined, and the results of toxicology tests are pending. Investigators found several bottles of prescription medication in the hotel room where she died Saturday. .
The funeral is expected to be made available for television and web streaming from the New Jersey church where she grew up. Publicists and entertainers by Wednesday had confirmed nearly a dozen celebrities and personalities will be in some of the 1,500 coveted, "invitation-only" seats.
Gospel singer and pastor Marvin L. Winans, a longtime friend of the Houston family, will give the eulogy at New Hope Baptist Church. Winans officiated at Houston's 1992 marriage to R&B singer Bobby Brown.
Whitney Houston has re-entered music charts on Wednesday with a greatest hits album that raced into the top 10 of the U.S. Billboard 200, as fans of Houston rushed to rediscover the singer's music. Single digital track sales of the artist's music rose to more than 887,000 song downloads in 24 hours.
The biggest selling digital song was Houston's signature ballad "I Will Always Love You" with more than 195,000 copies downloaded, fueled by Jennifer Hudson's emotional rendition of the song in tribute to Houston at Sunday's Grammy awards. The sales surge in Houston's music is likely to continue through the week, ahead of the singer's funeral on Saturday.
