Pop star Whitney Houston’s funeral service will take place on Saturday at the church in Newark, New Jersey, where she sang as a child.
It will be at the New Hope Baptist Church, a week after she died in her hotel room in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles.
The coroner’s office has now released the 48-year-old’s body to her family.
It was flown from LA to her home state of New Jersey and then taken under police escort to the same funeral home which handled the funeral of her father John in 2003.
The funeral home’s owner, Carolyn Whigham, confirmed the service’s venue, where mourners have left flowers, balloons and candles at the wrought-iron fence around the church.
Houston ‘s family has also reportedly considered an additional farewell at an 18,000-seat arena.
They are said to have discussed holding some form of commemoration at Newark’s Prudential Centre, which hosts college and professional sporting events.
The church is located near an abandoned housing project and the train line leading to New York City.
“She was an inspiration to everybody,” said Gregory Hanks, an actor who grew up in the neighbourhood and who placed a bouquet at the site.
“I grew up listening to her as a little boy, and to hear her sing, you knew she was special,” he said.
Fans have also gathered at the funeral home, playing Houston’s songs and light candles in her memory.
The pop star was under water and apparently unconscious when she was found in the bath by a member of her staff, and she had prescription drugs in her room, authorities said.
A post-mortem has been carried out and officials said there were no indications of foul play and no obvious signs of trauma on her body.
But it could take weeks for toxicology tests to establish her cause of death.
LA deputy coroner Ed Winter confirmed there were bottles of prescription medicines in the singer’s room at the Beverly Hills hotel where she had been staying ahead of the Grammy Awards, but would not give details.
“There weren’t a lot of prescription bottles. You probably have just as many prescription bottles in your medicine cabinet,” he said.
The LA police commented after widespread speculation about how the star, who had a well-documented battle with drug and alcohol addiction, died.
The entertainment website TMZ reported Houston did not die from drowning but a suspected “combination of Xanax and other prescription drugs mixed with alcohol”.
It added that officials with the LA coroner’s office had told the singer’s family there was not enough water in her lungs “to lead to the conclusion that she drowned”.
TMZ also claimed that some of the medicine bottles in the room appeared to be from the same pharmacy that was raided after Michael Jackson’s death. This has not been confirmed.
Meanwhile, Houston’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, was taken to an LA hospital by ambulance and later released. A source close to the family said she was treated for stress and anxiety.
The 18-year-old, who is Houston’s daughter from her tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, had accompanied her mother to several pre-Grammy Awards events.
Associated Press.