Tributes and messages of condolence poured in Sunday after word spread of the death in Hollywood on Feb. 11, 2012, of Grammy-winning pop singer and actress Whitney Houston.
Authorities say the 48-year-old Houston died Saturday at a Beverly Hills, Calif., hotel. No cause of death has been given.
At the Newark church, where Whitney Houston got her start, messages of sympathy and floral tributes were tied to a fence post. The pastor asked for strength for Houston’s family.
Even in Jerusalem , Israel’s Black Hebrew community mourned the singer who famously visited them in 2003.
Ben Ammi Ben-Israel, the leader of the 2,500-strong group of vegan polygamists, told Channel 2 TV Sunday that he considered Houston his “spiritual daughter.”
Houston’s ex-husband, singer Bobby Brown, offered his tribute while performing a show in Southaven, Miss., hours after her death.
“First of all, I want to tell you that I love you all,” he said. “Second, I would like to say, I love you Whitney. The hardest thing for me to do is to come on this stage.”
The Reverend Jesse Jackson says Whitney Houston was one of the outstanding voices of our time.
The Chicago civil-rights leader said yesterday that he was praying for her family, including Houston’s gospel singer mother, Cissy Houston.
Jackson says there’s a void in the music world.
Whitney Houston died Saturday on the eve of the Grammy Awards. She had been expected to attend a pre-Grammy gala but was found dead hours before the event. Paramedics attempted to revive Houston, but were unsuccessful. She was 48.
Houston’s publicist says the cause of death is unknown.
