Marafiki hawajashangazwa na kifo cha Witney Houston

Witney Houston (katikati), aliyekuwa mumewe, Bobby Brown wakiwa na binti yao, Bobby Kristina.
Witney akiwa na Michael Jackson

Mwili wa Witney Houston ukitolewa chumbani hotelini

Friends have spoken out to say the singer's premature death was 'not a great surprise' due to her 'downward spiral' which was helped along by others.

'As sad as this sounds, it's not a great surprise and yet, it's unbelievable,' a music source told People magazine.

'There are demons she fought privately and publicly for many years... She's been on a downward spiral for a long time and when you have those people around you that enable the behaviour ... she couldn't shake those demons.'

According to one source the singer spent her last days in a drug-fuelled trance. 'She was like a zombie', the source said.

It has also emerged that the Beverly Hilton Hotel management asked the coroner to leave Houston's body in her hotel room until after the Clive Davis' pre-Grammy party finished, according to RadarOnline.

A source told the website the decision was made 'out of respect for Whitney Houston' and amid security concerns.

But it was also reported that the management did not want to upset guests at the hotel either.'It would be insensitive for the van to be driven out with her body as limos were pulling away with the A-list guests,' the source said.

The body was eventually removed after midnight, when officers had finished their on-scene work.Whitney's body was released to her family yesterday and flown back to Newark, New Jersey, where she was born.

The private jet was said to be chartered by the highest paid man in entertainment Tyler Perry.The Atlanta-born actor is said to have rushed to the hospital when he heard about his close friend's death and offered his plane to her family right away, according to sources.

The singer's body touched down at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport at 10.30pm last night after the Gulfstream III jet took off from California's Van Nuys airport following its release from the LA County Department of Coroner.

A golden hearse was waiting to collect the pop icon's body and take it to Whigham Funeral Home to be prepared for interment.

E! News reported that Rev Marvin Winans, who officiated at Houston's wedding to Bobby Brown, may preside over the funeral.

Sources said the family had suggested there could be a wake on Thursday and a funeral on Friday for the star.The decision to bury Whitney in Newark was taken after a family rift, according to website TMZ.

It said that Dionne Warwick, Whitney's cousin, and her mother Cissy both wanted her to be laid to rest in Atlanta, which they believe was the place Whitney loved best.

But the rest of the family wanted Whitney buried in Newark and won the day.

She may be buried alongside her father, army serviceman and entertainment executive John Houston, who died in 2003 and was laid to rest at Fairview Cemetery, Westfield, New Jersey.