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American Morning

Private Funeral for Singer Aaliyah Gets Under Way Soon

Aired August 31, 2001 - 09:34   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: A private funeral for singer Aaliyah gets under way in about 30 minutes. Aaliyah was killed in a plane crash last weekend in the Bahamas, along with eight others.

Our Jodi Ross is live at St. Ignatius Catholic Church where family and friends are gathering for the ceremony.

Jodi, good morning.

JODI ROSS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

And you are right, family and friends are slowly trickling in here. The first sort of famous face we are seeing is P. Diddy, who just got out of a vehicle and went into the church.

Even more than guests, there have been a lot of flowers, lot of normal arrangement. There have been a lot of floral arrangements. One in particular, this beautiful wreath that said, "Aaliyah One in a Million," which is named after her second album. It was the title of her second album, "One in a Million." And also we know that the horse-drawn carriage which is going to be bringing Aaliyah's remains here to the church is right now sitting at funeral home about four blocks away, and will pretty soon make it's way over here to the church.

They're expecting 1,200 guests, and all of those are by invitation only. And at the end of the mass telling us that 22 trained doves will be released to fly overhead, one for each year of the singer's life.

So it's expected to be a very emotional, a large service today. And, of course, there is a public memorial at Cipriani's, a very upscale midtown restaurant, all day today, and that is a place for fans to gather to grieve the singer. Her music and her videos will be playing 24 hours there, from about 10:00 a.m. this morning to 8:00 p.m. this evening.

So we are waiting here for family and friends to arrive. This again, is a private service for Aaliyah.

KAGAN: And, Jodi, I understand, there is also a number of registry books being passed out at funeral homes across the country.

ROSS: That's true. They are encouraging people -- and it doesn't even have to be just for family and friends. They're encouraging fans to step up to these funeral homes and sign whatever they wanted to say to her family, whatever they wanted to say to Aaliyah, and then they will give those books to Aaliyah's family.

KAGAN: Jodi Ross in New York. Jodi, thank you.

We'll have continuing coverage of the people arriving there at the church, also of the public memorial service throughout the morning here on CNN. so please stay with us for that.

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