Cissy Houston confirms Whitney book plans

Whitney Houston's mother has confirmed she plans to write a book about the late singer.

Cissy Houston, 78, wants to set the record straight about her daughter - who was found dead in a bath tub at the Beverly Hilton hotel in February aged 48 - and she has vowed to include both the "good" and "bad" times in the I Will Always Love You hitmaker's life.

She is quoted by the New York Times as saying: "I want to stop the lies, It's going to be the bad. It's going to be the good."

Cissy has met a number of New York publishers about the tome, and she could reach a seven-figure deal depending on what she reveals about Whitney's drug issues and previous marriage to Bobby Brown.

Meanwhile, Cissy and Whitney's other relatives are planning to encase her body in concrete to stop people stealing the £500,000 worth of jewellery she is buried with.

A close family source is quoted by the Daily Star as saying: "Cissy can't afford to keep paying guards forever. A concrete encasement is the only answer."

Whitney was buried with a diamond brooch and earrings next to the body of her father John Russell Houston Jr. - who died in 2003 - at the Fairview Cemetery in New Jersey in February.

A burial expert at Hollywood Forever, which houses the remains of a number of celebrities, believes encasing Whitney in concrete is a "sensible move".

They said: "It is a sensible move. It makes robbery virtually impossible. It would take a long time to get through, even with a pneumatic drill."