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When Gospel recording artist BeBe Winans decided to write a book about his longtime friendship with the late Whitney Houston, he figured doing so would help him “embrace the pain” he felt over the sudden and expected loss of the world-renowned singer.

Winans has said that his book was written with the blessing of the Houston clan. But the timing of the book’s release this summer didn’t sit well with Whitney Houston’s mother, Cissy, who signed a book deal with HarperCollins in June for a book that she hopes will “tell the unabridged and unbelievable story of her daughter’s life as well as her own.” She also wanted to be the first to weigh in on her daughter’s personal life. Cissy’s book is scheduled to be released in February.

Cissy Houston told The Wall Street Journal that Winans never asked for the family’s blessing or permission for his book. She and close family friend A. Curtis Farrow said that the first time Whitney Houston’s immediate family learned of the book was when they read about it in a newspaper article, not from Winans.

Still, Winans has been traveling around promoting his book, called “The Whitney I Knew,” in between live performances and pushing his latest recording project, a patriotic album called, “America, America.”

Check out the full article on The Wall Street Journal’s The Speak Easy.