Bebe Winans - Whitney Houston Helped Bebe Winans Buy His First Home

Winans, who sang twice at Houston's funeral in February (12) admits he has always been one of the singer's closest friends.

And now, as he promotes his new book The Whitney I Knew, Winans reveals his late pal really helped him out of a financial fix at the beginning of his career.

He tells news show Access Hollywood Live, "I wanted a house and, being a musician, the banks look at you as a risk... I had $25,000, which they said I had to put down (as a deposit) and then they changed it... and said, 'You've gotta put $75,000 (down).'

"Whitney flew in... just to visit, and she said, 'Take me to that house that you're buying'. I took her to the house and while we were walking through the house... she would look at the staircase and she'd say, 'Oh, that looks like my brother's staircase!'

"We got to the end of the tour and she looks at me and reached into her purse and gives me an envelope and says, 'Open it'... It was the remaining $50,000 that I needed and I looked at her and said, 'I'm gonna pay you back,' and she said, 'Don't worry about it'.

"I sent her the first installment of $25,000 and she called me and said, 'Why did you do that?' I said, 'I told you I was gonna pay you back,' and she said, 'Yeah, but a lot of people say that and they don't.'"