All-star wedding for Minnelli

Liza Minnelli is converting to Catholicism

Liza Minnelli's wedding will feature an all-star cast of celebrities as she ties the knot for a fourth time.

Dame Elizabeth Taylor is maid of honour and Michael Jackson is giving her away as she marries David Gest at New York's St Patrick's Cathedral in February.

Whitney Houston will also be singing Here Comes the Bride at the lavish ceremony.

Minnelli announced last month that she was getting married to TV producer Gest, after they met at Michael Jackson's comeback concert.

Her sister, Lorna Luft, said she was happy for the bride.

"Everybody was a little shocked when they heard the news," she said.

"But she sounded very happy when she invited me to the wedding."

The Academy Award-winning actress is currently converting to Catholicism to allow her to marry in America's top cathedral.

Surgery

The star of Cabaret has battled against health problems over the last few years.

She has undergone back surgery and two hip replacements and was forced to cancel 14 concerts in 2000.

Minnelli made her first public appearance after the treatment in New York on 7 September, at Jackson's comeback concert.

She then made her own return to showbusiness at the Madison Square Gardens venue, singing You Are Not Alone.

Minnelli was born in March 1946 to screen legend Judy Garland.

It was in 1972 that she emerged from the shadow of her mother with a show-stopping performance in the hit musical Cabaret, a role which would earn her an Academy Award.

Her first husband was Australian singer and songwriter Peter Allen in 1967 but their relationship ended in divorce seven years later.

Husband number two, filmmaker Jack Haley, lasted five years.

After their divorce, she married sculptor Mark Gero, but after 13 years together that too collapsed, and since 1992 she has been single.