Country singer LEE ANN WOMACK is set to pay tribute to the late Maya Angelou at her upcoming funeral by performing one of the poet's favourite songs, I Hope You Dance.

The acclaimed author will be laid to rest on Saturday (07Jun14) at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and Womack has been asked to perform her hit song in honour of her fan.

The singer tells Rolling Stone that Angelou gushed about the track to her good pal Oprah Winfrey, who then invited the singer to perform it on her talk show - and the appearance catapulted her career.

Womack explains, "When someone told me I Hope You Dance was Miss Angelou's favourite song all those years ago, I thought they were being nice. Then, when my publicist was trying to get me on Oprah, suddenly all the momentum changed... and we found out it was because Maya Angelou told Oprah about me and the song.

"I was honoured, moved and thrilled about everything she said to me about the song and my singing."

And Womack admits she jumped at the chance to honour Angelou one final time at her funeral: "She is one of the true modern American voices in literature. Her books have touched so many, and the fact that my song touched her... I couldn't imagine not singing it for her, especially on Saturday."