Cissy Houston, multiple Grammy-winning singer and mother of Whitney Houston, has died at age 91, her family has confirmed to the Associated Press. Houston suffered from Alzheimer’s.
Cissy Houston began her musical career in 1938, at age 5, as a member of the gospel group Drinkard Singers (her real name was Emily Drinkard), made up of herself and her brothers. In the ’60s, Cissy founded the vocal group Sweet Inspirations with Doris Troy and Dee Dee Warwick (Cissy was Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee’s aunt), while pregnant with Whitney Houston.
The Sweet Inspirations, which after their signing at Atlantic became a sextet also made up of Sylvia Shemwell, Estelle Brown and Myrna Smith, sang backing vocals for artists such as Otis Redding and Dusty Springfield. Among her notable works are her backing vocals on Van Morrison’s ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ and Aretha Franklin’s ‘Ain’t No Way’. They also sang on ‘Burning of the Midnight Lamp’ by The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
The Sweet Inspirations also sang with Elvis Presley, and the last performance of their career was with the King of Rock in Las Vegas in 1969. ‘(Gotta Find) A Brand New Lover’, one of the Sweet Inspirations’ last recordings, It became his greatest success.
Solo, Cissy sang the original recording of ‘Midnight Train to Georgia’ in 1972 and on albums by Bette Midler, Burt Bacharach and Linda Rondstadt. In addition, she was the choir director of her church and performed in various clubs in New York; His daughter Whitney started singing at age 5, doing backup vocals in her mother’s band. Cissy won her Grammys already in the 90s, with Whitney becoming a global superstar, the first in 1997 and the second in 1998. With Whitney she collaborated on the soundtrack of ‘The Preacher’s Wife’, singing ‘The Lord is My Shepherd’.
At 85 years old, Cissy participated in the documentary ‘Whitney’ (2018), where she talked about her relationship with her daughter, who died in 2012. One of her last live performances was in tribute to her daughter, alongside Aretha Franklin.
