Cissy Houston, the Grammy-winning gospel singer and mother of pop/R&B megastar Whitney Houston, died Monday morning, her family announced in a statement. She was 91.
Houston had been under hospice care for Alzheimer’s disease and was surrounded by family when she died.
The acclaimed performer won two Grammy Awards, recorded more than 10 albums and performed with music legends including Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin and her own daughter. Along with her solo career, Houston recorded an album as a member of the Drinkard Singers and did four albums with the Sweet Inspirations.
Among the Sweet Inspirations’ higher-profile gigs was serving as both background singers and warm-up act to Presley during his Las Vegas comeback in July and August of 1969.
Her family noted that she was preceded in death by both daughter Whitney Houston and granddaughter Bobbi Kristina.
“Our hearts are filled with pain and sadness. We loss the matriarch of our family,” daughter-in-law Pat Houston said in a statement. “Mother Cissy has been a strong and towering figure in our lives. A woman of deep faith and conviction, who cared greatly about family, ministry, and community. Her more than seven-decade career in music and entertainment will remain at the forefront of our hearts. Her contributions to popular music and culture are unparalleled. We are blessed and grateful that God allowed her to spend so many years with us and we are thankful for all the many valuable life lessons that she taught us. May she rest in peace, alongside her daughter, Whitney and granddaughter Bobbi Kristina and other cherished family members.”
Her talents led to her becoming a “first-call backup vocalist,” according to a bio shared by her family. She recorded and performed with musicians including Beyoncé, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, Luther Vandross, Bette Midler, Burt Bacharach, Carly Simon, Chaka Khan, Dionne Warwick, Donny Hathaway, Mahalia Jackson, Paul Simon, Roberta Flack and more.
She was born Emily Drinkard in Newark, New Jersey on Sept. 30, 1993, the youngest of eight children. “Cissy” became an affectionate nickname. Growing up, she attended New Hope Baptist Church and later became its minister of sacred music.
The singer first began performing at 5 years old with her sister Anne and brothers Larry and Nicky as a gospel quartet, the Drinkard Four. When her sisters Lee and Marie joined the group, they were renamed the Drinkard Singers. Among its members over the years was her niece and famed singer in her own right, Dionne Warwick.
Cissy made her television debut on NBC’s “TV Gospel Time.” The Drinkard Singers later performed at Carnegie Hall and the Newport Jazz Festival in 1957.
The group later evolved into the basis of the Sweet Inspirations, formed in 1963 with Cissy, Doris Troy and her nieces Dee Dee and Dionne Warwick. The group served as backup singers for others including Franklin, Dusty Springfield, Lou Rawls, Otis Redding, Solomon Burke, the Drivers and Wilson Pickett.
The Sweet Inspirations provided backup vocals on Van Morrison’s 1967 hit song “Brown Eyed Girl.” The group hit the top 40 themselves with the song “Sweet Inspiration” in 1968 as Cissy Drinkard & the Sweet Inspirations. She left the group to go solo in 1969.
Houston wrote three books, including a book paying tribute to her daughter released in 2013, “Remembering Whitney: A Mother’s Story of Life, Loss,
and The Night The Music Stopped.”
The singer’s family said in a statement that they were “touched by your generous support, and your outpouring of love during our profound time of grief.” They requested privacy “during this difficult time.”
She is survived by her children Gary and Michael, as well as grandchildren.
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