Cissy Houston, the mother of deceased pop singer Whitney Houston, is writing a memoir about her daughter's life for HarperCollins.
Promising to provide "the definitive account of Whitney Houston’s astonishing life, groundbreaking career and tragic death from the only one who knows the true story behind the headlines ," the book will be released on Feb. 15, 2013.
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Part of the proceeds from the currently untitled book will go to the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey, where Houston sang in the choir as a child, and where the singer's funeral was held in February. (The elder Houston also served as the minister of music at the church for 50 years.)
According to HarperCollins, Houston will tell "the unabridged and unbelievable story of her daughter’s life as well as her own, addressing Whitney’s brightest and darkest moments while helping fans around the world understand the complexities of this extraordinary star who died much too soon."
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“When I lost my daughter Nippy [Houston's nickname], the world lost one of the most beautiful voices and an extraordinarily beautiful and charitable woman. In sharing our story in this book, I hope to give her fans something to treasure, the way we all treasured Whitney,” the elder Houston said of the project. “We are still receiving thousands of letters each day from her fans, and I hope reading this book will provide a deeper understanding into my daughter’s true story."
Houston, who had struggled with substance abuse throughout her life, was found submerged in her bathtub at the Beverly Hilton hotel in February. Her autopsy determined that she died of accidental drowning, with cocaine use and heart disease also playing a role.
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Cissy Houston will also star, along with other members of the singer's family, in a reality series for Lifetime that will follow their efforts to "pick up the pieces after her untimely death" and attempt to guide the singer's daughter, Bobbi Kristina, "as she faces the world alone, without the one person she relied on the most, her mother."