Beloved gospel singer Cissy Houston dies at 91

Cissy Houston, gospel and soul singer and mother to Whitney Houston, has died at 91.

Cissy Houston dies at 91

The Newark native passed away at her home earlier this morning in New Jersey, according to her daughter-in-law Pat Houston. Houston, who was surrounded by her family, was under hospice care for Alzheimer’s disease.

“Our hearts are filled with pain and sadness. We loss the matriarch of our family,” the family shared 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.”

Music career

Born Emily Drinkard on September 30, 1933 in Newark, N.J., Houston got her start in music performing in church at an early age, singing with her family’s gospel group before getting into in pop music in the 1960s as a member of the group The Sweet Inspirations with Doris Troy and her niece Dee Dee Warwick. The group sang backup for a various singers including Lou Rawls, The Drifters, and Otis Redding. They also sang backup for Dionne Warwick, who is also Houston’s neice.

Houston’s many credits included Franklin’s “Think” and ”(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” and Dusty Springfield’s “Son of a Preacher Man.” The Sweet Inspirations had their own top 20 single with “Sweet Inspiration”.

Houston was one of the top studio session singers and recorded more than 600 songs in multiple genres throughout her career. Her vocals can be heard on tracks alongside a multitude of artists including Luther Vandross, Beyoncé, Donny Hathaway, Chaka Khan, Roberta Flack, and her daughter Whitney Houston.

She inspired the youth

Cissy love her hometown and often spent much time there, presiding for decades over the Youth Inspirational Choir at Newark’s New Hope Baptist Church and was also the church’s musical director, where Whitney Houston sang as a child.

Cissy Houston and Whitney Houston

When she was not directing the youth choir, she was helping with her daughter’s music career.

Whitney Houston made her debut on national television when she and Cissy Houston sang a medley of Franklin hits on “The Merv Griffin Show”.

They would later sing together often in concert and appeared in the 1996 film “The Preacher’s Wife.” Cissy also appeared in the video for one of Whitney’s biggest songs, “Greatest Love of All.” The video was filmed as a homage to mothers and daughters.

Whitney predeceased her mother in 2012 at 48 years old, when she was found unconscious in a bathtub at the Beverly Hills hotel.

In 2015, Cissy’s granddaughter, Bobbi Kristina, passed away at only 22 years old from similar complications like her mother. She was found unconscious in a bathtub causing her to be put on life support before she passed away.

Life for Cissy Houston

After her daughter’s death, Cissy wrote a book entitled Remembering Whitney, detailing her life in New Jersey while also honoring her daughter’s legacy.

Gilda Rogers interviews Cissy Houston

Cissy Houston was married to Freddie Garland in the 1950s and had one son, Gary Garland. Garland was a guard for the Denver Nuggets and later sang with his sister Whitney Houston on many of her tours. Cissy Houston then married Whitney’s father, entertainment executive John Russell Houston, from 1959-1990. In addition to Whitney, the Houstons also bore a son named Michael.

Cissy Houston was the youngest of eight children of a factory worker and a housewife. She was just 5 years old when she and three siblings founded the Drinkard Singers, a gospel group that lasted 30 years, performing on the same bill as Mahalia Jackson among others and releasing the 1959 album “A Joyful Noise.”