Cissy Houston, gospel singer and Whitney Houston’s mom, dead at 91

Cissy Houston, the acclaimed soul singer, mother of pop icon Whitney Houston and aunt of singer Dionne Warwick, has died. She was 91.
Houston died Monday morning at her New Jersey home while under hospice care for Alzheimer’s disease, Houston’s daughter-in-law, Pat Houston, confirmed in a statement to USA TODAY via Gwendolyn Quinn, a representative for Whitney Houston’s estate.
“Our hearts are filled with pain and sadness. We lost the matriarch of our family,” Pat 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.”
Born Emily Drinkard in Newark, New Jersey, in September 1933, Houston was encouraged by her father Nitcholas “Nitch” Drinkard to sing and perform in church. Houston, who was raised under the Methodist Episcopal denomination of Christianity, later became Minister of Sacred Music at New Hope Baptist Church.
Houston began her music career as a member of the family group The Drinkard Singers, which included her siblings Anne, Larry and Nick. The group went on to release the album “A Joyful Noise” on RCA Records in 1958, becoming one of the first gospel groups to have an album released on a major label.
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In the early 1960s, Houston again joined musical forces with her family as a member of the R&B girl group The Sweet Inspirations. Its lineup included Houston’s nieces Dee Dee and Dionne Warwick, both of whom would later become Grammy-nominated solo artists. The group provided backup vocals for acts such as Otis Redding, The Drifters, Dusty Springfield, Elvis Presley and the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Following her stint as a backup singer for music superstars, Houston launched her solo career with her debut album, “Presenting Cissy Houston,” in 1970. The LP earned Houston a pair of chart-topping singles, “I’ll Be There” and “Be My Baby.”
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In 1972, Houston recorded and released her rendition of the Jim Weatherly song “Midnight Train to Georgia,” which would later become a hit for fellow soul-pop icon Gladys Knight & the Pips.
Houston expanded her sonic horizons with a trio of disco-influenced albums — 1978’s “Think it Over,” 1979’s “Warning – Danger” and 1980’s “Step Aside for a Lady” — all produced by Michael Zager.
Houston would go on to win two Grammy Awards for her musical contributions, including a best traditional soul gospel album win in 1997 for her sixth album “Face to Face.”
Houston had three children: sons Gary and Michael and daughter Whitney.
After serving as one of Houston’s background singers, Whitney followed in her mother’s footsteps with her self-titled debut album in 1985. She became a bona fide pop icon, winning six Grammy Awards and selling over 220 million records worldwide.
Houston even sang backup for her daughter, providing vocals for Whitney’s debut album, as well as the songs “I Know Him So Well” and “Who Do You Love?”
The singer also stuck by her daughter’s side amid her personal struggles, which included a battle with drug addiction and Whitney’s tumultuous marriage to R&B star Bobby Brown. In her 2013 memoir “Remembering Whitney: My Story of Love, Loss and the Night the Music Stopped,” Houston recounted arriving at the couple’s Atlanta home with two sheriff’s deputies and a court injunction to retrieve Whitney for rehab.
“I was shaking with emotion, holding the piece of paper out toward her,” Houston wrote. “She just stood there looking at me. The light had gone out of her eyes, and my baby looked so, so tired.”
Whitney died in February 2012 at the age of 48 after her body was discovered in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The cause of death was determined to be an accidental drowning, with heart disease and cocaine use cited as contributing factors.
“I want people to really have a sense of what a wonderful, giving person Whitney was,” Houston told USA TODAY in a 2013 interview. “She made a lot of mistakes, but so many people have made mistakes, and haven’t been treated like that — with people talking about them, saying hurtful things that are or aren’t true. I’m just trying to set everyone straight.”
This story has been updated to add new information.
Contributing: Elysa Gardner, USA TODAY