Cissy Houston, the mom of the late Whitney Houston and a two-time Grammy winner in her personal proper, has died at 91.
Houston, who sang back-up for Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley, died on Monday morning surrounded by household in her New Jersey residence.
She had been below hospice take care of Alzheimer’s illness, her daughter-in-law Pat Houston mentioned.
“Our hearts are filled with pain and sadness. We lost the matriarch of our family,” Ms Houston mentioned in a press release, including that her mother-in-law’s contributions to music and tradition had been “unparalleled”.
“Mother Cissy has been a strong and towering figure in our lives… Her more than seven-decade career in music and entertainment will remain at the forefront of our hearts.”
Her demise comes 12 years after her daughter Whitney died on the age of 48 by unintentional drowning in a resort bathtub.
Bobby Kristina Brown, the one baby of Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown, died on the age of twenty-two from a mix of drowning and drug intoxication.
Houston’s household mentioned in a press release that she could now “rest in peace alongside her daughter Whitney and granddaughter Bobbi Kristina and other cherished family members”.
Picture:
Cissy Houston together with her daughter Whitney in 2010. Pic: AP
Houston had began her decades-long profession within the gospel group The Drinkard 4, however issues took off when she fashioned the Candy Inspirations alongside her niece Dee Dee Warwick and Doris Troy.
The group sang backing vocals for quite a lot of soul singers together with Otis Redding, Lou Rawls, The Drifters and Dionne Warwick, Houston’s niece.
They appeared on Van Morrison’s Brown Eyed Lady and sang backing vocals for The Jimi Hendrix Expertise on the music Burning Of The Midnight Lamp in 1967.
Houston additionally labored on Franklin’s basic Ain’t No Method in the identical yr.
Her last efficiency with the Candy Inspirations was when the group appeared on stage with Presley in a Las Vegas present in 1969.
Picture:
Cissy Houston performing in 2013. Pic: AP
Houston left to pursue a solo profession after 4 albums with the Candy Inspirations, and have become an in-demand session singer.
She recorded greater than 600 songs all through her profession, and her vocals could be heard on tracks by Chaka Khan, Donny Hathaway, Jimi Hendrix, Luther Vandross, Beyonce, Paul Simon, Roberta Flack and her daughter.
Houston received Grammys for her albums Face To Face in 1997 and He Leadeth Me the next yr in the very best conventional soul gospel album class.
