Cissy Houston, who died this week at 91, was the mother to massive superstar Whitney Houston.
But before Whitney was born, Cissy was a major star on her own who performed on big stages and hit red carpets with the best of them.
Cissy – who was born Emily Drinkard in 1933 – was a successful soul and gospel singer in the 1960s and 1970s.
Houston was a founding member of the R&B girl group The Sweet Inspirations which had a string of hit songs.
The singer worked with Elvis Presley, Bette Midler and Linda Ronstadt and partied with Aretha Franklin.
She sang backup for Roy Hamilton, Dionne Warwick and Chaka Khan, and won two Grammy Awards. And she worked with Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Lou Rawls, The Drifters, and Dusty Springfield.
She was also aunt to singers Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick, and a cousin of opera singer Leontyne Price.
Clockwise from bottom left: Myrna Smith, Sylvia Shemwell, Estelle Brown and Cissy Houston of the vocal group The Sweet Inspirations pose for a portrait in circa 1967 in New York City
Elvis Presley performs on stage with his back up singers The Sweet Inspirations in 1973 in Las Vegas
Elvis Presley with a twelve string guitar in 1955
Here is a look back at her successes.
She was born in New Jersey and started singing gospel at a young age in the band the Drinkard Four which was later renamed The Drinkard Singers.
They performed at New Hope Baptist Church and later recorded a live album for RCA called A Joyful Noise, then had shows at Carnegie Hall and the Newport Jazz Festival.
In the early 1960s, she formed The Sweet Inspirations with Doris Troy and niece Dee Dee Warwick.
Later, under contract to Atlantic Records, Sylvia Shemwell, Estelle Brown, and Myrna Smith formed the line-up.
During the mid-1960s, the Sweet Inspirations provided backup vocals for Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Lou Rawls, The Drifters, Dusty Springfield, and Houston’s niece Dionne Warwick.
They appeared on Van Morrison’s single Brown Eyed Girl.
Houston performed the descant on the Aretha Franklin hit Ain’t No Way.
In 1967, The Sweet Inspirations sang background vocals for The Jimi Hendrix Experience on the track Burning of the Midnight Lamp.
Cissy provided vocals for big female artists like Bette Midler, left, and Linda Ronstadt, right
Aretha Franklin (left) and her backup singers, the Sweet Inspirations, perform onstage during the Soul Together Concert at Madison Square Garden, New York City in 1968
Dionne Warwick, Cissy and Whitney Houston at the 14th Annual American Music Awards on January 26, 1987 at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles
The Sweet Inspirations at a London reception in 1968. They were promoting their single What The World Needs Now Is Love
In 1969, they were hired to sing backing vocals for American singer Elvis Presley in Las Vegas on his return to live performances during July and August 1969.
They can be heard on the All Shook Up and Live In Las Vegas live records.
Cissy had a thriving solo career that included the hit songs I’ll Be There and Be My Baby.
She also worked with Dusty Springfield
In the 1970s, she had more hits with Midnight Train to Georgia in 1972.
In 1971, Houston was featured on three tracks of Burt Bacharach’s self-titled solo album: Mexican Divorce, All Kinds of People and One Less Bell to Answer.
She was backing vocalist on jazz flautist Herbie Mann’s funky disco single Hijack (1975), album Discotheque (1975), and album Surprise (1976).
She then had a big disco hit with Think It Over. Next came You’re the Fire.
The singer then worked with two huge female singers.
Houston sang back-up on Bette Midler’s 1972 debut album, The Divine Miss M. In 1974, Houston sang back-up on Linda Ronstadt‘s Heart Like A Wheel.
She also worked with jazz flutist Herbie Mann.
Whitney Houston, her daughter and backup singer, increasingly sang solos with Cissy’s band. They would collaborate on Ain’t No Way (originally a Cissy Houston and Aretha Franklin vehicle), on which Cissy sang Cissy and Whitney sang Aretha.
She contributed one song to the gospel soundtrack album for the film The Preacher’s Wife, which starred her daughter Whitney.
Houston and her daughter Whitney recorded a duet titled I Know Him So Well in 1989.
Cissy’s heartbreaking reaction to daughter Whitney’s death when talking to her pal Oprah: ‘I was a wreck’
In 2006, Houston recorded the song Family First with niece Dionne Warwick and daughter Whitney for the soundtrack to the movie Daddy’s Little Girls.
In 2012, Cissy performed Bridge over Troubled Water at the tribute for her daughter at the BET Music Awards.
On Letterman in 2014, Cissy sang backup with Aretha Franklin of Adele’s Rolling in the Deep and Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.
In 2012, Whitney died at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.
Cissy died at her home in Newark on October 7, 2024, at the age of 91.