Cissy Houston, Whitney Houston’s mother and an acclaimed gospel singer, has died. She was 91.
Houston died at home in New Jersey on Monday, Oct. 7, while receiving hospice care for Alzheimer’s disease, according to her daughter-in-law, Pat Houston.
“Our hearts are heavy with anguish and sadness. “We lost the matriarch of our family,” Pat told the newspaper in a statement. “Mother Cissy has been a powerful and towering presence in our lives. She was a woman of unwavering faith and conviction, placing a high priority on her family, ministry, and community. We will remember her more than seven-decade career in music and entertainment with fondness.
Houston was also an aunt of singers Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick.
Houston began her singing career in 1938 as a member of the Drinkard Four, which included her sister Anne and two brothers, Larry and Nicky.
In 1963, she established the Sweet Inspirations with her niece, Dee Dee Warwick. Within a few years, the ensemble was doing backup vocals for performers such as Otis Redding, Dusty Springfield, and Wilson Pickett. They later collaborated with The Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1967 and Elvis Presley in 1969.
In 1963, Houston published her debut solo album, “This is My Vow,” despite having previously spelled her name “Sissie” Houston. In 1970, she released her solo debut album, Presenting Cissy Houston, which had singles like “Be My Baby” and “I’ll Be There.” She appeared on Bette Midler’s debut album in 1972 as a backup singer.
Houston received two Grammy Awards during her lifetime: in 1996 for the best traditional soul gospel album for Face to Face and in 1998 for the album He Leadeth Me.
“Cissy had an incredible voice, and that transferred to her baby, Whitney,” Warwick told PEOPLE in February. “Whitney grew up in the church choir, just like the rest of us. “It was preordained that she would sing. Her destiny was the same as the rest of the family’s. It seemed as though God intervened and instructed our vocal cords to carry out their assigned tasks.
“Watching Whitney was like witnessing Cissy mature again,” she said. “Every young girl who followed her aspired to be Whitney Houston.”
In 1987, she recorded a duet with her daughter Whitney titled “I Know Him So Well.” She collaborated with Dionne and Whitney to record “Family First” in 2006.
Houston was married to NBA basketball star Gary Garland from 1955 until 1997, and they have a son named Gary together. Houston first met Michael and Whitney’s father, John Russell Houston, in 1958. The couple formally split in 1991, leaving six grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
The celebrity openly discussed Whitney’s terrible drug problems and the downward spiral that ultimately led to her death by drowning in a hotel bathtub in February 2012 in her fascinating book Remembering Whitney, which she published in 2013.
“She started partying, and she didn’t really know how to stop,” she allegedly wrote. “I used to wonder what she was doing at night, where she was.”
Whitney, on the other hand, frequently ignored her calls when she attempted to reach her.
“Whitney hid from me,” Houston explained. And when she did see her, she was frequently hesitant to address her daughter.
She also stated that her daughter’s unexpected loss was still causing her grief. “I’m angry she died alone, in those conditions,” she tells me. “I’m still mad about that.”
Houston paid homage to Whitney at the BET Awards, over five months after her death, by singing “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”
She was also a lifelong friend of Aretha Franklin, and she spoke with PEOPLE in 2018 after her passing.
“Aretha was my dear friend who I will deeply miss,” the singer wrote in a statement honoring the Queen of Soul, who died at 76 from pancreatic cancer.
“I have known Aretha for over 50 years, both professionally as her backup singer and then as a friend,” states Cissy. “We have shared heartbreak and loss, as well as exaltation and great laughter—and most importantly, our mutual love of God.”