Cissy Houston Dies: Famed Gospel Singer and Whitney Houston’s Mother Was 91

Acclaimed gospel singer Cissy Houston has died. She was 91.

Houston passed away Monday morning, Oct. 7 in her New Jersey home while under hospice care for Alzheimer’s disease, her daughter-in-law Pat Houston told the Associated Press.

“Our hearts are filled with pain and sadness. We lost the matriarch of our family,” Pat Houston said. “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.”

Related: Cissy Houston Condemns ‘Invasive’ Whitney Documentary

Houston began her career in 1938 when she joined her sister Anne and brothers Larry and Nicky to form the gospel group, The Drinkard Four. They recorded one album.

She later was in the group Sweet Inspirations, with Doris Troy and her niece Dee Dee Warrick. 

The vocal group appeared on such hits as Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl,” The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s “Burning of the Midnight Lamp,” and Aretha Franklin’s “Ain’t No Way.”

Cissy Houston’s last performance with the group came after they were on stage with Elvis Presley in Las Vegas in 1969. 

After that, Houston became a popular session singer and recorded more than 600 songs in multiple genres — including with her late daughter, legendary singer Whitney Houston. 

In the late ‘90s, she won Grammys for the albums Face to Face and He Leadeth Me in the best traditional soul gospel album category.

Houston was also an author. She wrote three books including one about Whitney,  Remembering Whitney: A Mother’s Story of Life, Loss and The Night The Music Stopped.