Cissy Houston performs during a tribute to her late daughter, Whitney Houston, at the 2012 BET Awards in Los Angeles, July 1, 2012“It saddens my heart to announce the passing of my beloved Queen Cissy Houston today! Please keep the Houston family in your prayers,” Pat Houston wrote alongside a picture collage of the late singer.
The gospel singer was born in Newark, New Jersey, as Emily Drinkard on September 30, 1933, and she later took the professional name Cissy Houston. She began her career as a member of a gospel group called the Drinkard Four and later became a founding member of the R&B group the Sweet Inspirations. She sang backup for legendary artists including Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Otis Redding and Dionne Warwick. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.