Cissy Houston
Emily "Cissy" Houston (née Drinkard; born September 30, 1933)[3] is an American soul and gospel singer. After a successful career singing backup for such artists as Roy Hamilton, Dionne Warwick, Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin, Houston embarked on a solo career, winning two Grammy Awards for her work. Houston is the mother of singer Whitney Houston, grandmother of Bobbi Kristina Brown, aunt of singers Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick, and a cousin of opera singer Leontyne Price.
Cissy Houston | |
|---|---|
 Houston in 1975 | |
| Born | Emily Drinkard September 30, 1933[1][2] Newark, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Occupation |
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| Years active | 1938–present |
| Spouse(s) | Freddie Garland
( m. 1955; div. 1957)John Houston Jr.
( m. 1959; div. 1990) |
| Children | 3; including Gary and Whitney |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Instruments | Vocals (soprano) |
| Labels |
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| Associated acts |
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Family and childhood
Early life
Born Emily Drinkard in Newark, New Jersey,[3] to Nicholas and Delia Mae Drinkard (née McCaskill), she was the eighth and final child; older siblings were brothers William (1918–2003), Hansom (1924–deceased), Nicky (1929–1992), and Larry (1931–2012); and sisters Lee (1920–2005), Marie (1922–2007), and Anne (1927–2003).[4] Houston's father Nitcholas Drinkard was born to Susan Bell (called Delia) Drinkard (née Fuller), of Dutch and African-American descent.[5] His father John Drinkard, Jr., was of Native American descent.[5] The Drinkards had owned a substantial amount of farmland in Blakely, Georgia, at a time when it was unusual for black people to have large landholdings. The asset was gradually depleted as they sold small portions of land over time, to resolve the continued legal troubles of a close relative.[5]
After Houston's three oldest siblings were born, the family relocated to New Jersey during the Second Great Migration.[5] Her parents emphasized the children getting educated and being involved in the church, and her father encouraged Houston and her siblings to sing.[5] In 1938, five-year-old Cissy's mother Delia suffered a stroke and died of cerebral hemorrhage three years later.[6] Houston's father died of stomach cancer in 1951 when Houston was 18.[5][7] Cissy went to live with her older sister Lee and her husband Mancel Warwick.[8] The Warwicks had three children: a son, Mancel Warwick Jr. and two daughters Marie Dionne Warwick and Delia Mae (Dee Dee) Warwick.[9] Renowned soprano Leontyne Price is a Drinkard cousin.[10][11]
Houston attended South Side High School.[12]
Houston is a Christian, and has said that she "found Christ" at age 14.[13]
Marriages and children
In 1955, Houston married Freddie Garland and had a son, Gary Garland, an NBA basketball player and DePaul University Athletic Hall of Famer.[14][15][16] The Garlands divorced two years later.[15] In 1959, she married John Russell Houston, Jr., a Newark City administrator and entertainment executive.[15][17] The couple had a son, Michael Houston, who became a songwriter, and a daughter, Whitney Houston, who became a world-renowned Soul/R&B/pop singer.[18][19][20] Houston's second marriage also ended in divorce.[21] Aretha Franklin was an honorary aunt of Houston's daughter.[22]
In the late 1980s, Houston's daughter Whitney began to struggle with drug addiction. Houston staged several interventions to get her daughter into rehabilitation and recovery programs. On one occasion she obtained a court order and the assistance of two sheriffs to intervene, persuading her daughter to undertake treatment at Hope For Women Residential & Therapeutic Services in Atlanta, Georgia.[23] In her 2013 book, Remembering Whitney: My Story of Love, Loss, and the Night the Music Stopped, Cissy Houston described the scene she encountered at her daughter's house in 2005 as follows: "Somebody had spray-painted the walls and door with big glaring eyes and strange faces. Evil eyes, staring out like a threat... In another room there was a big framed photo of [Whitney Houston] — but someone had cut [her] head out. It was beyond disturbing, seeing my daughter's face cut out like that." This visit led Cissy to return with law enforcement and perform an intervention.[24] Her daughter cycled through recovery, relapse and rehabilitation programs.[25] On February 11, 2012, Whitney Houston died at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.[26] After her daughter's death, in an interview with the New Jersey TV station WWOR, Houston expressed her distaste of the media's coverage of related events: "The media are awful. People have come from here and there, [and they] don't know what they're talking about," she said. "People I haven't seen in 20 years … Here they come, [they] think they know everything, but that's not true. But God has his way of taking care of all of it, and I'm glad I know that. They really chopped on her, chopped on her … kept, kept, kept." [27]
Houston has six grandchildren (including Bobbi Kristina Brown), and nine great grandchildren.[15]
Career
The Drinkard Singers
Houston's singing career began in 1938 when she joined her sister Anne and brothers Larry and Nicky in the gospel singing group the Drinkard Four. Lee (who would later become the mother of singers Dee Dee and Dionne Warwick), later joined the group along with Ann Moss and Marie Epps, and the group was renamed The Drinkard Singers. Houston and the Drinkard Singers regularly performed at New Hope Baptist Church and later recorded a live album for RCA called A Joyful Noise.[28]
Sweet Inspirations
In 1963, then about to give birth to daughter Whitney Houston, 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 form the line-up. During the mid-1960s, the Sweet Inspirations provided backup vocals for a variety of artists, including 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 operatic soprano melody on the Aretha Franklin hit, Ain't No Way.[29] In 1967, The Sweet Inspirations sang background vocals for The Jimi Hendrix Experience on the track "Burning of the Midnight Lamp".[30]
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. Presley often introduced them at shows by saying, "They really live up to their name ladies & gentleman, The Sweet Inspirations!" [31] Many of these performances can be heard on the All Shook Up and Live In Las Vegas live records.[31] Performing with Elvis Presley was Houston's final gig with The Sweet Inspirations. As her children were growing bigger, she decided to stop touring and focus on her career as a recording artist.[31]
Solo career
As Cecily Blair she cut her first secular solo record "This Is My Vow" on M'n'M Records in 1963 following this up in 1966 with "Bring Him Back" b/w "World Of Broken Hearts" on Congress. Her final solo single before recording with The Sweet Inspirations was "Don't Come Running To Me" b/w "One Broken Heart For Sale" released on Kapp Records in 1967.[32] On these early singles her name is spelled as Sissie Houston. In 1969, Houston signed a recording contract with Commonwealth United Records and recorded her solo debut LP Presenting Cissy Houston which was released in 1970.[31] It contained several well received singles, including covers of "I'll Be There" and "Be My Baby", both of which made the R&B charts.[33]
Following the release of her debut album, Houston's contract was sold to Janus Records in 1970.[33] She recorded another album and several more singles in the early 1970s, which included the original recording of Jim Weatherly's "Midnight Train to Georgia" in 1972, later a number one hit for Gladys Knight & The Pips.[33][34] She continued to record with Janus Records until 1975.[35]
In 1977, Houston was signed by Private Stock Records, working with arranger/producer Michael Zager on three albums. The second included her big disco hit "Think It Over", which climbed to No. 32 on the Billboard R&B chart in 1979. She represented USA at the World Popular Song Festival in 1979 with a track called "You're the Fire", landing second place and winning the "Most Outstanding Performance Award". This also appeared on her 1980 disco-flavored album, Step Aside for a Lady, again produced by Zager, but released on Columbia Records (on EMI in the United Kingdom).
Session musician
Houston's versatile cross-genre singing style has kept her highly in demand as a session musician with some of the world's most successful recording artists. Houston, along with Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick, sang the background vocals on the original recording of Time Is On My Side by Kai Winding, released by Verve Records in October 1963. She was one of the backup singers on the Paul Simon song "Mother and Child Reunion" (1972)
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 multi-Platinum Heart Like A Wheel, a seminal album that topped Billboard′s Pop and Country Album Charts in early 1975. 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". During 1975 and 1976, she worked with jazz flautist Herbie Mann on three Atlantic albums, Discothèque, Waterbed and Surprises, featuring on three tracks, "Violet Don't Be Blue", JJ Cale's "Cajun Moon" and "Easter Rising". In addition to her work as choirmaster at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, NJ, Cissy performed frequently at clubs in NYC including Mikell's, Sweetwaters, Seventh Avenue South, and Fat Tuesday from the late 1970s through the 1980s. Whitney Houston, her daughter and backup singer, increasingly sang solos with Cissy's band, including the Barbra Streisand hit "Evergreen". They would collaborate on "Ain't No Way" (originally a Cissy Houston and Aretha Franklin vehicle), on which Cissy sang "Cissy" and Whitney "Aretha".
Gospel soloist and duets
In 1996, Houston received the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album for Face to Face, an album that contained a Gospel version of "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)". The same year, she contributed one song to the gospel soundtrack album for the film The Preacher's Wife, which starred her daughter Whitney Houston. In 1998, she won her second Grammy for her album He Leadeth Me. She has also continued to record infrequent secular material and in 1987, Houston and her daughter Whitney recorded a duet titled "I Know Him So Well", a cover of the original by Barbara Dickson and Elaine Paige from the Broadway show, Chess. This song also became a single in early 1989 as the 6th and last single release (in selected European countries) from Whitney's album Whitney. In 1992 she teamed up with Chuck Jackson for an album of solo and duet recordings entitled I'll Take Care of You.
In 2006, she recorded the song "Family First" with niece Dionne Warwick and daughter Whitney Houston for the soundtrack to the movie Daddy's Little Girls. In 2010, Cissy attended the third annual BET Honors with her daughter Whitney, who received the entertainment award. In 2012, Cissy performed "Bridge over Troubled Water" at the tribute for her daughter at the BET Music Awards. On September 29, 2014, at 80 years old, Cissy sang backup to a standing-ovation performance with Aretha Franklin of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep," and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" on The Late Show with David Letterman.[36]
New Hope Baptist Church Youth Inspirational Choir
For more than fifty years, Houston has led the 200-member Youth Inspirational Choir at the New Hope Baptist Church (Newark).[15] She is a driving force behind and performs annually at the McDonald's Gospelfest.
Discography
With the Drinkard Singers
| Year | Album | Record label |
|---|---|---|
| 1958 | A Joyful Noise | RCA Records/Victor |
With the Sweet Inspirations
- See Sweet Inspirations Discography
| Year | Album | Record label |
|---|---|---|
| 1967 | The Sweet Inspirations | Atlantic |
| 1968 | Songs of Faith & Inspiration | |
| What the World Needs Now Is Love | ||
| 1969 | Sweets for My Sweet |
Solo
| Year | Album | Record label |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Presenting Cissy Houston | Major Minor Records |
| 1977 | Cissy Houston | Private Stock Records |
| 1978 | Think It Over | |
| 1979 | Warning - Danger | Columbia Records |
| 1980 | Step Aside For A Lady | |
| 1992 | I'll Take Care of You | Shanachie Records |
| 1996 | Face To Face | House of Blues |
| 1997 | He Leadeth Me | A&M Records |
| 2001 | Love Is Holding You | Neon |
| 2012 | Walk on By Faith | Harlem Records |
Compilations
| Year | Album | Record label |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Midnight Train to Georgia: Janus Years | Ichiban Records |
| 1999 | Cissy Houston & Whitney Houston | Delta Music |
| 2000 | The Definitive Collection | Connoisseur Records |
| 2005 | Cissy Houston Collection | Intersound |
Collaborations
| Year | Title | Artist |
|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Burt Bacharach | Burt Bacharach[37] |
| 1975 | Discothèque | Herbie Mann |
| Waterbed | ||
| 1976 | Surprises | Herbie Mann, featuring Cissy Houston |
| 1992 | I'll Take Care of You | Chuck Jackson & Cissy Houston |
Soundtracks
| Year | Film/Show | Song |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | A Time to Kill: Original Soundtrack Album | "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" |
| The Preacher's Wife: Original Soundtrack Album | "The Lord is My Shepherd" | |
| 1998 | Late Show with David Letterman, December 23, episode | "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" |
| 2007 | Daddy's Little Girl: Original Soundtrack Album | "Family First" (with Whitney Houston and Dionne Warwick) |
Backing vocals
Musical arrangements
| Year | Track | Album |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | "Angels" | Cissy Houston |
| 1996 | "The Lord Is My Shepherd" | The Preacher's Wife: Original Soundtrack Album |
Musical compositions
| Year | Title | Collaborator |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | "Count Your Blessings" | |
| 1996 | "Deep River/Campground" | Donny Harper |
| 1976 | "Endless Waters" | David Forman |
Filmography
Film
- 1978: The Wiz (uncredited voice) – The Wiz Singers Adult Choir
- 1984: Taking My Turn (TV)
- 1994: The Vernon Johns Story (TV) as Rose
- aka Freedom Road: The Vernon Johns Story (UK)
- aka The Road to Freedom: The Vernon Johns Story (USA: alternative title)
- 1996: The Preacher's Wife as Mrs. Havergal
- 2018: God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness
- 2018: Whitney
Television
- 1970: The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (3 episodes)
- 1979: Gangsters (herself)
- aka Hoodlums (USA: video title)
- 1985: Late Night with David Letterman; August 28 episode
- 1986: Ebony/Jet Showcase; October 10 episode
- 1987: The 1st Annual Soul Train Music Awards
- 1988: The 15th Annual American Music Awards
- 1992: Whitney Houston: This Is My Life
- 1997: Classic Whitney: Live from Washington, D.C.
- 1998: Late Show with David Letterman December 23 episode
- 2001: BET Awards
- 2004: Intimate Portrait Dionne Warwick episode
- 2008: This Time (herself)
- 2012: BET Awards
- 2013: Oprah's Last Chapter
- 2013: The Houstons: On Our Own
References
- On this Day in Black Music History – September 30 – By Jay Warner
- The Famous, the Familiar and the Forgotten – Emily "Cissy" Houston: Soul, Disco & Gospel Singer – By Guy G. Sterling
- McNeil, W. K., ed. (2010). Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music. Routledge / Taylor & Francis. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-415-94179-2.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
- "Geni.com: Emily Houston (Drinkard)". April 13, 2011. Retrieved February 11, 2012.
- Houston, Cissy (September 2, 2009). "Visionary Project Video – Cissy Houston: My Family". Retrieved February 11, 2012.
- "Geni.com: Delia Drinkard (McCaskill)". April 13, 2011. Retrieved February 11, 2012.
- "Geni.com: Nitcholas Drinkard". April 13, 2011. Retrieved February 11, 2012.
- Warwick, Dionne (2010). My Life, as I See It. 1230 Avenue of the Americas, NY, NY 10020: Atria Books. p. 7. ISBN 978-1-4391-7134-9.CS1 maint: location (link)
- Warwick, Dionne (2010). My Life, as I See It. 1230 Avenue of the Americas, NY, NY 10020: Atria Books. p. 9. ISBN 978-1-4391-7134-9.CS1 maint: location (link)
- Warwick, Dionne (2012). My Life, as I See It. 1230 Avenue of the Americas, NY, NY, 10020, USA: Atria Books. ISBN 978-1-4391-7134-9.CS1 maint: location (link)
- "Artistopia.com". Dionne Warwick. iCubator Labs LLC. Archived from the original on 2012-05-06. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
- Cissy Houston, National Visionary Leadership Project. Accessed December 19, 2019. "After graduating from Newark’s South Side High School, she and her group, now The Drinkard Singers, continued performing and were featured on a 1951 program at Carnegie Hall starring Mahalia Jackson."
- "Cissy Houston details daughter Whitney's decline in new book". CBN.com. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
- "Gary Garland Houston Is Whitney Houston Brother". Celebrity Justice. Ghana Politics. Archived from the original on July 28, 2012. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
- "Cissy Houston: National Visionary". Oral History Videos. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
- "Gary Garland: NBA & ABA Stats". Basketball Reference. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
- Walters, Judy (February 12, 2012). "Whitney Houston News: Life and Times of the American Singing Snesation Who Died at 48". Belle News. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
- Skittles, D. "Michael Houston". Celebrity Siblings. Celebrity Siblings Blog. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
- Silverman, Stephen M. "Whitney Houston's Brother Arrested". www.people.com. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
- Merriman, Rebecca. "Michael Houston 'Devastated' At Death of Sister". New. www.entertainmentwise.com. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
- "Cissy Houston: National Visionary". Retrieved December 19, 2017.
- Whitall, Susan. "Aretha Franklin recalls meeting a young Whitney Houston". The Detroit News. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
- Winfrey, Oprah (September 2009). "Remembering Whitney: The Oprah Winfrey Interview" (video). Oprah Winfrey Network. p. 40:02 minutes. Retrieved April 21, 2010.
I see the love and the passion that my mother had for me and she walks in with these sheriffs and she says 'I have a court junction here. Either you do it my way or we're just not going to do this at all. We're going to go on TV and you're going to retire and say you're going to give this up. Because this is not worth it. It's not worth it. And if you move Bobby (Brown), they're going to take you down. Don't you make one move. Let's go. Let's do this. I'm not losing you to the world. I'm not losing you to Satan. I want my daughter back. I'm not doing this. I want my daughter back. I want you back. I want to see that glow in your eyes, that light in your eyes. I want to see the child I raised. You weren't raised like this. And I'm not having it.'
- Ginger Adams Otis (January 26, 2013). "Cissy Houston details daughter Whitney's decline in new book". Daily News. Retrieved December 25, 2017.
- Winfrey, Oprah (September 2009). "Remembering Whitney: The Oprah Winfrey Interview" (video). Oprah Winfrey Network. Retrieved April 21, 2010.
- Moody, Nekesa Mumbi. "Whitney Houston, superstar of records, films, dies". Associated Press. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
- Williams, Brennan (April 3, 2012). "Whitney Houston Death: Cissy Houston Breaks Her Silence". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
- McCall, Tris. "The Star Ledger". Song of the Day: Lift Him Up, The Drinkard Singers. www.nj.com. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
- Unterberger, Richie. "All Music Guide". The Sweet Inspirations: Biography. Yahoo! Music. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
- Jimi Hendrix Experience, The. "Discography". Electric Ladyland. discogs.com. Retrieved Feb 21, 2012.
- Houston, Cissy. "Cissy Houston Remembers Elvis Presley". The Sweet Inspirations (Video). www.elvis.com.au. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
- Discography of Cissy Houston
- Unterberger, Richie (2003). Bogdanov, Vladimir (ed.). All Music Guide to Soul: The Definitive Guide to R&B and Soul (Revised ed.). Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 321. ISBN 9780879307448. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
- "Cissy Houston @ Artist Direct". Cissy Houston @ Artist Direct. www.artistdirect.com. Retrieved February 25, 2012.
- Nathan, David. "Cissy Houston: Presenting Cissy Houston Expanded Edition (SMCR-5054)". soulmusic.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
- "Watch: Aretha Franklin Gets Standing Ovation from Letterman Audience With Knockout Performance". showbiz411. September 30, 2014. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
- Discogs. Burt Bacharach – Burt Bacharach. Accessed 18 November 2016.
- "Musica Desde Las Antipodas". The Doctor Is In...And Out. brownweb. Archived from the original on November 4, 2011. Retrieved February 12, 2012.
- "Chaka Khan – Clouds". Clouds. JazzFunkster444. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
- "Chaka Khan – Papillion (Hot Butterfly)". Papillion (Hot Butterfly). p4soul. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
External links
- Cissy Houston on IMDb
- Cissy Houston @ Artist Direct
- Cissy Houston's oral history video excerpts at The National Visionary Leadership Project
- The New Hope Baptist Church
- Young Americans on YouTube Live Performance with David Bowie
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